Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF)

Background

In 1952, the foundation, which was originally located in New Brunswick, New Jersey, and called the Johnson New Brunswick Foundation, moved to Princeton, New Jersey, and changed its name to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. At this time, it also expanded its scope and began funding projects throughout New Jersey; previously it only funded local projects in New Brunswick.

In its early decades, the Johnson Foundation developed a set of priorities that still guide its funding: hospitals and healthcare; scholarship support, primarily in the health professions; and community service programs focusing on vulnerable [Page 1041]and underserved populations. In its early years, over half of all its grant funds went to support hospitals and healthcare, primarily in New Brunswick. It also established a large number of educational scholarships for medical, dental, nursing, and pharmaceutical students from low-income backgrounds; approximately 25% of its funds were spent in this area. The remainder of the foundation's spending was directed to community agencies serving indigent people, particularly youth. This included secular organizations such as the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts as well as religion-affiliated organizations such as the Hillel Foundation and the Christ Church of New Brunswick.

In 1968, when Robert Wood Johnson II died, the foundation had a net worth of over $53 million. In his will, he bequeathed $300 million in Johnson & Johnson stock to the foundation. In the 3 years it took to probate his estate, the value of the stock increased to more than $1 billion. This radically changed the foundation, making it the largest health-focused philanthropy in the nation. In 1971, the foundation's policy committee decided that the foundation's grants would have a national focus and that its primary purpose would be to contribute to the advancement of healthcare in the United States. Three specific objectives were adopted: expand access to medical care services for underserved populations through large-scale testing of promising approaches; improve the quality of medical care through measures including funding health professions training programs, especially those designed to increase minority repres en tation in the primary-care disciplines; and develop approaches designed to allow the objective analysis of health-related public policies. Broadly speaking, the RWJF has kept this focus while continuing to maintain a more diverse giving strategy in the New Brunswick, New Jersey, area.

...