Unusual Times Lead to Unusual Grants from the Rockefeller Foundation

Wednesday, June 28, 2017

Unusual Times Lead to Unusual Grants from the Rockefeller Foundation

Political hot buttons aren't the Rockefeller Foundation’s usual fare. Like many other big foundations, it avoids ideological language and positions itself as a practical, problem-solving institution—one working to "promote the well-being of humanity throughout the world." The foundation’s priorities in recent years have included building resilience in cities throughout the world, bringing clean energy to rural India, reducing food waste, and more. 

Overall, this isn't a funder who you might naturally think would join the resistance to the Trump administration. But these are unusual times—unusual enough to stir outrage even in the most cautious and technocratic precincts of the foundation world.

Back in February, a set of grants from the Rockefeller Foundation caught our attention: $1.5 million in total to the ACLU, the Anti-Defamation League, and the International Rescue Committee. What was notable about these grants is that they came at a point when some of the nation’s other major foundations were still reticent to directly confront the new president. While hardly indicative of a major shift in Rockefeller’s funding priorities, those grants at least made it clear where this funder stood. “When our core values—diversity, pluralism and respect for all—are threatened we will respond," it said at the time.  . . 

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