Address: 14 Maple Avenue, Suite 200, Morristown, NJ 07960
Phone: 973.540.0101
Web: https://rippel.org
Email: info@rippel.org
The Rippel Foundation was established in 1953 to invest in initiatives addressing cancer, heart disease, the health of women and the elderly, and the maintenance of the nation’s hospitals. Today, as an operating foundation, Rippel works with people, organizations, and networks across the country, including health systems, community health centers, federal, state and local governments and policymakers, multisector coalitions, philanthropies, business and many others, to catalyze change towards a future where everyone thrives together—no exceptions.
The foundation works locally, statewide, regionally, and nationally because a thriving future requires change at all levels. Rippel influences and learns from its partnerships with other national leaders in the movement to thrive together.
Program Information:
For nearly two decades, Rippel has worked to support stewards—changemakers who work in a variety of sectors and organizations—of the systems that shape our lives together. Developing evidence-based tools, frameworks, quantitative dynamic models, workshops, learning and evaluation tools, and facilitated sessions, Rippel provides customized support for new ways of working and investing. The foundation supports leaders and multi-sector coalitions to bridge differences, foster hope, and align around comprehensive strategies to improve the well-being of their constituents. An integral part of Rippel’s work is driving narrative change by uplifting stories of stewards across the country doing the work of systems change in their communities.
Financial Information:
Total Assets: $86,589,898 (FY24)
Special Initiatives and/or Representative Health and Human Services Grants
Through its flagship initiative, ReThink Health, Rippel helps stewards across sectors think differently about improving community health and making enduring changes that enable people to thrive. ReThink Health provides real-world tools, frameworks, data, stories, and expertise that help stewards deepen their skills, sustain and grow their efforts, and shift investments in meaningful ways to expand the vital conditions for health and well-being.
To leverage Rippel’s role as a catalyst and bridge builder for broader-scale systems change, it seeks the partnership of other organizations to make progress and broaden its impact. Examples of its work include:
Advancing Shared Stewardship—Stewards are people, organizations, and networks that work with others to create conditions that all people need to thrive, beginning with those who are struggling and suffering. Together with stewards, it advocates for a wide variety of system changes to improve health and well-being for everyone. Examples of this work include helping health care systems shift resources to focus on whole-person community health; remaking power structures to be more inclusive; reducing organizational and institutional siloes; and building civic muscle among community residents.
The Vital Conditions for Health and Well-Being—The vital conditions are the aspects of places and institutions that we all need to reach our full potential. They include physical necessities like food, water, and humane housing, but also include attributes that are harder to quantify, like a sense of belonging and agency or civic muscle. Investments in these conditions are necessary to create an equitable, thriving future now and for generations to come. Rippel makes the framework understandable, relatable, and actionable for stewards, helping them prioritize decision-making and increase investments in vital conditions for well-being while reducing reliance on urgent services within well-being portfolios.
The ReThink Health Toolbox webinar series—The ReThink Health Toolbox webinar series provides stewards with practical approaches for driving transformative change in their communities. The series features changemakers who share practical examples and insights to deepen real-world understanding and application of key tools and frameworks in various settings across the country.
Making Progress Visible: The Hub—Making significant gains toward an ambitious goal can feel impossible when there is limited or no visibility into tangible signs of progress. Currently, no measurement schemes offer an ecosystem perspective on all the elements needed to advance equitable system change. The foundation is developing a data and stories hub to help stewards gauge and see progress to inform their planning, and to grasp the power of being part of something bigger. Addressing a need for trusted, reliable data is especially critical now, and building out The Hub is a collaborative effort.
Building the Will to Thrive Together—The future we want to create won’t be possible unless we break from business-as-usual and make decisive shifts toward the vital conditions for health and well-being. Rippel partnered with TheCaseMade to create a Playbook for Building the Will to Thrive Together that shares practical strategies for stewards to work across divides, foster belonging, and connect with others to make lasting, meaningful change. Rippel’s Building the Will to Thrive Together work convenes, organizes, and supports stewards to apply these approaches in their efforts to foster a shared vision and make progress on systems change.
Dynamic Modeling—Rippel’s ReThink Health initiative and numerous contributors have developed a suite of award-winning simulation models that help stewards see for themselves how the decisions and investments they make can change systems over time, drive long-term impacts for equitable health and well-being, and create thriving communities. For example, in a recent PLOS One article, the dynamics model was used to examine “People & Places Thriving: The Federal Plan for Long-Term Resilience” and test the potential impact of investing in and expanding the vital conditions for health and well-being. The model demonstrated how the Federal Plan could result in more people thriving, fewer suffering, and longer lives, if implemented.
The Rippel Foundation and GIH
As a long-standing member of the Grantmakers In Health network, The Rippel Foundation has gained invaluable insight and connections across the field. Several Rippel staff members have participated in the Terrance Keenan Institute as fellows, greatly enhancing the foundation’s organizational leadership development and capacity-building. Rippel utilizes the platform that GIH provides for the community to share opinions, lessons, and insights with fellow organizations. Rippel contributed to this platform through a co-authored blog titled, Building a Better Bridge Between Funders and Communities. Additionally, Rippel partnered with GIH on the Long View Webinar Series, which explored thinking in long-term time horizons to collectively build a more equitable and just future.
Role of Philanthropy in Meeting Pressing Needs
“Now more than ever, philanthropy can play a crucial role in bringing people together to focus on values we all agree can move us toward a future where all people thrive, no exceptions. The Rippel Foundation and ReThink Health enjoy a special role as a catalyst in pursuing this ambitious goal—helping others see their power and having the courage to use it to bring about transformational change. Right now, we must resist further fracturing and distraction and commit to making serious investments in the vital conditions to advance shared values of justice and fairness. There is no shortcut to a thriving future, especially now, and we have a track record of supporting individuals, organizations, and regions to courageously plan and invest for long-term, intergenerational impact.”
–Becky Payne, President and CEO