Aiming High: Foundation Support for State Advocates Brings Universal Children’s Health Coverage Within Reach

To help close the children’s health insurance coverage gap in the United States, in 2011 the Atlantic Philanthropies created the Kids- Well Campaign. KidsWell’s theory of change posits that if advocates could leverage new funding and coverage opportunities created by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, they could expand the number of children with health insurance coverage. This article presents the major results of the KidsWell evaluation, which found substantial progress in achieving KidsWell interim policy changes and coverage outcomes. But advocates still have a full agenda, which means grantees and funders need to redouble efforts to educate the larger field about the type of advocacy that can legally be supported by funders, the gains in children’s coverage achieved in part with such support, and what remains at stake for children’s coverage. While other funders may not be able to make investments comparable to Atlantic’s, advocacy networks and capacities have already been built and valuable knowledge has been gained through the KidsWell effort. Funders could target future investment to states and activities needing a short-term boost to exploit windows of political opportunity or to fight threats to children’s coverage. Such support is still needed to continue momentum toward universal health insurance coverage for all children

Designing Technical-Assistance Programs: Considerations for Funders and Lessons Learned

As foundations continue to provide grantees with technical assistance in addition to financial support, it is important to understand what works well, for whom, and in what circumstances. This reflective practice article aims to help funders who have identified a problem amenable to technical assistance to develop a strong program by providing support to a group of organizations addressing similar problems or by providing customized individual support. Drawing on insights from evaluations of two technical-assistance programs, this article recommends five key issues for funders to consider when offering such a program: whose priorities will shape the agenda, how group composition might affect technical assistance, what qualities are most important for providers, what types of technical-assistance formats providers should offer, and how funders will know whether technical assistance is working. The article concludes by highlighting three lessons: (1) incorporating flexibility into programs, enabling technical assistance to be more responsive to participants’ needs and resources; (2) setting and measuring technical-assistance goals, which can help funders assess the fit of participants for programs and support ongoing learning; and (3) monitoring and collecting feedback, which helps promote quality and can offer insights as to how programs might be changed to best meet participants’ needs

Enrolling the Eligible: Lessons for Funders

· Many social programs have a gap between the number of individuals eligible for services and the number enrolled. · The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation implemented Covering Kids & Families to increase enrollment in Medicaid and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. · Grantees sought to increase enrollment by raising awareness among low-income families, simplifying the application process, and coordinating among programs. · Funders are encouraged to consider the lifecycle of programs and organizations, the skills in coalition-building and working with public officials that are needed, and the need to fit political strategies with the local culture