Robert Wood Johnson's Sports Philanthropy Project

A new anthology entitled, To Improve Health and Health Care, has recently been released by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to describe "...the paths we have and our grantees have taken, why we chose those paths, and the lessons we've learned from our experiences."

One of the essays focuses on RWJ's launch, nine years ago, of the Sports Philanthropy Project. It's great to read of this effort to systematically "harness the enormous communications power and public prestige of professional athletes on behalf of public health issues" because:

- Nine years ago, when strategic philanthropy wasn't all the rage in mainstream press, innovative approaches like this one were being incubated by a major foundations like RWJ.

- While many foundations position themselves in the vein of ivory towers, RWJ was willing to get in the dirt with this effort. Clearly folks are influenced and affected by athletes and, as the article points out, athletic teams and individual athletes have inconsistent records delivering on that influence for social benefit. This effort aimed from the start, with substantial dollars, to build on the promise.

If you care about sports philanthropy, innovative attempts to advance health, or specific ways to address obesity, you should definitely check out the article and the anthology.

Susan Herr