News

In an opinion piece published in The Chronicle of Philanthropy, D5 Coalition co-chairs Stephen Heintz, president of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Robert Ross, president and CEO of The California Endowment, and Sterling Spiern, president and CEO of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, are calling on foundations to make changes in their operations and grantmaking by doing more to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has appointed RBF President Stephen Heintz to serve on the Commission on Key National Indicators.   The bipartisan Commission is charged with overseeing the implementation of the Key National Indicator System, which will be executed by the National Academy of Sciences.

RBF President Stephen Heintz and president of the Center for Effective Philanthropy, Phil Buchanan, share their insight on how new philanthropists like Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg can make the greatest impact with their giving. In an op-ed featured in the San Jose Mercury News, they address Zuckerberg and others who have signed onto the Giving Pledge.

The Rockefeller Brothers Fund has a strong institutional commitment to philanthropic excellence. During 2010, the RBF commissioned the Center for Effective Philanthropy to conduct a series of surveys to gain insight into grantee and applicant perceptions of the Fund’s performance. We are pleased to share the Grantee Perception Report and Applicant Perception Report, along with our insights.

The Rockefeller Brothers Fund (RBF) is pleased to announce the election of Kavita Ramdas to the Fund’s board of trustees, effective November 17, 2010.  Ms. Ramdas is a senior advisor to the Global Fund for Women, after serving as its president and chief executive officer from 1996 to September 2010.  She has been appointed to serve a three-year term.

In early 2008, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund launched a foundation-wide project to assess and improve diversity within its operations and grantmaking.  A Diversity Working Group  consisting of staff members from across the Fund was created to explore diversity and inclusion at the RBF, with an initial goal of determining whether the Fund might embark on specific initiatives or strategies to strengthen its commitment.

RBF President Stephen Heintz spoke about the importance of building a sustainable world during his speech at the Independent Sector's annual conference.  Mr. Heintz told conference attendees that the private, public, and nonprofit sectors must work together on managing global interdependence, building a new model of sustainable development, and revitalizing democracy, in order to lead the world out of the difficult times it currently faces.

NativeEnergy has published a summary of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund’s carbon footprint from 2007–2009. Since partnering with NativeEnergy in 2005 to calculate and decrease its carbon footprint, the Fund has reduced more than 2,400 tons of greenhouse gas emissions.

The Rockefeller Brothers Fund (RBF) has earned the competitive LEED Platinum certification (LEED-CI v2009) from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) for its new office in New York City.

The Rockefeller Brothers Fund has earned LEED Platinum certification from the U.S. Green Building Council for its New York City office.  The new office demonstrates the Fund's commitment to providing its staff with a cost-effective, healthy, and productive workplace that is aligned with its environmental values, and also allows the foundation to concentrate financial resources on advancing social change that contributes to a more just, sustainable, and peaceful world.