A Call to Action for Philanthropy in North Carolina Health Care.

The conversation about how we create and maintain health has evolved. We have now clearly expanded our thinking beyond an exclusive focus on traditional medical care, and philanthropy can play an important role.

Medical crowdfunding in China: empirics and ethics.

Medical crowdfunding has become a popular choice worldwide for people with unaffordable health needs. In low-income and middle-income countries with limited social welfare arrangements and a high incidence of catastrophic health spending, the market for medical crowdfunding is booming. However, relevant research was conducted exclusively in North America and Europe; little is known about medical crowdfunding activities inother contexts. As a first step towards filling this knowledge gap, this study depicts the realities of medical crowdfunding in a middle-income country China through empirical investigation and ethical analysis. We examine 100 randomly selected medical campaigns from a major Chinese crowdfunding platform and analyse the relevance of the previously identified ethical concerns to the Chinese context. The empirical findings show that Chinese campaigns have low and uneven success rates, require legally the participation of charitable organisations and focus on financial distress and family values in appealing for donations. In addition, the ethical analysis suggests that medical crowdfunding in China shares several ethical concerns raised in developed countries such as the veracity of claims and privacy violation. More importantly, our research reveals the inadequacy of current evidence and the lack of indicators to evaluate ethical issues in practice. Additional research is needed to better understand this fundraising practice across different social and cultural contexts.

Relay for Life as a Storytelling Occasion: Building Community in the Midst of Suffering.

In this essay, I reflect on my experiences with Relay for Life (RFL), the American Cancer Society's walking event focused on raising awareness and donations for research and patient support programs. I share stories of relationships built within this context and how those relationships are fostered by storytelling. I also draw on literature that brings to light the neoliberal effects of fundraising for health-related causes. In spite of the consumerism that is inherent in fundraising events such as RFL, those of us affected by cancer benefit from the connections created and nurtured in those spaces. We turn to similarly situated others and share stories that unite us into one community. These stories serve as powerful sources of support, healing, and strength. We relay. We story. We build community.

An American Thoracic Society Official Research Statement: Future Directions in Lung Fibrosis Research.

BACKGROUND: Pulmonary fibrosis encompasses a group of lung-scarring disorders that occur owing to known or unknown insults and accounts for significant morbidity and mortality. Despite intense investigation spanning decades, much remains to be learned about the natural history, pathophysiology, and biologic mechanisms of disease. PURPOSE: To identify the most pressing research needs in the lung fibrosis community and to provide a roadmap of priorities to investigators, funding agencies, patient advocacy groups, and other interested stakeholders. METHODS: An ad hoc international working group of the American Thoracic Society with experience in clinical, translational, and bench-based research in fibrotic lung diseases was convened. The group used an iterative consensus process to identify successes and challenges in pulmonary fibrosis research. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: The group identified five main priority areas in which substantial resources should be invested to advance our understanding and to develop novel therapies for patients with pulmonary fibrosis. These priorities include develop newer models of human lung fibrosis, engage current and new stakeholders to provide sustained funding for the initiatives, create a global infrastructure for storing patient-derived materials, establish collaborative preclinical and clinical research networks in fibrotic lung disease, and create a global lung fibrosis initiative that unites these multifaceted efforts into a single virtual umbrella structure. CONCLUSIONS: Despite recent advances in the treatment of some forms of lung fibrosis, many gaps in knowledge about natural history, pathophysiology, and treatment remain. Investment in the research priorities enumerated above will help address these shortcomings and enhance patient care worldwide.

Getting the most out of philanthropy: How to reinvent the foundation board.

Progressive health care organizations are reinventing their foundation boards as they look to philanthropy to secure sustainability, enable excellence and achieve market objectives.

Philanthropy and Community Benefit.

Philanthropy and community benefit have been closely related since the earliest days of health care. Religious and civic founders of the first nursing homes and hospitals received support from generous members of the community offering financial and volunteer resources. The connection remains today.

Assess Fundraising Like Other Aspects of Health Care.

Almost a year ago at SCL Health, we launched an assessment of philanthropy across the organization. When it comes to fundraising, here's the vital question: "Are we raising as much money as we possible can?"

Humanitarian accountability, bureaucracy, and self-regulation: the view from the archive.

This paper contains a systematic exploration of local and national archives and sources relevant to charities and humanitarian fund appeals of the late Victorian and Edwardian eras (1870-1912) in Great Britain. It shows that the charitable world and humanitarian work share the same matrix and originate from the same roots, with considerable overlap between fundraising for domestic charity and overseas relief. These campaigns engaged in crucial self-regulatory processes very early on that involved concepts such as formal accountability and the close monitoring of delivery. Far from lagging behind in terms of formal practices of auditing and accounts, charities and humanitarian funds often were in the pioneering group as compared with mainstream businesses of the period. The charitable sector, notably through the Charity Organisation Society in cooperation with the press, developed and delivered accountability and monitoring, while the state and the Charity Commission played a negligible role in this process.

Leveraged resources and systems changes in community collaboration.

Most models of community collaboration emphasize the ability of diverse partners to come together to enact systematic changes that improve the health of individuals and communities. The ability of these groups to leverage resources is thought to be an important marker of successful collaboration and eventual improvements in community health. However, there is a paucity of research addressing linkages between systems change activities and leveraged resources. This study used a sample of collaboratives (N = 157) that received technical assistance and funding through the Georgia Family Connection Partnership (GaFCP) between 2006 and 2007. Data were collected from collaborative report of activities and funding, member ratings of collaborative functioning, and characteristics of the communities served by the collaboratives drawn from US Census data. Cross-lagged regression models tested longitudinal associations between systems change activities and leveraged dollars. The results indicated that systems change activities predict increased leveraging of resources from state/federal and private partners. However, there was no evidence that systems changes were linked with leveraging resources from local groups and agencies. These findings have important implications for providing technical assistance and training to health partnerships. Furthermore, future research should consider the relative strength of different systems change activities in relation to the ability of coalitions to leverage resources.

Adopting evidence-based medically assisted treatments in substance abuse treatment organizations: roles of leadership socialization and funding streams.

This paper examines the organizational adoption of medically assisted treatments (MAT) for substance use disorders (SUDs) in a representative sample of 555 US for-profit and not-for-profit treatment centers. The study examines organizational adoption of these treatments in an institutionally contested environment that traditionally has valued behavioral treatment, using sociological and resource dependence frameworks. The findings indicate that socialization of leadership, measured by formal clinical education, is related to the adoption of MAT. Funding patterns also affect innovation adoption, with greater adoption associated with higher proportions of earned income from third party fees for services, and less adoption associated with funding from criminal justice sources. These findings may generalize to other social mission-oriented organizations where innovation adoption may be linked to private and public benefit values inherent in the type of socialization of leadership and different patterns of funding support.

Challenges for philanthropy and tobacco control in China (1986-2012).

OBJECTIVE: To identify the international philanthropies that have invested in tobacco control in China, describe their role and strategies in changing the social norms of tobacco use, and define the outcomes achieved. METHODS: Information on the international philanthropic donor China projects, including activities and outcomes, was gathered from multiple sources including organisational websites, key informant interviews and emails with project officers, and published research papers and reports. RESULTS: Philanthropic donations to China's tobacco control efforts began in 1986. The donors provided funds to national, city, provincial government organisations, non-government organisations, universities, and healthcare organisations throughout China to establish a tobacco control workforce and effective programmes to reduce the burden of tobacco use. CONCLUSIONS: International engagement has been an important dimension of tobacco control in China. Recognising the large burden of illness and capitalising on proven effective control measures, philanthropic organisations understandably seized the opportunity to achieve major health gains. Much of the international philanthropic investment has been directed at public information, policy change and building the Chinese research knowledge base. Documenting research and evaluation findings will continue to be important to ensure that promising practices and lessons learned are identified and shared with the China tobacco control practitioners. The ultimate question is whether foreign philanthropy is making a difference in tobacco control and changing social norms in China? The answer is plainly and simply that we do not know; the evidence is not yet available.