Philanthropic Funding Key in Financial Support For Nursing

Nurse.com spotlights the investment in nursing education support by device and pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson (J&J). While J&J cannot solely take the credit for this infusion of philanthropic support of nursing education, it has certainly played an integral role. Because of the expected shortage in nursing, and the need to expand education capacity, nurse leaders hope that more philanthropic initiatives like J&J will become a catalyst in raising funds for nursing. One such organization, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, has taken on this task by forming a partnership in 2007 with AARP to launch the Center to Champion Nursing in America (CCNA). Because of the critical link between consumer awareness and nursing support, CCNA has convened healthcare, business and consumer coalitions at national and state levels and has hosted national summits and forums. CCNA chief strategist Susan Reinhard, RN, PhD, FAAN, says, “I’ve had a lot of different positions in my career, but this is the first time I’ve had the opportunity to be in such a powerful consumer organization where I work with nursing and non-nursing organizations to tackle some of the barriers we’ve been facing for decades.” Read more.