News

Ben Rodriguez-Cubeñas, New York City program director, reviews an extraordinary summer of arts and culture, and looks ahead to an exciting fall season of programming. But, he argues, none of it would be possible without support from enthusiastic audiences made up of New York City residents and tourists, as well as private donors.

Alexandra Toma, executive director of the Connect U.S. Fund, was recognized as one of the top 99 most influential international professionals under the age of 33 by Diplomatic Courier, A Global Affairs Magazine. In the interview, Toma talks about the importance of stronger collaboration for more effective foreign policy.

The Communications Network has launched a new interview series about foundation communications. In the first installment of "A Quick Word With...," Gail Fuller discusses her role as director of communications at the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. The Q&A is meant to provide an inside look at the responsibilities and inspirations of communications professionals in philanthropy.

Democratic Practice Program Director Benjamin Shute, Jr. discusses the need for campaign finance reform, especially as the concentration of wealth among fewer Americans increases, and unemployment soars. Those who can most easily afford to make large donations to candidates are having a disproportionate effect on public policy, he says, and more and more people believe that the government doesn’t work for them.

In an opinion piece published in The Chronicle of Philanthropy, Paul Connolly advises that the best grantmakers must achieve balance between passion and rationality in order to make the biggest impact through giving.

RBF President Stephen Heintz is among the honorees of this year's NonProfit Times Power & Influence Top 50. Recognized for encouraging others in the nonprofit field to be risk-takers, and noting that limited grant dollars should be triggering big impacts, this is the third consecutive year Heintz has been named to the list.

The Rockefeller Brothers Fund has made revisions to the Global Governance portion of its Democratic Practice program guidelines. The changes reflect the evolution of the Global Governance portfolio, and aim to better communicate the Fund's interest in promising approaches to enhancing the vitality of democracy in global governance.

How do you define affected communities when, arguably, an entire country or even all of human kind will benefit? To answer this question, the RBF is piloting a project to gather data on diversity, equity, and inclusion in our grantmaking. This follows on the our foundation-wide effort to assess and improve diversity and inclusion in its operations and grantmaking.

Ariadne Papagapitos, program officer of the RBF's Peacebuilding program, reveals how the the revised guidelines came about, and discusses the future of the program's grantmaking.

An op-ed by 350.org founder Bill McKibben, which appeared in The Washington Post on May 23, has been adapted into a video about the connection between recent natural disasters and climate change. The video, a narration of the essay accompanied by powerful images of weather events, was produced by Stephen Thomson.