RWJF - President's Message 2000

    At the national level, leadership is noticeably fragmented. People become exceptionally invested in a particular approach and thus, close-minded to others. Sporadic, unpredictable, and fragmented funding has left “orphans” who resent others getting funds ahead of them. They have become martyrs and it is difficult for them to shed that embattled mentality. There is infighting and divisiveness, as we saw over the money from the tobacco settlement, and a sense that some players value being correct more than being successful.
    As I mentioned earlier, the field lacks sufficient incentives to draw in the best and the brightest. The leadership suffers from a lack of diversity. I recall an early meeting we held with Bill Moyers and substance abuse experts as we began planning for his PBS show on addiction. Every expert was a white male.
    Another formidable obstacle to effective policy change has been the power of the tobacco and alcohol industries and the fact that they deal with legal substances. It loomed in our Board meetings, as it has at all levels of government. These companies use sophisticated marketing to drive sales and we all know that they play hardball with anyone who tries to get in their way. This intimidation has been an enormous weapon.

HOPE NOW AND FOR THE FUTURE
These barriers and frustrations challenge all of us. But looking at the Foundation, I am heartened by how comfortable our staff and trustees now feel on this issue. As we came to appreciate the staggering impact of substance abuse, our engagement and commitment deepened. When I think back to how controversial tobacco seemed in 1991, I can laugh at a comment made a couple of years later by a trustee who had been a vocal opponent of including tobacco. The Foundation was considering grants regarding health care reform, and he pleaded, “Can’t we do something noncontroversial, like smoking?”
    Just as the hesitation in the philanthropic world a decade or so ago mirrored the larger society, I think the commitment and increased sense of possibility we now see at the Foundation has a promising counterpart there. So I see a number of reasons for optimism at this stage. Let me mention a few of them.

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