News

In March 2011, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund’s board of trustees approved the new direction of the Peacebuilding program (formerly known as Peace and Security). This paper served as the foundation for the program’s new framework and funding guidelines, and was the basis of discussion at the March 2011 board meeting.

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.

RBF President and chair of the Center for Effective Philanthropy's (CEP) board Stephen Heintz, moderated a conversation with Michael J. Fox and Debi Brooks at the CEP's 2011 conference in Boston in May. Fox and Brooks, cofounders of the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research discussed the intricacies of establishing their foundation in 2000, and centering their mission around addressing the urgency of Parkinson's research.

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.

The Campaign Finance Institute (CFI) has published a report, which confirms that a public campaign finance policy would improve election participation. The new report is based on analysis of public financing in six Midwestern states during the elections of 2006-2010.

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.

The Rockefeller Brothers Fund's annual Statistical Review provides information on the Fund's investment performance and rate of spending, as well as an overview of program spending, grantmaking, Pocantico activities, human resources data, and an analysis of program spending.

The Rockefeller Brothers Fund has become a Leaders Circle member of More for Mission: The Campaign for Mission Investing.  Founded in 2007, More for Mission is helping foundations align their investments with their missions while maintaining long-term targeted financial returns.  In 2010, the RBF and Middlebury and Dickson Colleges announced the creation of the Sustainable Investments Initiative, a co-mingled investment vehicle.

Thomson Reuters has announced the addition of Investigative News Network's (INN) long-form investigative journalism to its media platform, bolstering its news content for publishers and broadcasters worldwide. Thirty INN members have agreed to participate, including RBF grantees Center for Public Integrity and Center for Investigative Reporting. INN was formed at The Pocantico Center in 2009.

An article about the uprising in Syria, commissioned by RBF grantee Meedan, has been published by Time Magazine. Since 2005, Meedan has been working to build tolerance and understanding between Web users in the United States and the Middle East by translating and sharing media and conversations on its Web site. The RBF has provided general support as well as funds to help Meedan increase its capacity in the Middle East.