David Rockefeller Gift Raises Rockefeller Brothers Fund Endowment to $1.2 Billion

Thursday, October 25, 2018

David Rockefeller Gift Raises Rockefeller Brothers Fund Endowment to $1.2 Billion

A generous gift from the estate of David Rockefeller has raised the Rockefeller Brothers Fund (RBF) endowment from approximately $960 million to over $1.2 billion.

David, who in 1940 founded the Rockefeller Brothers Fund with his older brothers John D. III, Nelson, Laurance, and Winthrop, passed away in March 2017 at the age of 101. More than a decade earlier, the lifelong philanthropist had pledged to auction his collection of art, antiquities, furniture, and other personal items after his death and to distribute the proceeds to a number of charitable organizations he had long supported. These included the Museum of Modern Art, Rockefeller University, the Council on Foreign Relations, and others. Following in the footsteps of his father, John D. Rockefeller, Jr., who left half of his estate to the RBF upon his death in 1960, David made a $250 million gift to the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, the largest of his philanthropic bequests. 

David also bequeathed several buildings from the historic Rockefeller estate in Pocantico Hills, NY, to the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Under the ownership of the Trust, “The Playhouse” and nearby guest houses will become part of The Pocantico Center, operated by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund as a museum, conference center, and cultural programming venue to support its philanthropic activities. In addition to the Playhouse, the Pocantico Center includes Kykuit— the historic home of John D. Rockefeller, bequeathed to the Trust in 1979 by Nelson Rockefeller—as well as the Marcel Breuer House, the Coach Barn, the Orangerie, and the encircling gardens and landscapes.

“We are greatly indebted to David Rockefeller and his family for these gifts, which celebrate and reflect his incredible generosity and philanthropic spirit,” said Stephen Heintz, president of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund...

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