News

RBF trustee Hugh Lawson was named as head of Goldman Sachs Asset Management's global environmental, social, and governance efforts in a newly created position.

RBF President Stephen Heintz spoke about the Fund's experiences around its divestment and impact investment process during a panel discussion organized by the European Green Party and 350.org.

Dancewave, a Brooklyn-based organization that inspires young people to express themselves authentically through an innovative model of dance education, performed at The Pocantico Center this summer. The youngest and first pre-professional dancers to appear on Pocantico’s stage, Dancewave's Company I members performed works by renowned contemporary choreographers, Larry Keigwin, Andrea Miller, and Kyle Abraham.

A group of more than 100 former American ambassadors sent a letter to President Obama supporting the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action with Iran. The signers of the letter include diplomats who were appointed by Republican and Democratic presidents. The Iran Project, which organized the letter, was cofounded by the United Nations Association of the United States of America and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund in 2002.

During a plenary session at the Center for Effective Philanthropy's National Conference in San Francisco in May 2015, Stephen Heintz, president of the Fund, participated in a panel discussion about different models of philanthropy and how each can maximize foundation impact. Heintz said foundations can demonstrate leadership by using intellectual, endowment, reputational, and relational capital, in addition to their grantmaking dollars.

As part of an ambitious plan to reduce the city’s carbon footprint by 80 percent by 2050, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio formally requested the energy sector to help identify solutions to power the city government’s operations using renewable energy. RBF grantee Architecture 2030 has published a report, Achieving 80x50, which recommends that New York City update its building code to meet high-performance standards on efficiency and integration of renewables.

The Fund has revised the Charles E. Culpeper Arts and Culture Grants portion of its Pivotal Place: New York City guidelines, following an April 2014 review of its grantmaking from 2003–2013. The revised guidelines clarify the Fund’s interest in diversity and reaching artists of color and nontraditional communities, supporting the creative process, including residencies at The Pocantico Center, and building the capacity of small and mid-size arts organizations.

The Fund has revised the guidelines for its China grantmaking program to express the increasingly integrated nature of the RBF's work on pollution mitigation, public health, and climate change, as well as the development of China’s philanthropic sector.

More than 100 corporations, states, regions, and cities around the world have committed to ambitious targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, according to research published by CDP and The Climate Group, an RBF grantee. At least 40 companies, 13 states and regions, and 74 cities have committed to cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 80 to 100 percent, or acquiring 100 percent of their power from renewable sources.

RBF President Stephen Heintz is among nearly 70 foundation leaders asking the Securities and Exchange Commission to require corporations to disclose their political spending. In an interview with NPR, he said that shareholders have a right to know how public companies are using unreported spending to influence elections.