News

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.

The Center for Public Integrity (CPI) has been awarded a 2014 Pulitzer Prize in investigative reporting. CPI was recognized for reporter Chris Hamby's three-part series about how some doctors and lawyers worked against coal miners who were sick and dying of black lung disease. Mr. Hamby spent a year uncovering thousands of pages of previously hidden legal documents for the series, "Breathless and Burdened: Dying from Black Lung, Buried by Law and Medicine."

Known for their playful and unexpected choreography, Monica Bill Barnes and Company is a contemporary American dance company based in New York City. Two of its key members had the opportunity to participate in a week-long residency at The Pocantico Center in July 2013. In this video, the dancers talk about their creative process and how the time and setting helped to shape their pieces.

In 2013, staff initiated a project to assess the outcomes and impact of program-related conferences held at the Fund’s Pocantico Center during the period 1994–2012. Pocantico hosted a total of 1,015 conference, retreats, or meetings in those 18 years.

Ballet Hispanico explores the diversity of Latino culture through dance. In May 2013, six dancers and artistic director Eduardo Vilaro spent a week at the Rockefeller Brother Fund's Pocantico Center during a residency to advance Ballet Hispanico's creative growth and develop new work. In this video, Mr. Vilaro and the dancers reflect on the value of the retreat and the impact their surroundings have on their pieces.

Julia Bacha, creative director of Just Vision, a Rockefeller Brothers Fund grantee, has been recognized as a 2014 Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum. In total, 214 people under the age of 40 were chosen for the class of 2014 from 66 countries worldwide. The inductees demonstrate extraordinary global leadership and an unwavering commitment to social change rooted in ethics and values.