Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

OVERVIEW: The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) is a large funder that supports a variety of health-related organizations and initiatives.

IP TAKE: The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation seeks transformative approaches to improving the nation’s overall health and well-being on multiple levels. It currently conducts all of its grantmaking through the lens of creating a culture of health. It generally makes these gifts to organizations that serve at-risk and underserved populations, but it also supports projects in new and innovative research. It also strongly prioritizes place-based approaches, often to the exclusion of broader, more abstract ideas of “community.”

RWJF is a transparent funder. It boasts a comprehensive, searchable grants database dating back to 1972, as well as publishing blogs, press releases, research reports, datasets, and policy briefs. It is also a fairly accessible funder that typically has multiple calls for proposals and active grant opportunities open at any given time. However, while some grantees have had excellent experiences with the foundation, others advise that it can be overly bureaucratic and difficult to work with as it lacks understanding of current trends in grassroots activism. As RWJF is one of the biggest and oldest funders in its field, it can often be difficult to catch their attention. Previous grantees advise that spending a few years developing a relationship with RWJF officers can go a long way towards securing reliable funding.

PROFILE: The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation was founded by General Robert Wood Johnson II, son of a co-founder of Johnson & Johnson. Originally founded as the Johnson New Brunswick Foundation, its original mission was to address the needs and well-being of Middlesex County, New Jersey. In 1952, the foundation took on its current name and expanded its mission beyond New Jersey. Since 1972, RWJF has made grants for medical school student aid, medical research, healthcare policy, and human services.

In 2016, the foundation reformulated its strategy to bring all of its grantmaking under the umbrella of creating a “Culture of Health.” Its current mission, as stated, is to build “a Culture of Health that provides everyone in America a fair and just opportunity for health and well-being.” This funder’s four focus areas include Health Systems, Healthy Communities, Healthy Children and Families, and Leadership for Better Health. RWJF also posts active funding opportunities.

Grants for Public Health

Public health is RWJF’s primary concern in its mission to build a “Culture of Health in American communities.” It supports and promotes research, policy reform, impact investment, leadership development, and advocacy across all four of its focus areas:

  • Healthy Communities supports programs working to “create communities where the physical, economic, and social conditions ensure all residents have a fair opportunity to thrive.”

Grants for Mental Health

RWJF makes its mental health grants through its Healthy Communities program, which prioritizes organizations that support minorities and children. However, some grants related to mental health projects do appear in some of its other program areas, such as the Leadership for Better Health program, which focuses on funding new and innovative projects, and the Health Systems program, which provides funding to organizations that extend healthcare to under-served populations.

Innovative organizations and projects might have a better chance by soliciting funds through the Pioneering Idea program, but this program generally receives less funding than the foundation’s other areas of work.

Grants for Violence Prevention

Each of RWJFs principal grantmaking programs includes multiple subprograms that effectively expand the foundation’s focus areas to include violence prevention and their impact on people’s well-being.

  • RWJF awards grants to organizations addressing issues such as the impact of adverse childhood experiences, sexual violence, violence prevention and acute crime among young people of color.

  • One crime and violence initiative that received support from RWJF is Drexel University School of Public Health, which received a grant for its Healing Hurt People program. The program addresses trauma in victims of acute crime. The University of Chicago School of Social Services Administration also received a grant from RWJF for its study concerning the criminal justice and health impacts of the Chicago Police Department’s pre-arrest diversion strategy for opioid addicts.

Important Grant Details:

Grants typically range from $100,000 to $300,000, but are sometimes in the millions. Grantseekers may review the foundation’s Grants Database for more information on the work it has supported.

  • RWJF supports organizations across the United States, but some legacy programs may prioritize giving in New Jersey, where the foundation was originally incorporated.

  • While it has focus areas dedicated to health systems, public health, childhood development, and health leadership, it prefers to fund programs that take a holistic approach that combines aspects of multiple focus areas.

  • RWJF accepts applications to any of its Active Funding Opportunities. Deadlines vary by grant, but often fall in the spring. Grantseekers should review the foundation’s Grants Process page before applying.

  • RWJF does not generally fund basic biomedical research, drug therapy or device research or lobbying.

Grantseekers may contact the foundation at mail@rwjf.org or reach out to the program officer assigned to the grant in question for further inquiries.

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