Lessons from Family Philanthropy: Rockefeller Brothers Fund at 75

Tuesday, April 4, 2017

Lessons from Family Philanthropy: Rockefeller Brothers Fund at 75

The Rockefeller Brothers Fund is often held up as an example of a family foundation that has weathered these storms successfully. How might the ingredients of its success be described? What lessons can it offer?

The Fund’s founding brothers represented an evolution within Rockefeller family philanthropy, if only in their sheer number. Their father and grandfather had trusted advisers rather than actual peers. The brothers, on the other hand, were a committee of five, equal to each other, but with distinct personalities. The original impetus for the RBF was to leverage the philanthropic impact of their money and the cultural impact of the family name.

In their young adulthood, the brothers were already giving independently, sometimes to the same recipients. Collective giving gave their philanthropy more impact and eliminated redundancy. Collective decision-making established an institutional culture of collaboration and cooperation at the RBF from the start...

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