The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (also known by its abbreviation, RWJF) was named after its founder, Robert Wood “General” Johnson II, son of the co-founder of Johnson & Johnson.² RWJF has been called, “America’s largest philanthropy devoted to health.”³

The Foundation was a key funder of groups advocating for the enactment of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. RWJF provided funds to Enroll America, an organization that the Obama administration used to recruit sign-ups for Obamacare health plans. Since 1995, the foundation’s financial influence on health care alone has accounted for almost 45 percent of all giving in the area of health policy.⁴

Other notable grantees of RWJF include the Clinton Foundation to regulate soda consumption in public schools and the Tides Foundation to direct money to politically left-leaning causes and organizations.⁵ At the end of 2014, the foundation’s assets were $10.5 billion.⁶

History

Robert Wood “General” Johnson II created the Johnson New Brunswick Foundation during the Great Depression in 1936. Johnson, who served as the former president and manager of the Johnson & Johnson company, established the foundation with 12,000 shares of company stock—worth about $5.4 million today.⁷ The formal ruling year listed for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is 1949.⁸

Johnson passed away on January 30, 1968. In December 1971, the foundation emerged as a national philanthropy as a result of Johnson’s bequest of 10,204,377 shares of Johnson & Johnson stock, which translated into about $1.2 billion.⁹

Health Policy

Obamacare

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has worked to advance Obamacare and other left-of-center health system changes. RWJF played a key role in funding projects that would legitimize the idea of government-controlled “universal access,” bankrolling a wide range of nonprofits that would advance data and stories in support of the Obama administration program. The foundation provides its own research data and expert analysis in the health-care debate, leaning in favor of a British- or Canadian-style government-run health system.¹⁰

Once Obamacare was enacted, RWJF financed over $20 million in public efforts for Americans to enroll in Obamacare health plans. The main recipient of this money was Enroll America, the leading national nonprofit in this work.¹¹

HIV/AIDS

In 1986, the RWJF launched the AIDS Health Services Program to provide assistance to those afflicted with HIV/AIDS and to reduce the societal stigma concerning the disease. In 1990, the U.S. Congress passed the Ryan White CARE Act, the largest federal program for those afflicted with HIV/AIDS. The Act was partially modeled after the RWJF’s AIDS Health Services Program.¹²

Tobacco Control

In 1991, the RWJF launched a campaign to reduce smoking rates and tobacco usage across the United States. Over a 20-year span, the organization spent nearly $700 million on its anti-tobacco efforts.¹³

In 1998, U.S. Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Bill Frist (R-TN) pushed for legislation to allow the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to regulate tobacco. Senator Frist, a physician, had periodically worked with the RWJF since 1975, and said the organization’s “advice and counsel were crucial to our efforts.” The bill was defeated, but a similar bill passed in 2009. Sen. Frist later sat on the board of the RWJF from 2013 to 2023.¹⁴

Health Policy Fellowship

In 1970, the RWJF launched the Health Policy Fellowship, a program that sends mid-career health professionals to Washington, D.C. to serve as health policy advisors to U.S. Representatives, U.S. Senators, and think tanks.¹⁵

Social Determinants of Health

From 2008 to 2009, the RWJF hosted the Commission to Build a Healthier America. The commission was chaired by former U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Mark McClellan and former White House Office of Management and Budget Director Alice Rivlin, and was attended by former Sen. Frist. The commission sought to uncover fundamental detriments to American health, and eventually focused on social determinants of health as an underexplored area of medicine.¹⁶

One outcome of the committee was the RWJF’s decision to devote $500 million to combating childhood obesity in the United States, with another $500 million committed in 2015. According to Frist, “Learnings from this work have dramatically influenced federal policy on school meals, food assistance, and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC).”¹⁷

As of May 2023, the RWJF has spent almost $1.9 billion on grants it categorizes as “social determinants of health.”¹⁸

Local Governments

The RWJF has funded local government efforts to improve health. For instance, from 2003 to 2011, the RWJF gave $740,000 in grants to Louisville, Kentucky, to support the development of bike lanes.¹⁹ In 2010, the RWJF partnered with regional Federal Reserve banks on the Healthy Communities Initiative to support developers, investors, ad bankers that promote healthy lifestyles.²⁰

Equity

In 2017, Richard Besser became president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Besser, a former acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), announced that the RWJF’s primary health care focus would shift to social factors and equity: “What we recognized is that we had to build health equity into all of our programs.”²¹

In 2021, the RWJF funded a study with the Urban Institute that found that Black patients are more likely to acquire infections or diseases in hospitals than white patients.²²

In 2022, the RWJF and other left-leaning philanthropic and advocacy groups, including the NAACP and W.K. Kellogg Foundation, released a joint-statement: “As nonprofit and philanthropic organizations devoted to improving health and health equity, dismantling structural racism, and advancing social justice, we strongly support Congress permanently closing the Medicaid coverage gap in its upcoming budget reconciliation legislation.”²³

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

In 2017, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation added a commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) to its “guiding principles.” The organization’s goals include increasing the diversity of its staff, increasing the diversity of its contractors, and conducting internal “accessibility [audits].” In 2020, the RWJF began working with the Center for Effective Philanthropy to collect demographic data on its employees and board members, including racial and ethnic backgrounds, gender orientation, sexual orientation, and disability status.²⁴

COVID-19 Pandemic

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation focused much of its efforts on spreading awareness on racial disparities in the impact of the pandemic. In April 2020, the RWJF hosted a teleconference on the ongoing pandemic. One speaker, David Williams, a Harvard University professor of African and African American Studies and of Sociology, proclaimed “The striking disparities we are seeing are not the fault of individuals, families and communities that are experiencing them. Instead, they reflect longstanding policies that have created pervasive social and economic inequalities in the United States.” He continued: “The coronavirus is a call to action. It gives us a chance to make a commitment to do better than we have done in the past. Call it a ‘Marshall Plan’ for disadvantaged communities.” ²⁵

The RWJF worked with National Public Radio and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health to produce a survey on the prevalence of concerns about violence within numerous racial demographic groups.²⁶ Another survey produced with the Rand Corporation examined population attitudes toward “health, equity and race amid the pandemic.” The survey found that more than half of Americans didn’t believe that “systemic racism” was to blame for ethnic and racial minorities being disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.²⁷

Grants Made

In 2020, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation disbursed over $600 million in grants.²⁸

The RWJF and the Ford Foundation formed the Presidents’ Council on Disability Inclusion in Philanthropy, a group of 17 major philanthropic nonprofit leaders who are pledged to support disability research and support. The members of the council include presidents of the Heinz Endowments, the Wellspring Philanthropic Fund, the California Wellness Foundation, the Kresge Foundation, and the Open Society Foundations.²⁹

In 2003, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation began to transition their grant-making priorities to emphasize advocacy, particularly through health care reform and supporting overarching regulation to fight childhood obesity.³⁰

Example grantees or initiatives over the years include the following:

• Aligning Forces for Quality – RWJF launched Aligning Forces for Quality, a signature effort to lift the overall quality of health care in 16 targeted communities.³¹
• CeaseFire – a program of Cure Violence, a nonprofit that utilizes ex-convicts and former gang members, clergy, and other community leaders to diffuse violent encounters and shootings in neighborhoods.³² CeaseFire programs have come under scrutiny in Chicago, where police have criticized CeaseFire staff about not sharing enough information or getting arrested for their own crimes.³³
• Nurse–Family Partnership – provides postnatal visits and follow-up with new mothers in poverty.³⁴
• Alliance for a Healthier Generation – created as a partnership of the American Heart Association and the Clinton Foundation. In May 2006, the alliance negotiated an agreement with the American Beverage Association and the top three U.S. beverage manufacturers to remove sweetened drinks from schools.³⁵
• Food Trust – RWJF financed the Center for Healthy Food Access initiative for over $3.7 million.³⁶ The initiative seeks to bring supermarkets and grocery stores with health food options back to low income and underserved communities.³⁷
• Sports for Kids Foundation – an organization that brings recess back to schools, giving children the opportunity for more physical activity during the day.³⁸
• Tides Foundation – a donor-advised fund that directs money to politically center-left causes. In 2016, RWJF donated $2,000,000 to support the Convergence Partnership to build the Culture of Health Action Framework, an initiative launched by RWJF in 2014 to support scientific research that favors Obamacare and similar government-controlled healthcare systems.³⁹
• Pew Charitable Trusts – In 2016, RWJF donated nearly $5.2 million to non-health care affiliated businesses and communities to encourage enrollment in Obamacare.⁴⁰

Controversy

In 2017, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists received over 13 million leaked financial documents given to them by a pair of German reporters that revealed secretive and elicit financial dealings of many prominent individuals, corporations, and nonprofits around the world. Among the “Paradise Papers” was the revelation that the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation had over $3 billion of its $10.8 billion in assets held in offshore accounts, primarily in the Cayman Islands. Science reported that RWJF was the major science philanthropic funder whose assets were “most concentrated in offshore funds.” Upon being questioned, RWJF chief investment counsel Edmond Ghisu told Science that moving money offshore made the organization’s endowment investments more profitable by avoiding bureaucratic red tape in the United States.⁴¹

Board and Key Staff

Since January 2013, Roger S. Fine has served as Chairman of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation board. Fine previously served as the corporate vice president and general counsel of Johnson & Johnson for 30 years.⁴²

In February 2017, Risa Lavizzo-Mourey stepped down as RWJF’s President and CEO. Richard Besser, a physician, was named the new leader effective as of April 2017. Besser previously served as the chief health and medical editor at ABC news and was a former acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) under the Obama administration.⁴³

2. “Our Founder.” RWJF. March 31, 2017. Accessed April 22, 2017. http://www.rwjf.org/en/about-rwjf/our-founder.tml.[/note] The foundation, based in Princeton, New Jersey, was created as a 501(c)(3) exempt private foundation in 1949.¹Profile. Accessed April 26, 2017. https://www.guidestar.org/profile/22-6029397.
3. Frist, Bill. “How the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Has Influenced Health Policy – And My Own Life – For Five Decades.” Forbes. March 16, 2023. Accessed May 22, 2023. https://www.forbes.com/sites/billfrist/2023/03/16/how-the-robert-wood-johnson-foundation-has-influenced-health-policy–and-my-own-life–for-five-decades/?sh=37e8afd036dd.
4. “How the left and progressive foundations gave us ObamaCare — a law hated by so many.” Fox News. Accessed June 04, 2017. http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/06/25/how-left-and-progressive-foundations-gave-us-obamacare-law-hated-by-so-many.html.
5. “Tides Foundation.” Left Exposed. February 28, 2016. Accessed June 03, 2017. http://leftexposed.org/2015/11/tides-foundation/.
6. “990 Form – 2015.” Guidestar. Accessed April 21, 2017. http://www.guidestar.org/FinDocuments/2014/226/029/2014-226029397-0c08bbc6-F.pdf.
7. “We Started Small.” Accessed April 26, 2017. http://www.rwjf.org/content/dam/farm/articles/articles/2012/rwjf72813.
8. “990 Form – 2015.” Guidestar. Accessed April 21, 2017. http://www.guidestar.org/FinDocuments/2014/226/029/2014-226029397-0c08bbc6-F.pdf.
9. “The Billion Dollar Hei$t.” RWJF. November 03, 2016. Accessed April 26, 2017. http://www.rwjf.org/en/library/research/2012/05/the-billion-dollar-heist.html.
10. “So Long, Stay Well: What Did Risa Lavizzo-Mourey Achieve at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation?” Inside Philanthropy. Accessed April 26, 2017. https://www.insidephilanthropy.com/home/2017/3/30/so-long-stay-healthy-what-did-risa-lavizzo-mourey-achieve-at-the-robert-wood-johnson-foundation.
11. “So Long, Stay Well: What Did Risa Lavizzo-Mourey Achieve at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation?” Inside Philanthropy. Accessed April 26, 2017. https://www.insidephilanthropy.com/home/2017/3/30/so-long-stay-healthy-what-did-risa-lavizzo-mourey-achieve-at-the-robert-wood-johnson-foundation.
12. “Capitol Hill Moves To Pass Landmark Legislation.” Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program. Accessed May 22, 2023. https://ryanwhite.hrsa.gov/livinghistory/legislation.
13. Frist, Bill. “How the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Has Influenced Health Policy – And My Own Life – For Five Decades.” Forbes. March 16, 2023. Accessed May 22, 2023. https://www.forbes.com/sites/billfrist/2023/03/16/how-the-robert-wood-johnson-foundation-has-influenced-health-policy–and-my-own-life–for-five-decades/?sh=37e8afd036dd.
14. Frist, Bill. “How the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Has Influenced Health Policy – And My Own Life – For Five Decades.” Forbes. March 16, 2023. Accessed May 22, 2023. https://www.forbes.com/sites/billfrist/2023/03/16/how-the-robert-wood-johnson-foundation-has-influenced-health-policy–and-my-own-life–for-five-decades/?sh=37e8afd036dd.
15. Frist, Bill. “How the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Has Influenced Health Policy – And My Own Life – For Five Decades.” Forbes. March 16, 2023. Accessed May 22, 2023. https://www.forbes.com/sites/billfrist/2023/03/16/how-the-robert-wood-johnson-foundation-has-influenced-health-policy–and-my-own-life–for-five-decades/?sh=37e8afd036dd.
16. Frist, Bill. “How the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Has Influenced Health Policy – And My Own Life – For Five Decades.” Forbes. March 16, 2023. Accessed May 22, 2023. https://www.forbes.com/sites/billfrist/2023/03/16/how-the-robert-wood-johnson-foundation-has-influenced-health-policy–and-my-own-life–for-five-decades/?sh=37e8afd036dd.
17. Frist, Bill. “How the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Has Influenced Health Policy – And My Own Life – For Five Decades.” Forbes. March 16, 2023. Accessed May 22, 2023. https://www.forbes.com/sites/billfrist/2023/03/16/how-the-robert-wood-johnson-foundation-has-influenced-health-policy–and-my-own-life–for-five-decades/?sh=37e8afd036dd.
18. “Awarded Grants.” Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Accessed May 22, 2023. https://www.rwjf.org/en/grants/awarded-grants.html?t=topics%3A1930.
19. Strom, Stephanie. “A City Tries to Slim Down.” The New York Times. June 13, 2011. Accessed May 22, 2023. https://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/14/health/14obese.html.
20. Sternberg, Steve. “A Healthy Return.” US News. May 2, 2018. Accessed May 22, 2023. https://www.usnews.com/news/healthiest-communities/articles/2018-05-02/health-and-wealth-is-being-rich-the-only-road-to-well-being.
21. Bendaas, Yasmin. “RWJF President Richard Besser speaks on building a culture of equity.” NCCPPR. February 15, 2019. Accessed May 22, 2023. https://nccppr.org/rwfj-president-richard-besser-speaks-on-building-a-culture-of-equity/.
22. Reyes, Emily Alpert. “Same hospitals but worse outcomes for Black patients than white ones.” Los Angeles Times. July 20, 2021. Accessed May 22, 2023. https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-07-20/black-patients-injuries-illness-surgery-same-hospitals.
23. “Statement from Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Public Health and Racial Justice Advocates Strongly Supports Congress Permanently Closing the Medicaid Coverage Gap.” PRNewsWire. Septemeber 16, 2021. Accessed May 22, 2023. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/statement-from-robert-wood-johnson-foundation-and-public-health-and-racial-justice-advocates-strongly-supports-congress-permanently-closing-the-medicaid-coverage-gap-301379125.html.
24. “Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Commitment.” Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Accessed May 22, 2023. https://www.rwjf.org/en/about-rwjf/how-we-work/organizational-policies/equity-diversity-and-inclusion.html.
25. Ihejireka, Maudlyn. “Public health expert: ‘Marshall Plan’ needed to redress coronavirus race disparities.” Chicago Sun Times. April 19, 2020. Accessed May 22, 2023. https://chicago.suntimes.com/coronavirus/2020/4/16/21222757/public-health-expert-marshall-plan-needed-to-redress-coronavirus-race-disparities.
26. Wise, Alan. “A quarter of U.S. adults fear being attacked in their neighborhood, a poll finds.” National Public Radio. Septemeber 8, 2022. Accessed May 22, 2023. https://www.npr.org/2022/09/08/1120099696/americans-fear-attacked-neighborhood-poll.
27. “New survey finds many people don’t believe systemic racism is a barrier to health.” USA Today. January 13, 2021. Updated January 14, 2021. Accessed May 22, 2023. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2021/01/13/rand-survey-finds-many-dont-think-racism-barrier-health/6643274002/.
28. “Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.” ProPublica. Accessed May 22, 2023. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/226029397/202143159349102389/full.
29. “President’s Council on Disability Inclusion in Philanthropy.” Disability Philanthropy. Accessed May 22, 2023. https://disabilityphilanthropy.org/about/presidents-council-on-disability-inclusion-in-philanthropy/.
30. Taliento, Matt Miller and Lynn. “Battling childhood obesity in the US: An interview with Robert Wood Johnson’s CEO.” McKinsey & Company. Accessed April 26, 2017. http://www.mckinsey.com/industries/healthcare-systems-and-services/our-insights/battling-childhood-obesity-in-the-us-an-interview-with-robert-wood-johnsons-ceo.
31. “16 Communities, 37 Million People. One Goal.” Aligning Forces for Quality. Accessed April 26, 2017. http://forces4quality.org/.
32. Taliento, Matt Miller and Lynn. “Battling childhood obesity in the US: An interview with Robert Wood Johnson’s CEO.” McKinsey & Company. Accessed April 26, 2017. http://www.mckinsey.com/industries/healthcare-systems-and-services/our-insights/battling-childhood-obesity-in-the-us-an-interview-with-robert-wood-johnsons-ceo.
33. “Opinion: Get behind CeaseFire to reduce Chicago violence.” Chicago Sun-Times. Accessed July 06, 2017. http://chicago.suntimes.com/opinion/opinion-get-behind-ceasefire-to-reduce-chicago-violence/.
34. Taliento, Matt Miller and Lynn. “Battling childhood obesity in the US: An interview with Robert Wood Johnson’s CEO.” McKinsey & Company. Accessed April 26, 2017. http://www.mckinsey.com/industries/healthcare-systems-and-services/our-insights/battling-childhood-obesity-in-the-us-an-interview-with-robert-wood-johnsons-ceo.
35. Taliento, Matt Miller and Lynn. “Battling childhood obesity in the US: An interview with Robert Wood Johnson’s CEO.” McKinsey & Company. Accessed April 26, 2017. http://www.mckinsey.com/industries/healthcare-systems-and-services/our-insights/battling-childhood-obesity-in-the-us-an-interview-with-robert-wood-johnsons-ceo.
36. “Launching the Center for Healthy Food Access, Education and Marketing to increase access to and build demand for healthy foods and beverages.” RWJF. July 08, 2016. Accessed April 26, 2017. http://www.rwjf.org/en/library/grants/2016/06/launching-the-center-for-healthy-food-access–education-and-mark.html.
37. “The Food Trust Launches the Center for Healthy Food Access.” The Food Trust | The Food Trust Launches the Center for Healthy Food Access. Accessed April 26, 2017. http://thefoodtrust.org/about/administrative/articles/2017/01/20/the-food-trust-launches-the-center-for-healthy-food-access.
38. Taliento, Matt Miller and Lynn. “Battling childhood obesity in the US: An interview with Robert Wood Johnson’s CEO.” McKinsey & Company. Accessed April 26, 2017. http://www.mckinsey.com/industries/healthcare-systems-and-services/our-insights/battling-childhood-obesity-in-the-us-an-interview-with-robert-wood-johnsons-ceo.
39. “Sustaining the work of the Convergence Partnership, 2016-2018.” RWJF. January 02, 2017. Accessed April 26, 2017. http://www.rwjf.org/en/library/grants/2016/12/sustaining-the-work-of-the-convergence-partnership–2016-2018.html.
40. “Achieving the Health Impact Project’s goal of advancing health equity and integrating health into all decisions affecting people.” RWJF. March 30, 2017. Accessed April 26, 2017. http://www.rwjf.org/en/library/grants/2017/03/achieving-the-health-impact-project-s-goal-of-advancing-health-e.html.
41. Piller, Charles. “Private research funders court controversy with billions in secretive investments.” Science. Decemeber 6, 2018. Accessed May 22, 2023. https://www.science.org/content/article/private-research-funders-court-controversy-billions-secretive-investments.
42. “Roger S. Fine.” RWJF. March 07, 2017. Accessed April 26, 2017. http://www.rwjf.org/en/about-rwjf/leadership-staff/board-of-trustees/roger-s-fine.html.
43. “New President And CEO Of Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Named.” Health Affairs. Accessed April 26, 2017. http://healthaffairs.org/blog/2017/02/13/new-president-and-ceo-of-robert-wood-johnson-foundation-named/.