The New Jersey based health-care foundation, which includes substance abuse as one of its major program areas, made 155 grants totaling $60.7 million, mostly in 1997 and 1998, according to the Foundation Center's 1999/2000 Grants for Alcohol and Drug Abuse report. The next 24-biggest supporters of substance abuse programs combined made an additional 132 grants totaling $196 million.

RWJF has not only continued its support of alcohol, tobacco and other drug programs, but increased it dramatically: in 1999, the foundation made $123 million in grants to support such programs. Priorities for the foundation include programs that prevent and delay the onset of alcohol, tobacco, and illegal drug use by youth, improve systems of care to help people with substance-abuse problems, and effort to build the substance-abuse field and increase the salience of the substance-abuse issue.

Not surprisingly, RWJF awarded 12 of the 15 biggest grants in the addiction field during the time period examined in the Foundation Center report. The recipient of the single-largest grant awarded was the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, which was awarded $13.197 million by RWJF to develop CASAWORKS -- a treatment, job training and social services program aimed at helping women on welfare. CASA also received the single-largest non-RWJF grant -- $1.124 million from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation.

According to the Foundation Center report, the Open Society Institute has not-so-quietly moved into second place among substance abuse funders, making 19 grants totaling $4.23 million. OSI has stirred controversy by funding drug-policy reform groups and initiatives, such as the Drug Policy Foundation and ballot campaigns to legalize the medical use of marijuana, but also has funded addiction treatment for paroled prisoners in Arizona and provided general support to the addiction-policy think-tank Drug Strategies.

The Conrad N. Hilton Foundation and the California Endowment were the only other foundation to award more than $1 million to substance abuse programs, according to the Foundation Center report. The Hilton Foundation is perhaps most well-known for its support of the BEST Foundation for a Drug-Free Tomorrow, developers of the Project ALERT prevention curriculum. The Nevada-based foundation also has support addiction treatment and tobacco prevention projects, among others.

The California Endowment is a relative newcomer to the grantmaking scene, formed from the conversion of Blue Cross of California from a non-profit organization to a for-profit company. But the foundation already is making a strong impact in California, where it awarded seven grants for a combined $1.692 million within its first two years of operation, according to the Foundation Center report.

The rest of the top-25 grantmakers in alcohol and other drug abuse included:

• The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation: $872,900
• The California Wellness Foundation: $790,000
• The Ford Foundation: $780,000
• W.K. Kellogg Foundation: $736,767
• The Annie E. Casey Foundation: $722,000
• The David and Lucile Packard Foundation: $718,000
• The Tisch Foundation: $658,521
• The Bush Foundation: $600,000
• The Houston Endowment, Inc.: $590,000
• The John S. and James L. McKnight Foundation: $575,000
• The van Ameringen Foundation: $562,278
• The New York Community Trust: $547,500
• The David Geffen Foundation: $521,000
• The John P. McGovern Foundation: $500,000
• The Citigroup Foundation: $455,000
• The Scaife Family Foundation: $443,000
• The Meyer Memorial Trust: $380,000
• The Abell Foundation, Inc.: $365,000
• The James H. and Judith L. DeVries Charitable Foundation: $360,000
• The Kansas Health Foundation: $356,003
• The William Randolph Hearst Foundation: $350,000

According to the Foundation Center report, mental health agencies and hospitals were the top recipient of foundation funding, receiving 581 grants totaling more than $32.5 million. human-services agencies received 240 grants worth a total of $14.3 million, while disease-specific health associations won 76 grants totaling $6 million. Other favorite recipients for foundations included colleges and universities, public and general health organizations, and hospital and medical care facilities.

While foundation funding receives much public attention, however, it is important to note that the public sector is by far the largest funder of addiction treatment and prevention programs. Of the estimated $11.4 billion spent on addiction treatment alone in 1997, for example, 64.3 percent, or $7.3 billion, came from federal, state and local government. Of the balance, most private-sector funding came from insurance companies and individual consumers, not foundations. Government also pays the lion's share of the cost of prevention programs.

Grants for Alcohol and Drug Abuse 1999/2000 is available for $75 from the Foundation Center, 79 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10003; 212-620-4230; fax 212-691-1828.