Founder Robert Wood Johnson II built the family firm of Johnson & Johnson into one of the world’s largest makers of health products. Upon his death in 1968, he established the foundation with 10 million shares of the company’s stock. The foundation is the United States’ largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to health and health care. Since 2002, the foundation has been led by Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, MD, MBA, a physician with a business background.
Lavizzo-Mourey sits on the 17-person Board of Trustees, whose members reflect leadership in public health, medicine, education, law and business (most notably, Johnson & Johnson) from across the country. The foundation has worked to build a “Culture of Health” in America through its main program categories: healthy communities, health leadership, health systems, and healthy kids, healthy weight.
Major Program Categories: The foundation currently focuses on four main program areas, as a way to achieve “health equity” and the best possible health outcomes for all Americans. They are the following:
- Healthy Communities: These grants support efforts related to disease prevention and health promotion, addressing gaps and disparities in health, and the role of social determinants and the built environment in health.
- Healthy Kids, Healthy Weight: These grants view childhood obesity, early childhood development, family and social support, and mental and emotional wellbeing as critical to helping children attain their optimal physical wellbeing, and crucial to the foundation’s mission.
- Health Leadership: The foundation’s efforts in health leadership support preparing those in the field for leadership roles in both policy and practice, and supporting the role of nurses and nursing in impacting the culture around health.
- Health Systems: These grants speak most to creating a high-quality healthcare experience that is accessible to all Americans. Grants in this area focus on quality, cost and accessibility of healthcare coverage, and “aligning the systems communities rely upon to achieve better health.”
Within each of the program categories, the foundation aims to support projects and programs that advance “discovery and exploration,” “spreading model interventions,” and “research, evaluation and learning.”
How to Apply: Generally, the foundation will release competitive call for proposals (CFP) related to its four main program areas. The CFP will outline specific challenges it aims to address, desired outcomes and eligibility criteria. Sometimes, the foundation may establish an “intermediary organization” to tackle a certain challenge and support projects around solutions, and funding can also be secured through an open call for ideas. Lastly, the foundation may directly reach out in solicitation of projects.
Given the wide array of ways to engage with funding opportunities from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the foundation’s website is an important resource for staying connected. Click here for more information.
Name of Foundation: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Location: Princeton, N.J. with satellite locations in New York, N.Y. and Washington D.C.
Website: www.rwjf.org
Contact Information: (877) 843-RWJF (7953); Office of Proposal Management email: [email protected]
Coverage Area: National
Subject Area: Public Health
Assets: $10,339,639,751 (2015)
Last Year Total Giving: $347.6 million (2015)
Recent News and Grantmaking:
http://fortune.com/2016/11/16/brainstorm-health-11-16-intro/
https://westsidetoday.com/2016/11/16/123000/