OVERVIEW: The Betty Wold Johnson Foundation supports education, youth engagement, healthcare and environmental causes.
IP TAKE: The Betty Wold Johnson Foundation is a funder that is rapidly expanding in size and “whose endowment went from zero a few years ago” to nearly $875 million recently. Despite this rapid expansion, it maintains a low public profile and offers little guidance on its funding priorities or application process. Tax filings indicate that the foundation takes a highly proactive, invitation-only approach, directing larger grants to established organizations—particularly in New Jersey and the New York metropolitan area—with strong institutional reputations or existing relationships to the Johnson family. Organizations seeking support are unlikely to succeed through cold outreach alone; cultivating introductions through board members, peer funders, or current grantees is likely to be a more effective strategy than submitting an unsolicited request.
PROFILE: Established in 2021, the Betty Wold Johnson Foundation (BWJF) is a legacy funder created to honor the memory of Betty Wold Johnson, who passed away in May 2020 at the age of 99. Raised in Minnesota, Wold Johnson was married to Robert Wood Johnson III until his death in 1970. He was the grandson of one of the founders of Johnson & Johnson, the pharmaceutical company, and he served as president of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the philanthropy established by his father. A “renowned philanthropist” during her lifetime, Betty supported the arts, education and health, mainly in New York and New Jersey.
BWJF is led by Wold Johnson’s surviving children, Christopher Wold Johnson, co-owner and former CEO of the New York Jets football team, and Robert Wood Johnson IV, Jets co-owner and former Ambassador to the United Kingdom during the first Trump administration. The foundation is dedicated to “cultivating initiatives that improve the American experience.” Its grantmaking focuses on healthcare, environment, education, and youth engagement.
Grants for K-12 and Higher Education
The foundation names Education and Youth Engagement as priorities for its giving. Grants support a broad range of K-12 schools and nonprofits that support young people. Higher education is a smaller area of interest.
- In terms of K-12 education, the foundation appears to prioritize charter and private schools. New York City’s Success Academy charter network received $10 million in 2024. Other K-12 grantees include Deerfield Academy and Foundation Academies, a charter network in New Jersey.
- BWJF does not name specific goals for its youth engagement grants, and this appears to be a smaller giving area. Grantees include the Children’s Home Society of New Jersey and Yonkers Partners in Education, which helps underserved students prepare for and enroll in postsecondary education.
- Higher education support has gone to Harvard University and Buffalo State University.
Grants for Health and Human Services
This funder’s grants for health and human services prioritizes New York and New Jersey and broadly invests in a range of organizations, typically national disease-related organizations and institutes, but this may evolve as the foundation reconsiders giving.
- Wold Johnson created Princeton Health’s Centennial Challenge Grant with $1,000,000 to establish a nursing endowment, and she contributed to Penn Medicine Princeton Health’s Training and Simulation Lab.
- She gave more than $50 million to the Lupus Research Alliance after a family member was diagnosed with the disease. Ira Akselrad, one of the Wold Johnson Foundation’s three co-presidents, currently sits on the board.
- Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation is another former grantee.
- Regarding human services, she supported Project Renewal, an organization that provides “stable housing, comprehensive health care, and good jobs” to help reduce homelessness in New York City, and she gave $250,000 for COVID-19 relief to the Princeton Area Community Foundation, which houses her endowed funds that will “support [the] community in perpetuity.”
Grants for Environment
Environmental grants have tended to be broad and focused on established organizations or efforts that bear the family name. While many grants support watershed and conservation efforts, the portfolio also includes broader environmental organizations.
- The founder helped fund the restoration of the Billy Johnson Mountain Lakes Preserve, which was named after her son who died in a motorcycle accident in 1975.
- In 2021, Wold Johnson’s estate gave $10 million to the Watershed Institute, the largest gift in its history, to help establish an endowment fund. She also served on the institute’s advisory board for two decades and supported construction of the Watershed Center for Environmental Advocacy, Science & Education.
- The estate also gifted her 800-acre historic Hillside Farm in Hopewell, New Jersey to D&R Greenway.\
- Additional grantmaking has supported the Central Park Conservancy and the Nature Conservancy of New Jersey.
Grants for Arts and Culture
Although arts and culture are not named as areas of focus, BWJF invests in arts and culture organizations that are well-established or bear the family name.
- Betty Wold Johnson supported the arts because she believed they “feed the spirit.” She backed the New Jersey Performing Arts Center with a $11 million donation in 2008, and she bequeathed $20 million to the arts center in her will.
- She also bequeathed $5 million to the Liberty Science Center to help renovate its tower.
- In 2025, the Wold Johnson Foundation gave $3 million to Grounds For Sculpture, a sculpture park in New Jersey that was founded by Betty’s cousin, Seward Johnson.
- She also supported the Aspen Music Festival, the New York City Opera, the Arts Council of Princeton, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.
Important Grant Details:
BWJF’s annual grantmaking has seen a substantial increase in its most recent tax filing. The foundation awarded approximately $29.1 million in grants in 2024 through just 19 grants. Grants range anywhere from $10,000 to $10 million, but the median grant size stands at about $300,000.
- The foundation provides information about its grantees on its website.
- Geography: Recent grantmaking has been concentrated in New Jersey—particularly Princeton—and the New York metropolitan area, while select national organizations have also received support.
- Best fit organizations: Established nonprofit organizations, hospitals, educational institutions, environmental organizations, and charter school networks with strong ties to New Jersey and the New York metropolitan area.
- Less likely fits: Smaller grassroots organizations and early-stage nonprofits without existing relationships to the foundation.
- Tax filings indicate that the foundation preselects its grantees and typically does not accept unsolicited proposals.
- Use the contact form to send a message or email the foundation at lhoward@bwjf.org. The foundation’s phone number is (212) 332-7500.
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