OVERVIEW: The Rockefeller Brothers Fund runs thematic grantmaking and investment programs for democracy in the U.S. and globally, climate, clean energy, and sustainable development, and global peacebuilding. It also runs place-based initiatives to address specific issues in Central America, the Western Balkans and China. Grantmaking for the arts is limited to New York City
IP TAKE: The Rockefeller Brothers Fund (RFB) is a longtime grantmaker with respected programs in its overlapping areas of interest. It’s also been a leader in the area of impact investing, was an early foundation to divest from fossil fuels, and has made commitments to increase its endowment payouts. Beginning in 2020, RFB increased its pledges to racial justice programs, movement building and democracy programs in the U.S. Reflecting on RFB’s willingness to change with the times, Inside Philanthropy reporter Philip Rojc wrote, “though its name conjures up images of Gilded Age wealth and old-school legacy philanthropy, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund isn’t averse to risk, nor is it stuck in the past.” In recent years, RFB has been one of the few major funders to maintain a focus on global peace and security.
RFB is a particularly transparent funder, with detailed information about past and current grantees available at its grants database. It makes hundreds of grants every year to organizations in dozens of countries, supporting organizations both large and small. This foundation accepts unsolicited grant proposals, but it asks grantseekers to first carefully consider if their organization is a good fit, noting that “less than one percent of unsolicited grant applications result in funding.” Grantseekers are advised to reach out first to develop a relationship and receive guidance, provided that your work aligns closely here and can scale.
PROFILE: The Rockefeller Brothers Fund (RBF) was established in 1940 by Nelson, Winthrop, Laurance, David, and John D. Rockefeller III, the sons of John D. Rockefeller Jr., who provided the foundation’s initial endowment, along with a further bequest from his estate upon his death. Originally founded simply to coordinate the family’s personal charitable giving, RBF is currently on a mission to promote “social change that contributes to a more just, sustainable, and peaceful world.” Since merging with the Charles E. Culpeper Foundation in 1999, RBF has been committed to “supporting solutions to climate change, advancing a vital and inclusive democracy, peace-building, and supporting a vibrant and inclusive arts community in our home city of New York.”
The foundation’s program areas include Democratic Practice, Sustainable Development, Peacebuilding and Culpeper Arts & Culture. The fund also runs three “pivotal place programs” to pursue grantmaking goals in Central America, China and the Western Balkans. Finally, the Pocantico Center, a former Rockefeller home in Tarrytown, New York, is maintained by the fund as a cultural center and artist’s residence.
Grants for Civic Engagement and Democracy
RBF conducts grantmaking for democracy through its Democratic Practice and Western Balkans programs.
Grantmaking from the Democratic Practice program seeks to “strengthen the vitality of democracy in the United States and in global governance.”
In the U.S., the program works to ‘“advance a vital and inclusive democracy.” Strategies include increasing engagement through election and voting reforms, building movements for economic and racial equity, and combating “corruptive influences, including money and privileged relationships.” U.S. grantees include the Center for Technology and Civil Life, the Roosevelt Institute and ColorofChange.org.
The global arm of the program advances “democratic practices to address global challenges.” Focusing on developing nations, this subprogram’s strategies include “analysis and communication of […] global processes and institutions,” organizing citizens to advocate for broad measures toward equity and sustainability, and supporting “innovative ideas” and opportunities to address emerging global challenges.
Global democracy grantees include Spain’s GRAIN Foundation, the Netherlands’ Stichting Transnational Institute and South Africa’s groundWork Trust.
RBF also supports democracy through its place-based initiative for the Western Balkans, where it makes grants to groups that “work toward strengthening democratic practice, advancing reconciliation and durable peace, enabling sustainable development, and promoting a European future for the region.”
- Grantmaking focuses on Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania and North Macedonia.
- Grantees of this program include the American Councils for International Education’s Kosovo American Education Fund, the Balkan Green Foundation, the Balkan Forum and Partners Albania for Change and Development.
Grants for Climate Change and Clean Energy
RBF’s supports efforts to address climate change and clean energy transition via its Sustainable Development and China programs:
- Sustainable Development grantmaking works broadly to advance climate change solutions that are “ecologically based, economically sound, socially just, culturally appropriate, and consistent with intergenerational equity.”
- Specific strategies for this giving include increasing public and policymakers’ knowledge about climate change solutions, supporting international efforts to reduce carbon emissions and broad support for clean energy transitions in developing nations and around the world. In the U.S., the program works at the national, state and local levels to support clean energy economies.
- Grantees include the Urban Sustainability Directors Network, the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis and the Building Decarbonization Coalition, among others.
- In China, RBF works to support “healthy and low-carbon development” through a broad range of strategies including the development of climate policy, increasing governance and accountability measures pertaining to emissions, supporting sustainability practices in the private sector, and supporting climate philanthropy.
- Grantee partners of the China program include the Shenzhen GoalBlue Low Carbon Development Promoting Center, the Clean Air Initiative for Asian Cities, the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Guangdong Harmony Foundation.
Grants for Global Development and Violence Prevention
RBF’s Peacebuilding program works “to advance just and durable peace.” Areas of focus include “conflicts in Afghanistan and Israel/Palestine, as well as on reducing geopolitical tensions, including between the United States and Iran.”
- In addition to analysis and policy development, grantmaking supports “collaborative approaches” to security, conflict resolution and initiatives to protect the human rights of people affected by conflicts.
- Peace-building grants have gone to the Middle East Policy Network, the Israeli Democratic Bloc, the International Crisis Group and Education for Just Peace in the Middle East.
Grants for Global Development
The fund’s place-based giving for Central America focuses on El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras as “young democracies, struggling to build strong and accountable public institutions that provide effective governance and support the aspiration of prosperity for all.”
- In addition to civic engagement, democratic practice and government transparency, the fund’s work in Central America addresses some issues that are specific to the region and names support for independent media, sustainable agricultural practices and “social justice initiatives rooted in the region’s artistic community.”
- Central American grantees include Consejo Civico de Organizaciones Populares e Indigenas de Honduras, Asociacion de Mujeres en las Artes Leticia de Oyuela and Guatemala’s Universidad Rafael Landivar.
Grants for Arts and Culture
The Culpeper Arts & Culture program makes grants exclusively in New York City and prioritizes support for small and mid-size community-based and/or culturally specific arts and cultural institutions across all arts disciplines “to provide opportunities for artists of color and other underrepresented artists to contribute to the cultural vitality of New York City.”
- It also funds mainstream and larger institutions that present underrepresented artists and that “find innovative ways to engage new and diverse audiences.”
- Parts arts grantees include Dorrance Dance Incorporated, New York Women in Film & Television, Inc., Climate Museum, and Fractured Atlas, Inc.
RBF also maintains and runs the Pocantico Center, a former Rockefeller home in Tarrytown, New York, that is open to the public. The center hosts cultural events, historic tours, artist’s residencies, and community outreach programs. The David Rockefeller Creative Arts Center, housed at Pocantico, opened in 2022.
Grants for Racial Justice and Indigenous Rights
Most Rockefeller Brothers racial justice grants are made through the Democratic Practice program, which supports “movement building for systemic reform of democratic institutions to advance economic and racial justice.”
- Past grantees in this area include Dēmos and Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, the Association of Black Foundation Executives, the Action Center on Race and the Economy Institute, and the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund.
- In 2020, the fund announced the creation of a new Racial Justice Initiative, “a $10-million, five-year effort to advance racial justice in America through [the] systems and institutions of justice, governance, economy, and civic culture.” While this announcement reflects a renewed commitment to racial justice, the foundation has been making grants in this area for years.
Important Grant Details:
The majority of RBF grants range from $25,000 to $400,000. The fund also invested over $10 million in its Pocantico Center campus and the David Rockefeller Creative Arts Center in a recent year.
- Grantmaking is global in scope, with many grants supporting larger, well-established nonprofits and NGOs.
This funder’s global work tends to address overlapping themes of democracy, climate change and sustainable development.
Arts and culture grantmaking is limited to New York City.
RBF accepts grant requests through its online application portal but cautions applicants that “[l]ess than one percent of unsolicited grant applications result in funding.”
For additional information about his funder’s grantmaking, see its searchable grants database.
- Questions about applications or the grantmaking process may be submitted to the foundation via email at grantsmgmt@rbf.org.
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