News

The Rockefeller Brothers Fund has modified its Western Balkans guidelines by adding a peacebuilding goal. The amendment of this third goal will allow the Fund to continue to focus its work on the area of peacebuilding, foster collaboration with the RBF’s Peacebuilding program, and remain transparent about its work in the Western Balkans.

At a sustainability conference on December 13, 2011, Israeli Environmental Protection Minister Gilad Erdan, and Palestinian Water Minister Dr. Shaddad Attili agreed that continued cooperation is crucial to solving the region's water issues. While the discussion was tense at times, each highlighted the need for reworking the Joint Water Committee, which was established in 1995, but was intended to be temporary.

Although the ability to accumulate private wealth in China has only been possible in the past three decades, philanthropy is growing fast. The RBF's Southern China program team discusses the often complex issues around effective philanthropy and how exchanges with U.S. counterparts can help.

In an editorial published in the Financial Times, economist Nicholas Stern cites data and analysis from the Carbon Tracker Initiative to call attention to the “contradiction between the way global fossil fuel reserves are evaluated and long-term [climate change] policy goals.” The Carbon Tracker Initiative is a project of InvestorWatch, and was made possible by support from the Growald Family Fund and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund.

Justin Maxson, president of the Mountain Association for Community Economic Development (MACED), was recognized by environmental news site Grist.org as an individual leading change toward a more sustainable world. MACED is an RBF grantee that finances environmentally sustainable, community-supported, economic development strategies in Kentucky.

Fearless reporter Jeta Xharra was profiled in The New York Times on November 29, 2011. Xharra is the executive director of RBF grantee the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, an organization committed to promoting transparency and accountability through investigative journalism.

Nonprofit dance organizations are significant contributors to New York City's economy and residents' quality of life, according to a report published by Dance/NYC. The report also found that the city's dance organizations—particularly smaller groups—demonstrate a "strong start-up culture of dance," with a handful of staff producing high levels of new creations.

As Egypt undergoes a historic and swift transformation, there is a need for flexible, targeted, and immediate philanthropic support, says Stephen Heintz, president of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. In recent months, the RBF has been exploring the most effective ways to offer its support to Egyptian-led initiatives that take into account both the immediate and longer term needs of Egyptian civil society.

The Americas Society has released the first comparative white paper that examines the economic impact of immigration-related city policies on the local business environment. The paper, The Economic Impact of Immigrant-Related Local Ordinances, focuses on 53 cities that passed either restrictive or non-restrictive city ordinances between 2006 and 2008, and which were still being enforced through 2009. 

Nearly 150 artists, professors, journalists, and other professionals from countries of the former Yugoslavia signed a letter in support of the establishment of RECOM, the regional commission to identify and disclose facts about war crimes that occurred in the Balkans during the 1990s. The letter was released at a press conference in Sarajevo on October 7, 2011.