The author discusses an assessment of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's work over a 20-year period to improve end-of-life care in America. The case illustrates the evolution of the strategy from one focused on a multiyear randomized control trial of a series of hospital-based interventions that produced findings of "no effects" into several highly emergent approaches aiming to transform medical education and care delivery and launch a social movement to stimulate consumer and provider demand for better care. The case also illustrates the challenges of discovering strategy in the absence of strategic plans. The author illuminates the role a funder can play in shaping and executing strategic direction, facilitating and impeding progress in a field, and ultimately highlighting efforts made to build the field of end-of-life care. (Contains 3 notes.)