News

Discerning and communicating the impact of grantmaking and other programmatic contributions are essential to a foundation's mission as well as its commitment to stewardship, transparency, and accountability. A year after a committee of Rockefeller Brothers Fund trustees and staff was established to tackle this issue, their approach to impact assessment has been published in the report, Evaluating Program Impact.

The Monica Bill Barnes and Company and Ballet Hispanico of New York will partake in the Rockefeller Brothers Fund's first dance residencies as part of the Pocantico Arts Collaborative this spring. Earlier this month, grants were awarded to each organization to develop new works as part of their residencies at The Pocantico Center. Both groups of will then return in the summer to perform their works in progress as part of Pocantico's summer performance season.

As the Fund's overall work has increasingly incorporated support for the involvement of youth in key issues, the board of trustees has approved a revision to the Democratic Practice program guidelines to wind down its focus on youth organizing. The decision was made after careful consideration and acknowledgment that other programs will continue to carry forward a commitment to support youth as a necessary constituency in furthering program goals.

The Center for Public Integrity (CPI) has published a comprehensive digital newsbook about the drastic change in campaign financing during the 2012 elections, as a result of the Supreme Court's February 2010 Citizens United ruling. Consider the Source is a project that was launched in January 2012 to track the impact of campaign spending by nonprofits and Super PACs throughout the election year.

The Wesleyan Media Project analyzed the enormous amount of political advertising projected at Americans during the 2012 election campaigns. With 2013 underway, co-directors Erika Franklin Fowler, Michael M. Franz, and Travis N. Ridout, offer their reflections, highlighting fascinating discussion points such as the predominance of male voiceovers, and the primary emotion conveyed in ads—anger.

According to Bob Moser, executive editor of The American Prospect, democracy suffered a blow in the 2012 election, due to big money and voter suppression. In a special report supported by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Moser argues that the enormous influence and amount of money spent on campaigns and attempts to disenfranchise populations of voters across the country, contributed to the failure of American democracy.

The Pocantico Center was one of 10 sites to be newly accredited by the American Alliance of Museums. Accreditation recognizes museums that have met and exceeded standards of excellence developed by the Alliance to ensure that their public trust continues to be upheld.

The Afghan government must make urgent reforms to protect civilians from harm caused by its own security forces, according to a report released by the Center for Civilians in Conflict, formerly known as CIVIC. The report, Caring for Their Own: A Stronger Afghan Response to Civilian Harm, found that the Afghan government is ill-equipped to conduct thorough investigations of civilian casualties, and has often failed to award condolence payments to the families of victims.

Croatian President Ivo Josipović, Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov, and Montenegrin President Filip Vujanović have appointed personal envoys to RECOM, the regional commission working to identify and disclose facts about war crimes that occurred in the Balkans during the 1990s. They will work with RECOM's Regional Expert Group, to review its draft statute and move forward in the establishment of RECOM.

In order for the United States to play a meaningful diplomatic role in the world, it first needs cooperation at home, said Stephen Heintz, president of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, in The New York Times editorial by Roger Cohen. In his opinion piece, "Diplomacy is Dead," Cohen acknowledges that breakthrough diplomacy is difficult; it requires patience, taking risks, and talking to the enemy—but it is necessary.