Annual Messages

Our annual messages and reports explain our goals, the actions we took to achieve them, and the partnerships that have helped us to create opportunities that improve health and health equity.

Answering the Call for a Healthy, Inclusive Democracy

During a time of calculated attacks against our democracy, we hear a call for justice from every neighborhood and community. A call for those with power, privilege, and resources to put those on the line for the betterment of everyone. And we will answer.

Read the 2026 Annual Message

2025 Annual Message

Reaffirming Our Shared Vision

To create the future we all want to see, RWJF has no choice but to remain steadfast, alongside grantees and partners, in its pursuit of a future where health is no longer a privilege, but a right.

A World Where Health is Privilege, Not a Right

2024 Annual Message

Health Should No Longer Be a Privilege, But a Right

As we look to RWJF’s future, we are making significant changes to our work to center dismantling one of the biggest barriers to health in America: structural racism.

Equitable Community Development Structural Racism

2019 Annual Message

Homes are Key to Our Health

Where we live matters to our health. But when families struggle to put a roof over their heads, it can take a toll on their health. RWJF believes affordable housing is an important health equity issue.

Social Determinants of Health Housing

For RWJF "Keeping Families Together"

BRONX, NEW YORK - MAY 19: Jose Soto, his wife, Evelyn, and their daughter Desiny, 3, spend time together in their apartment and neighborhood in the Bronx, New York May 19, 2010.

2018 Annual Message

Putting Our Principles to Work

In his 2018 Annual Message, RWJF President and CEO Richard Besser reflects on the guiding principles that drive the Foundation’s work to improve health and health care for all, describing them as an accounting of what we aspire to be as a Foundation.

Valerie De Los Santos, 6, climbs on the jungle gym in the new playground in Lawrence's Campagnone Common on a Sunday afternoon.

2017 Annual Message

Seven Lessons I've Learned About Improving Health in America

In her 2017 Annual Message, former President and CEO Risa Lavizzo-Mourey shares what she has learned after 14 years leading RWJF in the pursuit of improving health for everyone in America.

2016 Annual Message

Joining Forces to Build Momentum

In her 2016 Annual Message, former president and CEO Risa Lavizzo-Mourey shares how RWJF is working alongside many others to build a national Culture of Health.

Public and Community Health

Fall River is one of six winners of the inaugural RWJF Culture of Health Prize, which honors outstanding community partnerships helping people live healthier lives. Coalition members and the City have developed programs to reduce youth violence and help high school dropouts in Fall River develop job skills; worked alongside youth who advocated for a successful citywide ban on tobacco sales in pharmacies; and renovated a former mill building into a state-of-the art multi-vendor health center for low-income people

2015 Annual Message

In it Together: Building a Culture of Health

The Foundation's vision of building a Culture of Health calls for action within and across sectors to help our nation broaden the discussion about health, set goals, and integrate efforts to move the needle forward.

RWJF Nebraska: Students have fun during recess at Buffalo Hills Elementary school in Kearney, Nebraska.
Photo by Matt Moyer (RELEASED BY MATT MOYER) SEE RELEASES FOR PHOTO AND NAME INFO,RWJF Nebraska: Students have fun during recess at Buffalo Hills Elementary school in Kearney, Nebraska.
Photo by Matt Moyer (RELEASED BY MATT MOYER) SEE RELEASES FOR PHOTO AND NAME INFO,RWJF Nebraska: Students have fun during recess at Buffalo Hills Elementary school in Kearney, Nebraska.
Photo by Matt Moyer (RELEASED BY MATT MOYER) SEE RELEASES FOR PHOTO AND NAME INFO,RWJF Nebraska: Students have fun during recess at Buffalo Hills Elementary school in Kearney, Nebraska.
Photo by Matt Moyer (RELEASED BY MATT MOYER) SEE RELEASES FOR PHOTO AND NAME INFO

2014 Annual Message

What Does Culture of Health Mean to You?

Former RWJF President and CEO Risa Lavizzo-Mourey shares the Foundation's vision, highlighting that there is no single definition for a Culture of Health which means it will be as multifaceted as the population it serves.