Investing in Well-Being: How the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Supports Thriving Communities

• The writer's desk
• July 22, 2024
• 0 Comments

RWJF is a leading national philanthropy dedicated to taking bold leaps to transform health in our lifetime. To get there, they work to dismantle structural racism and other barriers to health. Through funding, convening, advocacy, and evidence-building, they work side-by-side with communities, practitioners, and institutions to achieve health equity faster and pave the way, together, to a future where health is no longer a privilege, but a right.

They focus on identifying, illuminating, and addressing barriers to health, particularly those caused by structural racism and other forms of discrimination such as sexism, ableism, and prejudice based on sexual orientation. 

Through its grants and impact investments, RWJF seeks to ensure that community development capital flows to the places that have long been neglected by investment and that financing and development decisions center the priorities and solutions of local residents and safeguard against any unintended consequences, such as displacement. This will help make it possible for everyone to achieve their best health and well-being.

The community development finance system made up of mission-driven lenders that include banks, credit unions, loan funds, and municipal finance agencies, among others—is the main driver of capital for communities that historically have experienced a lack of investment, especially communities of color and those with low incomes.

They build and lift up evidence that deepens their understanding of health. They promote policies and practices that challenge their institutions to be more equitable and effective for all of us. They fund diverse leaders who draw upon both innovative and time-tested strategies to create lasting change. They also create space for practitioners, community leaders, and researchers to come together across sectors. They harness these efforts to achieve health equity—faster and together.

They do this by:

• Funding innovative and time-tested strategies to create lasting change for health equity
• Creating space for health practitioners, community leaders, and researchers to work collectively to shift national conversations about health
• Supporting evidence that deepens and shifts their understanding of health and well-being
• Promoting policies and practices that challenge our institutions to be more equitable and effective for all of us
• Cultivating leaders who work individually and collectively across sectors to address health equity
• Catalyzing more equitable approaches to developing and investing in communities

The Foundation is committed to applying a cycle of research, evaluation, and learning to create opportunities that improve health equity.

Their formal evaluation activities fall into two categories: 

• Third-party evaluations that assess the impact of their funding and real-time monitoring of national and local system changes that relate to their grant programs so they can adjust, as needed. 
• They also support a range of learning activities that inform their decision-making and capture lessons learned from grantmaking. 

Their goal of promoting health equity requires them to take an equitable approach to their research, evaluation, and learning efforts.

This means thinking critically about who is doing the research and designing the questions, how the data are gathered and reported, who is visible and included in the research process, who interprets the results, and how the community owns the findings. Since 2019, RWJF has been a practice and investment partner in the Equitable Evaluation Initiative. What they have learned through this partnership has deepened their commitment to centering equity in evaluation. They are doing the work to ensure that these principles guide every aspect of our programs, practices, and projects. From how they design proposals to the innovative methods they support, they are committed to diversifying our research, authentically engaging communities, and building evidence for solutions that will make a bigger difference.