NCRP Honors Robert Wood Johnson Foundation with its
“Get Up, Stand Up” Award for Rapid-Response Grantmaking
WASHINGTON, DC – In 2025 alone, RWJF has issued $10 million in stop-gap funding for National Institutes of Health and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention grantees. $20 million has been moved to support the preservation of public health data that informs research and treatments. Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF)’s Evidence for Action (E4A) program provides rapid response research grants to help mitigate the impact of reductions in federal funding for existing research. The program also works to offer new research support for action-oriented studies that address continuous and emerging threats.
As nonprofit organizations grapple with increasingly hostile environments and limited resources, the immediate help and collective advocacy organized by RWJF has been crucial in helping navigate the country’s increasing threats to racial and Indigenous health equity.
That is why the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy (NCRP) is honoring the foundation with its 2025 “Get Up, Stand Up” Award for Rapid-Response Grantmaking.
“The Selection Committee selected RWJF for their bold and urgent leadership in reshaping the systems — laws, policies, norms — that determine who has access to resources and health,” said NCRP President and CEO Aaron Dorfman. “At a time when too many are hesitating or stepping back, RWJF is charging forward. They are not simply imagining a better more equitable future — they’re showing the entire sector how to get there, and why we can’t afford to wait.”
RWJF is one of five honorees that will be honored on October 29 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, at the 2025 IMPACT Awards. Past winners of NCRP’s “Get Up, Stand Up” Award for Rapid-Response Grantmaking include Black Immigrants Bail Fund, California Wellness Project, Emergent Fund, and the Solutions Project.
The “Get Up, Stand Up” Award for Rapid-Response Grantmaking goes to a funder that provides timely, flexible resources and adjusted processes to respond quickly to urgent movement needs, especially those of smaller grassroots, frontline groups.
“This year, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has shown what’s possible when large foundations use their voice to speak up boldly about injustice, move money swiftly in response, and remain clear about the cost of inaction. We’re honored to award them the “Get Up, Stand Up” Award, and we hope other funders will follow their example of public leadership,” said NCRP’s Field Director Ben Barge.
Click here to read more about the work of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and why they were chosen to be NCRP’s 2025 “Get Up, Stand Up” Award for Rapid-Response Grantmaking.
ABOUT THE 2025 IMPACT AWARDS
Since 2013, NCRP has awarded 34 IMPACT Awards to grantmakers in recognition of support, leadership and partnership with grassroots organizations and community leaders around critical issues. In 2023, we added a fifth, the Pablo Eisenberg Memorial Prize for Philanthropy Criticism, in honor of NCRP’s founding board chair.
The IMPACT Awards ceremony takes place at the CHANGE Unity Summit. Click here for more information on the 2025 Unity Summit.
ABOUT NCRP
The National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy (NCRP) has served as philanthropy’s critical friend and independent watchdog since 1976. We partner with foundations, nonprofits and social movements to ensure that the philanthropic sector is accountable to communities with the least wealth, opportunity and power.
For nearly 50 years, NCRP’s storytelling, advocacy and research efforts have fostered transparency and accountability within the sector, and helped funders fulfill their moral and practical duty to build, share and wield power to serve the public.
