Rockefeller Foundation
The Rockefeller Foundation is a New York City-based private foundation established in 1913 by Standard Oil owner John D. Rockefeller, his son John D. Rockefeller Jr and Frederick Taylor Gates. Ever since the foundation’s mission has been to promote the well-being of humanity worldwide.
The Rockefeller Foundation advances new frontiers of science, data, policy and innovation to solve global challenges related to health, food, power, and equity and economic opportunity. As a science-driven philanthropy focused on building collaborative relationships with partners and grantees, the Rockefeller Foundation seeks to inspire and foster large-scale human impact that promotes the well-being of humanity worldwide by identifying and accelerating breakthrough solutions, ideas and conversations.
Through grantmaking activities, the Rockefeller Foundation provided USD 283.9 million for development in 2021. Compared to 2020, this amount represents an increase of 246.5% in real terms.
In 2021, the Rockefeller Foundation provided USD 48.2 million to the multilateral system, representing 17% of its development finance, all of which was earmarked for specific countries, regions, themes or purposes.
The Rockefeller Foundation channelled most of its multilateral aid through the multilateral development banks MDBs, and UN entities. Most financing channelled through the MDBs concerned the IFC and IADB.
The United Nations (UN) system received USD 2.4 million from the Rockefeller Foundation in 2021. The most significant UN recipients were WFP (USD 2 million), UNDP (USD 0.3 million) and UNICEF (USD 0.2 million).
See the section on geographic and thematic focus for the geographical and thematic breakdown of bilateral allocations earmarked through the multilateral development system.
In 2021, the Rockefeller Foundation channelled its contributions mainly through non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and civil society (USD 188.1 million), multilateral organisations (USD 48.2 million) and universities, research institutes or think tanks (USD 26.2 million).
In 2021, civil society organisations (CSOs) received USD 188.1 million (66.3%) of the Rockefeller Foundation’s development finance. A share of 49.5% of the Rockefeller Foundation’s development finance was allocated to CSOs as core support, while 16.8% was earmarked to specific projects.
In 2021, the Rockefeller Foundation’s development finance was distributed over most developing regions. USD 83 million was allocated to Africa, USD 63.3 million to Asia and USD 52 million to Latin America and the Caribbean, accounting respectively for 29.3%, 22.4% and 18.3% of the foundation’s development finance. A sum of USD 85.2 million (30%) was unspecified by region in 2021, mainly including support to multi-regional programmes, core support and research grants.
In 2021, 9.1% of development finance went to the top 10 recipients. The Rockefeller Foundation’s most significant recipients included India (USD 9.2 million), Nigeria (USD 5.1 million) and Sierra Leone (USD 3.2 million). Moreover, 89.7% of development finance was not allocated by country.
Least developed countries (LDCs) received USD 11 million (3.9%) of Rockefeller Foundation’s development finance in 2021. The Rockefeller Foundation allocated the highest share of its development finance (5.7%) to lower middle income countries in 2021, noting that USD 254.8 million (89.7%) was unallocated by income group.
Furthermore, the Rockefeller Foundation allocated USD 1.9 million to small island developing states (SIDS) in 2021, equal to 0.7% of its development finance. This financing is related to the foundation’s support to Haiti.
Fragile contexts
Support to fragile contexts reached USD 17.2 million in 2021, representing 6.1% of the Rockefeller Foundation’s development finance. Of this, extremely fragile countries received USD 4.4 million.
Learn more about support to fragile contexts on the States of Fragility platform.
Sectors
In 2021, more than half of the Rockefeller Foundation’s commitments were allocated to economic infrastructure and services. Investments in this area accounted for 63.2% of development finance (USD 179.3 million), with a strong focus on support to energy (USD 175.5 million), and financial and business services (USD 3.8 million).
Contributions to social infrastructure and services totalled USD 74.7 million (26.3%), chiefly focusing on health and population (USD 68.9 million). Moreover, humanitarian assistance amounted to USD 2.9 million (1%) in 2021.
Sustainable Development Goals
In 2021, the Rockefeller Foundation committed the largest shares of its contributions to the goals of partnerships for the goals (SDG 17), climate action (SDG 13), affordable and clean energy (SDG 7) and good health and well-being (SDG 3) of the United Nations 2030 Agenda. Contributions to combatting climate change totalled USD 178.4 million.
Official website: http://www.rockefellerfoundation.org
The methodological notes provide further details on the definitions and statistical methodologies applied, including core and earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations, the Sustainable Development Goal focus of private development finance, channels of delivery, unspecified/unallocated allocations, the gender equality policy marker, and the environment markers.