“We must have substantially new manners of thinking to enable mankind to bridge the gap between the things that have been and the things which will be.” Julius A. Rippel, 1969

Our new mission statement and funding priorities emerged from answering a few basic questions: Who were our founders and what did they expect?  How do we translate their vision and intent into relevant issues for today’s world?  And, what can we do to most effectively leverage a limited pool of resources?   

Our strategic planning process sought answers from our roots.  Searching the archives of New Jersey and talking with those who knew the family, we found a remarkable story in the tenacity and innovation of Julius S. Rippel, the founder.  Julius’ entrepreneurial spirit and risk-taking behavior were notable. In his business life, he created new financial products and creatively overcame significant setbacks. He also served as a leader in his community and family.  In addition, he and his wife, Fannie, shared a commitment to health.   <Learn more about our founders.>   

The founder’s nephew, Julius A. Rippel, served as the Foundation’s first president.  Over the next 30 years, he set the tone for what the Foundation would become.  Identifying “private foundation money as a precious and limited and very special national asset,"  he believed foundations should be "pioneers … [who]… have the courage to take initiative" in response to "changes in modern life."  He also came to understand the limited capacity of our healthcare system to care for the sick and the overwhelming importance of prevention to maintain one’s well-being. As a result, he became an early advocate of system change, stressing the importance of leadership, medical education, alternative approaches to care, and new ways of thinking.

In 1967 he questioned whether the system measured up:  “Does the individual really get what he should?” “How can this be achieved more fully?”  “What changes need to be made?” Decades later, we find ourselves asking many of the same questions about a broken healthcare system.  We believe both Julius S. and Julius A. Rippel would heartily disapprove of a system that spends twice as much per person on healthcare yet achieves far worse outcomes than other industrialized nations.

Our mission is: to strategically invest our limited resources to seed innovation, catalyze change, and create model processes that will lead to improvements in health. This mission statement builds upon the past, as well as our knowledge of the current healthcare models for cancer, heart disease, women, the elderly, and hospitals. Like Julius A. Rippel, our current Trustees understand that major advances in the critical areas identified by our founder will require substantially new ways of thinking. <Learn more about our purpose.>

We must redefine how we think about health and well-being… and, we must restructure the delivery of healthcare to promote individual resilience and vitality.  With our motto, "Seeding Innovations in Health," the Foundation embraces its history while recognizing the need to think and act differently as we help to create a better healthcare system.