News

Thomas Friedman highlights RBF grantee, EcoPeace Middle East, as a model of "healthy interdependency," which he argues is the only way to enduring peace and security in the region. EcoPeace Middle East is led by Gidon Bromberg, an Israeli environmental lawyer, Nader al-Khateeb, a Palestinian water expert, and Munqeth Mehyar, a Jordanian architect.

The Rockefeller Brothers Fund has begun a two-step process to divest from investments in fossil fuels. The Fund's immediate focus will be on limiting its exposure to coal and tar sands, two of the most intensive sources of carbon emissions, with the goal to reduce its investments to less than one percent of the total portfolio by the end of 2014.

In working with countries in the Middle East to combat terrorist threats, the United States must not take sides in the Shi'a and Sunni conflict, The Iran Project recommends in a report published on September 17, 2014. The report, Iran and Its Neighbors: Regional Implications for U.S. Policy of a Nuclear Agreement, also examines how Iran's relations with other countries in the region might shift after a comprehensive nuclear agreement is reached.

The International Union of Architects unanimously adopted and committed to a plan to phase out all fossil fuel carbon dioxide emissions from the buildings industry by 2050. Michael Northrop, director of the Sustainable Development program at the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, writes that the declaration is a significant step toward reaching a universal, legal climate agreement in 2015.

AKA|Strategy and NEXT: Transition Advisors conducted a review of the Culpeper Arts and Culture Grants from 2003 to 2013. The review of grantmaking is intended to provide an understanding of the Fund’s place in the field, the evolution of the program, the strengths and weaknesses its strategies and grantmaking, an assessment of the contributions of Fund's grantees to progress in the field, and possible approaches going forward. 

Stephen Heintz, president of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, has been recognized as a 2014 NonProfit Times' Power & Influence Top 50 honoree for a second consecutive year. The NonProfit Times commends his commitment to nationwide public engagement, as well as bold ideas on civic engagement, and his recognition of the Fund's responsibility to work toward reducing the use of fossil fuels.

The fifth annual Forum on the Development of Philanthropy in the Western Balkans: Philanthropy for Green Ideas was held from July 24–27, 2014 in Llogara, Albania. Philanthropy for Green Ideas is a regional competition that encourages communities to generate business ideas, utilizing local resources and revitalizing traditions of production and community-based markets in an environmentally-friendly way.

At a White House roundtable on impact investing on June 25, 2014, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund announced its intent to dedicate 10 percent of its $840 million endowment to targeted impact investments, as one of more than 20 new private sector commitments to drive more than $1.5 billion into impact investments that intentionally generate financial return as well as measurable social or environmental impact.

The trustees, staff, and grantees of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund mourn the death of Dr. Richard G. Rockefeller, a former trustee, board chair, and very dear friend. Richard served on the RBF board of trustees for 23 years, starting in 1989. He was chair of the board from 2006–2013 and was an advisory trustee at the time of his tragic death.

The Carbon Tracker Initiative won the award for Innovation in Communicating Sustainability at the Guardian Sustainable Business Awards on May 14, 2014. According to The Guardian, Carbon Tracker's April 2013 report, Unburnable Carbon: Wasted Capital and Stranded Assets, reframed the climate debate by translating climate risk into energy demand and prices.