Our History
The philanthropy we practice seeks to be transformative—to change society and the lives of all Americans for the better. It is philanthropy that can alter the trajectory of families, neighborhoods and communities, prompt new public policies, trigger new private actions, change current systems—even invent entire new ones. Some examples of our past efforts are illustrative:
9-1-1
Today, every schoolchild in America knows to dial 9-1-1 in an emergency. That wasn't the case more than 35 years ago when we first helped to create and spread what has become today's modern emergency medical response system. Emergency medicine is now a professional discipline and most hospitals, towns and cities now have integrated emergency systems.
Tobacco
The changes in public behavior and attitudes concerning tobacco use are staggering and represent a tremendous public health success story. Fifteen years ago, we introduced new approaches for research, prevention and treatment of tobacco use that have achieved extraordinary results, improving the public's health and saving millions of lives.
End-of-Life Care
We were instrumental in helping establish and legitimize the field of end-of-life care, developing guidelines for what constitutes good palliative care; training and mobilizing health professionals, consumers, families, and elected and appointed officials to change both policy and practice for the better; and promoting the adoption of palliative care programs into hundreds of hospitals across the United States. What was once an issue that was ignored or swept under the rug is now an integral, recognized feature of high-quality health care.
As we continue to address the difficult health and health care issues that face our country—like reversing the rise in childhood obesity; improving the quality of care and reducing disparities; raising the visibility, effectiveness and readiness of our public health systems; and ensuring that everyone in America has stable, affordable health care coverage—we hope, and expect, to have similar impact.
Learn more about how RWJF prioritizes its program work today.
Read more about the Foundation's history.
- The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation: The Early Years Published in the RWJF Anthology To Improve Health and Health Care, Volume VIII By Joel R. Gardner and Andrew R. Harrison
- The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation: 1974-2002 Published in the RWJF Anthology To Improve Health and Health Care, Volume X By Joel R. Gardner
- Previous editions of the RWJF Anthology
Learn more about our founder, Robert Wood Johnson.
