Who We Are
"We support work that helps people tap into globalization’s benefits and strengthen resilience to risks."
Globalization—the technological, social and economic processes by which people around the world have grown inextricably interdependent—generates substantial opportunity and progress for many. It also leaves many by the wayside: families and populations that fall further behind as the pace of change quickens.
Smart Globalization
The Rockefeller Foundation envisions a world with Smart Globalization—a world in which globalization’s benefits are more widely shared and social, economic, health and environmental challenges are more easily weathered. We support work that enables individuals, communities and institutions to access new tools, practices, resources, services and products. And we support work that enhances their resilience to acute crises and chronic stresses, whether man-made, ecological or both. This is our 21st century interpretation of the Foundation’s pioneering—and enduring—philanthropic mission to “promote the well-being” of humanity.
Significant advances toward Smart Globalization are still undermined by insufficient food, water and shelter; inadequate health systems; worsening environmental degradation and climate change; unplanned urbanization; and declining social and economic security. These dangers interact with and intensify each other. They cannot be effectively resolved in isolation.
Our Portfolio of Interconnected Initiatives
Seeking and shaping innovative solutions at the intersections of these five challenges, the Rockefeller foundation maintains a portfolio of interconnected initiatives. Each initiative addresses two, three or more of our focus areas—often in overlapping geographic regions. Each commits to specific, measurable goals within projected time frames. Each incorporates rigorous monitoring while grantee work progresses. These requirements position us to seize unanticipated opportunities, shift tactics when necessary, and recalibrate our approach when an objective demands shorter- or longer-term engagement.
In all our endeavors, the Foundation concentrates on results and impact—the difference we make in lives, communities and the world. We foster innovation in markets, organizations, products and processes. We influence and inform public policy with cutting-edge ideas and research. We connect partnerships and networks, bringing people and institutions with diverse perspectives together across disciplines and sectors—and facilitating their learning from and with one another. We find and fund interventions that exploit current or coming tipping points and break bottlenecks clogging prospects for progress. We build capacity, equipping groups and governments with talent, technology and training. We test pilot projects, spin them off, or join others to help implement successful demonstrations on a wider scale. We strive to create leverage not only with our dollars, but also with our near-century of experience, expertise and convening power.
Our Focus
Our Issue Areas
The Rockefeller Foundation focuses its resources and energies on five interconnected issue areas, selected because they are critical global challenges that the Foundation is distinctively positioned to address:
Basic Survival Safeguards
Secure food, water, housing and infrastructure
Global Health
Accessible, affordable and equitable health services and systems
Climate & Environment
Sustainable growth and resilience to climate change
Urbanization
Solutions for fast-growing cities
Social & Economic Security
Stronger safety nets, reinvigorated citizenship, reimagined policy frameworks
Basic Survival Safeguards
Secure food, water, housing and infrastructure
We increase food security, effective water and soil protection practices, affordable, sustainable housing, and access to modern infrastructure.
"Almost half the world—more than three billion people—live on less than $2.50 a day."
More than a billion people remain in abject poverty without enough to eat or safe water to drink. Half of the people in the world have to survive on less than two dollars a day.
Through interrelated initiatives, the Foundation tackles these challenges, both short- and long-term. We strive to:
- Enable communities to survive and sustain themselves in the face of life-and-death struggles resulting from floods, droughts and drops in agricultural yields.
- Create sustainable approaches to shelter and infrastructure in overburdened cities.
- Enhance survival through improving health systems.
- Promote work that can spark innovations and breakthroughs in coping with the world’s most challenging problems.
- Cultivate new networks and systems, such as impact investing, to expand the market for investments that generate social benefit as well as financial gain.
Global Health
Accessible, affordable and equitable health services and systems
We benefit people in developing countries by creating affordable, equitable high-quality health systems.
"The solutions to our health care crisis are already at work in developing countries."
Improving global health is a pivotal focus of the Foundation. We are working to transform health systems to make them more accessible and affordable. We are also linking global disease surveillance networks to help those in struggling communities minimize the spread of infectious diseases that can lead to pandemics. Our current health initiatives:
- Improve the monitoring, detection and response to infectious diseases such as Ebola, SARS, and avian influenza to prevent pandemics.
- Expand the use of technology to improve health care.
- Engage the private sector to work with the public sector in developing practices and policies to provide and finance health services for the poor.
Climate & Environment
Sustainable growth and resilience to climate change
We develop services and strategies to protect those with the least means from an imperiled environment and changing global climate.
"Resilience—the capacity to cope with imminent environmental change—is essential to survival."
Communities around the world are feeling the effects of climate change. But the poorest are hit the hardest. They are the least equipped to recover from the devastation that can result from weather extremes such as storms, floods, eroding coastlines, heat waves and droughts. The subsequent loss of clean water for drinking and fishing, the loss of productive conditions for agriculture, hunting and grazing, and the spread of malaria and other heat-related diseases create threats to health and survival.
Resilience is Key
Africa and Asia are two regions that are particularly vulnerable.
- In Asia, both climate change and unplanned urbanization put countries at greater risk than in any other region in the world. Our resilience-building efforts in ten Asian cities are designed to serve as a model for cities everywhere. The Foundation has committed hundreds of millions of dollars in grants in the last decade to enable communities in Africa to survive and sustain themselves in the face of life-and-death struggles resulting from floods, droughts and drops in agricultural yields.
- A joint commitment between the Rockefeller Foundation, Oxfam America and Swiss Re, announced in September 2009, focuses on using innovative solutions—such as drought insurance and microcredit lending—to help smallholder farmers in Ethiopia adapt to current risks from climate change.
The Foundation also works with a select group of leading regional agriculture research and development institutions in Africa to help them develop their own internal adaptation programs so that small-scale farming can become more productive, profitable, sustainable and stable.
Urbanization
Solutions for fast-growing cities
We shape innovations in planning, finance, governance and infrastructure to manage a rapidly urbanizing world.
"For the first time in history, a majority of people now live in cities."
The world population is growing explosively. For the first time in history, more people now live in urban communities than in rural areas. Cities cannot cope with this massive migration. In nearly all the urban areas that will experience the most dramatic growth, there is not enough housing or food or transportation—let alone jobs, schools or health care—to handle the influx. In addition, the floods, droughts and other perilous conditions that result from climate change multiply the dangers in these overcrowded areas.
Models for Coping with Unplanned Urban Growth
The Rockefeller Foundation is exploring the best models for addressing the health and survival threats of unplanned urban areas. We are working with partners and networks to integrate initiatives to:
- Limit future climate change and build resilience to climate change
- Work on urban planning and development to reduce poverty
- Launch and evaluate health and food security initiatives
- Promote equitable, sustainable transportation solutions
Social & Economic Security
Stronger safety nets, reinvigorated citizenship, reimaginereimagined policy frameworks.
We promote plans and policies to reinforce social safety nets, reinvigorate citizenship and reimagine regulatory, legal and policy frameworks.
"Eight out of ten Americans are calling out for a new social contract."
In the last few years, people around the globe have experienced greater economic insecurity than many of us have seen since the Great Depression. Large and small employers alike are cutting back on jobs and benefits, government does not guarantee a safety net for all, and a growing number of workers at all levels are unable to pay for their homes, adequate food or health care costs, not to mention being able to save for retirement and old age. Inequality is widening.
Helping People Prepare for a Secure Future
The Rockefeller Foundation supports private and public efforts in the United States to:
- Demonstrate a demand for savings bonds as safe and credible savings instruments for low- and middle-income workers and families. Visit the Doorways to Dreams (D2D) website.
- Develop and model a plan for Guaranteed Retirement Accounts (GRAs) to ensure that all Americans have an income replacement rate of at least 70% in retirement. Visit Economic Policy Institute (EPI) website.
- Fund innovative research proposals on ways to strengthen Social Security to ensure greater economic security for American workers, particularly vulnerable populations such as elderly widows and groups at high risk of disability. Visit the National Academy of Social Insurance (NASI) website.
- Raise awareness and educate policymakers about the importance of unemployment insurance for low-income workers who may become unemployed. See National Employment Law Project (NELP) and Unemployment Insurance (UI) Safety Net Project.
Our History—A Powerful Legacy
1913. The United States was 137 years old. Woodrow Wilson was President. Niels Bohr formulated his theory of atomic structure. Grand Central Station opened, the Philadelphia Athletics beat the New York Giants in the World Series, World War I was imminent. And the work of the Rockefeller Foundation began.
Up until World War II, the Foundation provided more foreign aid than the United States government.
In the years since John D. Rockefeller inaugurated the first global US foundation, scientists, scholars, economists and grassroots leaders supported by the Foundation have spearheaded the search for the solutions to some of the world’s most challenging problems. Through their efforts, plagues such as hookworm and malaria have been brought under control; food production for the hungry in many parts of the world has been increased; and minds, hearts and spirits have been lifted by the work of Foundation-assisted filmmakers, artists, writers, dancers and composers. Rockefeller Foundation involvement has led to the development of the centrifuge, the electron microscope and the computer.
The Foundation has always aspired to bold, global solutions. Approaching complex conceptual challenges and systemic dysfunction from a variety of angles has been the alpha and omega of the Foundation’s character and vision.
Our Impact
From its very first grant—to the American Red Cross—through its current initiatives, the Rockefeller Foundation has long been a trailblazer in the field of health. By fostering the emerging field of public health nearly a hundred years ago, the Foundation’s campaign against diseases and epidemics became dramatically more effective. Since then, the Foundation has energetically supported the development of public health schools and resources all over the world. That tradition is evident today in the Rockefeller Foundation’s current global health initiatives, which have sparked and strengthened efforts such as the use of eHealth technologies to improve health systems and the creation of international disease surveillance in the developing world.
Throughout its history, the Foundation has been primarily proactive in its approach to the world’s problems. For example, while we do not provide emergency relief for disasters, in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the Rockefeller Foundation took the long view in supporting the creation of the groundbreaking unified plan for building a more sustainable, more equitable New Orleans in the future.
While much research has gone into forestalling climate change, the Rockefeller Foundation concluded early on that it would also be critical to focus on climate change resilience and adaptation. Viewing climate change through this prism spotlights the inextricably interrelated issues of rampant, unmanageable urbanization and the unraveling of society’s most basic safety nets. In our search for solutions, we look back on—and forward to—the interdisciplinary creative thinking that invariably supports survival in the world’s most stressed regions.
Whether in Latin America, Asia or Africa, the Foundation has approached the alleviation of hunger through improved agricultural systems, outputs and markets. A major program of rural reconstruction in China began in 1934. In 1943, agricultural programs in Mexico lay the groundwork for what was to become known as the Green Revolution, which earned Foundation scientist Norman Borlaug a Nobel Prize and is credited with saving more than a billion lives around the world. That work continues today with Foundation support for A Green Revolution for Africa (AGRA).
The Vision of John D. Rockefeller
John Davison Rockefeller (1839–1937) embraced philanthropy early in life. In his teens, he was regularly donating money from his first job to his Sunday school and other activities of his Baptist church. As his personal wealth grew, so did his generosity. Impressed by an 1889 essay by Andrew Carnegie, Rockefeller wrote to the philanthropist, “the time will come when men of wealth will more generally be willing to use it for the good of others.” It was that year that Rockefeller began his own philanthropic work in earnest, making the first of what would become $35 million in gifts, over a period of two decades, to found the University of Chicago.
In 1901, he established the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research, now Rockefeller University. In 1903, he created the General Education Board at an ultimate cost of $129 million to promote education in the United States “without distinction of sex, race or creed.”
The Rockefeller Foundation began its work in 1913 with the founder’s 39-year-old son, John D. Rockefeller Jr., as its president. The first grant, of $100,000, went to the American Red Cross to purchase property for its headquarters in Washington, D.C., and for “a memorial to commemorate the services of the women of the United States in caring for the sick and wounded of the Civil War.”
Support for scholarship and educational opportunity—to colleges, schools, research institutions and libraries—has been a part of the Foundation’s work in virtually every year of its existence. It supported some of the earliest and most substantial efforts to open the doors of higher education to African Americans. From supporting Peking Union Medical College and schools of public health across the globe to co-founding the Partnership for Higher Education in Africa, the Foundation has implemented positive change through the increase of knowledge.
This was the genius of Rockefeller and his Foundation successors. They saw conditions that needed to change. They did their homework. They invested in cutting-edge research. They called on experts and put many of them on the payroll.
When a young Albert Einstein sent a request for $500 to John D. Rockefeller's top lieutenant, Rockefeller instructed his deputy, "Let's give him $1,000. He may be onto something." They experimented, adapted and changed course when necessary. They didn't use the word innovation then; they called it "scientific philanthropy." But innovation was their game. It was bold and daring, intrepid and risk-taking.
Since its inception, John D. Rockefeller’s foundation has given more than $14 billion in current dollars to thousands of grantees worldwide.
Our Strategy
The Rockefeller Foundation was established in 1913 to “promote the well-being” of humanity “throughout the world.” Today, we apply this mission in the era of globalization.
Our vision is of a world with Smart Globalization—a world in which poor and vulnerable communities can more widely share in globalization’s benefits and more easily weather its burdens.
Our strategy focuses on two fundamental elements that contribute toward making this vision a reality. These are hallmarks of Rockefeller Foundation work.
First, we support innovations that enable individuals, communities and institutions to access greater social and economic opportunity.
While globalization fuels remarkable social progress and economic expansion in countries around the world, these same countries often also experience increasing inequality. Many families and communities fall further behind as the pace of change accelerates. Growth alone may not be sufficient to expand opportunity and improve lives. Therefore, we support efforts that tilt benefits of globalization and growth toward people who have not yet reached them. This means connecting people with new tools, practices, resources, services and products.
Second, we support interventions that enable individuals, communities and institutions to build stronger resilience to social, economic, health and environmental challenges.
Even when opportunity is on the rise, unanticipated shocks occur and chronic risks build up over time. As the current financial crisis reminds us, millions can fall back into poverty as a result of global economic recession, a poor growing season, catastrophic health expenditure, or some other event beyond their control. Our work deliberately concentrates on resilience and builds human capacity to survive, learn, adapt and grow in the face of hardships, whether ecological, man-made or both.
Our Strategy:
How We Work
The Rockefeller Foundation concentrates on results and impact—the difference we make in lives, communities and the world.
- We foster innovation in markets, organizations, products and processes.
- We influence and inform public policy with cutting-edge ideas and research.
- We connect partnerships and networks, bringing people and institutions with diverse perspectives together across disciplines and sectors.
- We find and fund interventions that exploit current or coming tipping points and break bottlenecks clogging prospects for progress.
- We build capacity, equipping groups and governments with talent, technology and training.
- We test pilot projects, spin them off, or join others to help implement successful demonstrations on a wider scale.
- We develop and demand leverage—ensuring more than a dollar’s return on each dollar we invest.
Interconnected Challenges
Working at the Intersections
Climate change and unplanned urbanization, inadequate health services and unremitting poverty, economic insecurity and environmental degradation – these crises are interconnected. The most effective way to solve one is to focus on the others simultaneously. Rockefeller Foundation work is designed accordingly.
In addition, the Foundation nurtures and strengthens what we call an "enabling environment," the conditions in which our efforts can take hold and flourish. This includes our overarching commitments to convening, impact investing, capacity building, and innovation.
What We're Learning
The Rockefeller Foundation is committed to learning, monitoring and evaluation practices that are appropriate to the global and regional contexts in which we work. We develop processes and products, organizational and market innovations—all of which others can implement in the service of helping more people build better lives and futures. Our goal is not to validate preconceived hypotheses, but to discover something new from all phases of our work.
“It’s necessary but not sufficient to learn and then work. You must learn from the work and learn while you work.”
- Judith Rodin, President of the Rockefeller Foundation
Our Approach
We measure and monitor our work as it progresses, rather than waiting to evaluate this work only at its conclusion. A regular cycle of evaluations helps us determine whether we are achieving our intended results and impact. We continually consider feedback from our staff, grantees, partners and beneficiaries. This enables us to seize unanticipated opportunities, shift tactics when necessary and recalibrate our approach when a problem demands shorter- or longer-term investment. Together with our grantees, we focus on achieving outcomes, implementing performance measurement and supporting learning and transformative change.
What We Do
We Focus on Global Impact
To achieve our goal of the well-being of humanity through smart globalization, the Rockefeller Foundation funds a portfolio of initiatives that link and interlink to achieve meaningful and measurable impact.
All our initiatives draw on the Foundation’s commitment to nurture innovation, pioneer new fields, expand access to and distribution of resources, empower beneficiaries to cultivate and spread progress in their countries, and, ultimately, generate sustainable impact on individuals, institutions and communities.
Our Current Work
The Rockefeller Foundation focuses its resources on five related issue areas and funds a portfolio of initiatives that work across these areas, linking and interlinking, to achieve meaningful and measurable impact.
Each initiative is designed to accomplish specific goals within projected time frames, usually three to five years. We monitor and assess our grantees’ effectiveness regularly. These requirements enable the Foundation to shift tactics when necessary, seize unanticipated opportunities, and recalibrate our approach when a problem demands shorter- or longer-term investment.
All our initiatives draw on the Foundation’s commitment to nurture innovation, pioneer new fields, expand access to and distribution of resources, and, ultimately, generate sustainable impact on individuals, institutions and communities.
Developing Climate Change Resilience
Helping communities cope with imminent consequences of climate change
SEE THIS INITIATIVE
Strengthening Food Security:
Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa
Increasing smallholder agricultural productivity with better seeds, soils, and markets
Protecting American Workers’ Economic Security: Campaign for American Workers
Shaping plans, products and policies to provide a modern economic safety net
SEE THIS INITIATIVE
Promoting Equitable, Sustainable Transportation
Advocating for investment in affordable, environmentally responsible transit
SEE THIS INITIATIVE
Linking Global Disease Surveillance Networks
Establishing transnational detection, monitoring and communication systems to strengthen disease prevention
SEE THIS INITIATIVE
Transforming Health Systems
Harnessing the transformation of health systems towards better health and financial protection
SEE THIS INITIATIVE
Advancing Innovation Processes to Solve Social Problems
Building models to expand the use of cutting-edge innovation methods to achieve social impact
SEE THIS INITIATIVE
Helping Build an Impact Investing Industry
Expanding and increasing the effectiveness of investments that solve social and environmental problems and generate a profit
SEE THIS INITIATIVE
Developing Climate Change Resilience
The Challenge
For millions of people around the world, the consequences of climate change are increasingly devastating. Higher temperatures bring more droughts and the spread of heat-related, infectious diseases such as dengue, malaria and cholera. Flooding and the loss of food and safe water—and more frequent and more intense storms—lead to dramatic coastal erosion.
"Human actions have degraded ecosystems more drastically in the last 50 years than in all of history."
All of these impacts, taken together, could result in the loss of homes, jobs and food. For many, they could also result in the loss of lives. Over the past 50 years, severe weather disasters have caused more than 800,000 deaths. The far-reaching effects of climate change hit poor people the hardest. They have the fewest resources and the least capacity to prepare for, plan for, and withstand climate change crises.
Our Strategy
The Rockefeller Foundation’s Developing Climate Change Resilience Initiative aims to catalyze attention, funding and action to promote resilience to climate change on several levels. We focus on three pivotal areas: Asian urban environments, African agriculture and US policy. We are creating models for action on climate change in cities—models that can be replicated and expanded in other regions. We are helping adapt African agriculture to cope with environmental changes. And we are promoting awareness and guiding funders and policymakers to support broader action on climate change resilience, nationally and internationally, to help poor and vulnerable people around the world.
Specifically, the Foundation partners with governments, other foundations, donors, NGOs and groups from the private sector to work in the following areas:
- Piloting urban-based resilience strategies through the Asian Cities Climate Change Resilience Network
- Adapting African agriculture for climate change resilience
- Promoting policies and funding to build climate change resilience for poor and vulnerable people
- Building new constituencies for climate change resilience policies
- Communicating with policymakers about climate change resilience-building tactics
- Building capacity and networks and developing new funding streams for resilience strategies
Key Outcomes
We aim to to develop a deeper understanding of climate resilience and the capacities and resources needed to build resilience to current and future climate risks on a large scale. This inititiative has three anticipated outcomes:
- In an urban context, the Asian Cities Climate Change Resilience Network (ACCCRN) builds the capacity of city stakeholders to implement resilience strategies and share knowledge.
- Within the agriculture development sector in Africa, the initiative supports more climate resilience practices within agricultural development institutions.
- Within the US context, the initiative informs federal and local government policymakers about the benefits of both adopting domestic resilience efforts and policies and supporting international resilience efforts.
Asian Cities Climate Change Resilience Network (ACCCRN)
In the coming years, urban areas will increasingly play a major role in any climate change-related strategy, most especially because cities are where the interplay of climate risk and poverty lead to the direst consequences.
The reason is simple:
More people live in cities than ever before, and within a decade, more than 500 cities will have populations exceeding one million, and seven cities in developing countries will have more than 20 million inhabitants.The funding in Asian urban areas is currently focused in four countries: Thailand, Vietnam, India, and Indonesia.
The Asian Cities Climate Change Resilience Network aims to catalyze attention, funding, and action on building climate change resilience for poor and vulnerable people by creating robust models and methodologies for assessing and addressing risk through active engagement and analysis of various cities.
"…communities around the world need better weapons - new tools, techniques, and strategies - if they hope to tame the three-headed hydra of climate risk, poverty, and precipitous urbanization....Since it may be too late to stop the global warming that’s already occurred, we also must figure out how to survive it....there is far less attention paid to adaptation, what needs to be done to help people and environments cope with what’s already occurred and with what’s coming."
-Judith Rodin, President, The Rockefeller Foundation
Objective
Through the actions of the Asian Cities Climate Change Resilience Network, it is anticipated that by 2012, a network of cities in Asia will have developed robust plans to prepare for, withstand and recover from the predicted impacts of climate change.
To accomplish this, ACCRN must meet the following objectives:
- Test and demonstrate a range of actions to build climate change resilience in cities
- Build a replicable base of lessons learned, successes and failures
- Assist cities in the development and implementation of a climate change resilience building process
- Help cities continue activities that build climate change resilience
Anticipated Outcomes
The Rockefeller Foundation’s initiative will develop a network of Asian city partners who will experiment with a range of activities that will collectively improve the ability of the cities to withstand, prepare for, and recover from the projected impacts of climate change. It is expected that interventions will span health, infrastructure, water, disaster, urban planning/development issues, and will include leveraging policy incentives and investment funds to improve infrastructure, services, disaster management and preparedness strategies.
The approaches taken will be determined by local needs and priorities, but will be replicable in different urban contexts and will bring particular focus to improving the resilience of poor and vulnerable populations to climate change impacts. Activities will involve the development of secondary partnerships and activities with a spectrum of actors, including local, state, and national governments, the private sector, community based organizations, and universities and research institutions. Anticipated results of the ACCCRN program include:
- Capacity building
Selected cities in South and South East Asia have adequate capacity to plan, finance, coordinate, and implement climate change resilience strategies. - Network for learning and engagement
A broad range of representatives of cities, civil society, donors, private sector, technical partners engage with ACCCRN to mutually identify and solve key climate change resilience problems. - Expansion, deepening of experience, scaling up
New and more diverse partners provide resources and funding for replication in current and new cities to support the implementation of resilience plans and strategies.
Program
Phase 1 (April 2008 to September 2009): City Scoping and Selection A broad review of a number of Asian cities in India, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam to identify a select number of partner cities in which ACCCRN will pursue deeper engagement. Key activities in this phase will involve:
- Understanding vulnerability to climate change in those cities
- Investigating the readiness of those cities to engage with the project on resilience
In India and Viet Nam, the city selection process has been completed:
Selected cities in India:
Surat (Gujarat)
Indore (Madhya Pradesh)
Gorakphur (Uttar Pradesh)
Selected cities in Viet Nam:
Da Nang
Quy Nhon
Can Tho
Selected Cities in Thailand:
Chiang Rai
Hat Yai
Selected Cities in Indonesia:
Bandar Lampung
Semerang
The scoping exercise in Thailand and Indonesia is currently underway, and we hope to have identified cities and partners there by the second half of 2009.
Phase 2 (January 2009 - mid 2010): City-level engagement and capacity development
Phase 3 (2010 - 2012): Implementation of effective urban resilience building projects
ACCCRN cities will work with local and international partners to implement replicable interventions identified in the climate change resilience action plan. In part these will be funded by the Rockefeller Foundation in the cities belonging to the ACCCRN network.
Phase 4 (Mid 2008 onwards): Replication
The ACCRN program will scale up through networking between cities, countries and sectors to broaden stakeholder base, as well as leveraging a much larger volume of financing for credible and evidence-based resilience building initiatives.
Strengthening Food Security: Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA)
The Challenge
"Global production of major cereals set a world record in 2008, yet 300 million Africans lack sufficient food each day."
Increasing agricultural productivity is critical for both human welfare and economic growth in African countries. About 70% of Sub-Saharan Africans depend on agriculture for their food and their livelihoods, primarily by raising staple food crops and a few livestock on small farms.
Many farmers barely produce enough food to feed their families. They are unable to generate a surplus and therefore have no income to buy the inputs that can enhance their crop yields—even though it would take only modest investments and small improvements in farming practices to triple or even quadruple what they now produce.
Our Strategy
The Rockefeller Foundation’s Strengthening Food Security initiative includes AGRA, which was launched in 2006 in partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. It is an African-based and African-led organization charged with sustainably increasing the productivity and profitability of small-scale farms throughout Africa.
The Rockefeller Foundation supports AGRA across four interrelated areas of activity:
- Improving access to more resilient seeds that produce higher and more stable yields
- Promoting soil health and productivity
- Building more efficient local, national and regional, agriculture markets
- Promoting improved policies and building partnerships to develop the technological and institutional changes needed to achieve a Green Revolution
Key Outcomes
This initiative helps make food supplies secure by working with smallholder farmers to achieve rapid and sustainable agricultural growth with their staple crops. We seek to achieve four outcomes:
- Science, knowledge and technology are disseminated and used by African small-scale farmers to rapidly increase agricultural productivity in ways that are sustainable and environmentally friendly.
- Small-scale farmers achieve Increased productivity, income and profit in 10 or more African countries by giving them greater access to markets for their staple crops.
- Policies, infrastructure and financial incentive mechanisms are in place regionally and nationally to provide a supportive and sustainable environment for agricultural transformations. Particular attention is paid to giving women farmers access to technologies, knowledge and other resources.
- Alliances and platforms are developed collaboratively with bilateral and multilateral partners, national governments, research organizations, farmers’ organizations and others to address the need for greater agricultural productivity, resource mobilization and human resources to achieve food security.
Protecting American Workers’ Economic Security:
Campaign for American Workers
The Challenge
"Americans face higher unemployment and fewer economic opportunities than at any point in recent history."
Millions of American workers have been left economically insecure by the fraying of our social safety nets in recent decades, and these effects have only worsened as the economy has contracted in the last two years. Health care costs are often more than workers can afford, employers trim benefits, and the government no longer guarantees a safety net. Inequality and disparities have widened to historic proportions, intensifying among the working poor.
Our Strategy
The Foundation’s Campaign for American Workers initiative recognizes that there is danger in the growth of economic insecurity, but there is also opportunity. We have the chance to reexamine federal priorities with regard to the US social contract.
Our initiative focuses on three primary strategies:
- Promoting policies and tools to increase savings and retirement security
- Fostering demonstrations that ensure more secure and portable health care coverage
- Supporting evidence-based analysis of proposed and current policies on economic security of American workers, particularly the most vulnerable and disadvantaged workers
Key Outcomes
This initiative strives to measurably improve economic security among vulnerable workers in the United States during their working lives and in retirement. We expect to:
- Improve knowledge and understanding among policymakers and thought leaders of the need for and pathways to a new social contract to improve economic security.
- Implement public-private partnerships, new institutional arrangements and pilot projects that result in workers having greater access to health care, predicatable savings and retirement income.
- Explore policy and program innovations that help guide federal and state legislators on workable options to increase economic security through access to quality jobs and health care, and easier, more effective ways to save for today and in retirement.
Promoting Equitable, Sustainable Transportation
The Challenge
Transportation is a critical issue because it is woven into almost every aspect of our existence. The kind of transportation we invest in determines the shape of our communities, our access to jobs and services, and how much of our time and money we spend on getting around. It also determines the cost of goods and the extent to which we use up diminishing energy supplies and produce emissions that warm the earth.
In the United States at every level of government, too little attention is paid to getting a return on transportation investments or maintaining the infrastructure we already have so we can grow sustainably and affordably.
"Transportation infrastructure does not just move people from one place to another; it is a path to the American dream."
We are at a tipping point for change in transportation policy in the United States. Comprehensive federal transportation legislation must be reauthorized very soon. The financing mechanism for federal funding has collapsed, necessitating a new approach. In addition, global warming, energy insecurity, and anxiety about economic competitiveness are all converging to force policymakers to generate a new vision.
Our Strategy
The Foundation's Promoting Equitable Sustainable Transportation initiative advocates for investment in affordable, environmentally-responsible transit. This initiative supports strategies at the national and local level. At the federal level, we are:
- Funding policy analysis and research that informs a new transportation policy for America.
- Encouraging national leaders and grassroots leaders to embrace a new policy agenda. Promoting and coordinating philanthropic participation in transportation work.
At the same time, we are exploring state and local policy innovations. We are:
- Resourcing advocacy efforts to encourage state/metro reform. Building the internal capacity of state departments of transportation and metro planning organizations.
- Encouraging sustainability and equity through market and consumer levers.
Key Outcomes
This initiative contributes to smart infrastructure choices that create equitable and affordable transportation options in the United States. We are working to achieve three outcomes:
- Policy: Policymakers at all levels of government in the United States will have actionable and practical research and analytical support to advance equitable, sustainable and economically beneficial transportation policies.
- Capacity: A diverse constituency of national and grassroots leaders will be able to influence debates, positions and issues in transportation, and to hold leaders accountable.
- Expanded Partnerships: An ongoing network of philanthropic and major donor partners will continue to support federal efforts in sustainable transportation solutions, sustain regional ones and maintain reform infrastructure beyond the conclusion of the initiative’s support.
Linking Global Disease Surveillance Networks
The Challenge
In the last few decades, we have seen the emergence of new infectious diseases that have rapidly spread—or have the potential to spread—into worldwide pandemics: HIV/AIDS, Ebola, SARS, highly pathogenic avian influenza, and now H1N1 influenza (swine flu). These diseases threaten the health, the livelihoods, and the very lives of the world’s poorest people.
"The threat of another pandemic in the next few years, from a new infectious disease like H1N1, is real."
Once these diseases spread beyond localized regions, they become exponentially more difficult to stop. Therefore, early detection by effective disease surveillance networks that operate across national borders is key to containing them and preventing pandemics. However, the regions most at risk are not equipped for the task. They do not have the capacity to effectively monitor and report the first signs of outbreaks within their nations, let alone coordinate such communications with neighboring countries.
Our Strategy
The Foundation’s Linking Global Disease Surveillance Networks initiative is working to establish transnational detection, monitoring and communications systems to strengthen disease prevention. This initiative aims to mitigate the impact of disease outbreaks through three strategies:
- Optimizing individual and institutional capacity for disease surveillance in two regions at highest risk—the Mekong region in Asia and both Eastern and Southern Africa
- Promoting collaboration in disease surveillance and response across countries and within regions to improve horizontal communication and knowledge sharing
- Building bridges between disease surveillance networks and international agencies—and connections between animal health, human health and environmental health—through the One Health approach, increasing the efficiency of global systems for disease surveillance and response
Key Outcomes
This initiative is designed to establish more effective surveillance and response systems that can operate more quickly during disease outbreaks. Efficient monitoring and response can protect the lives of more people in Southeast Asia and Eastern and Southern Africa against the dangerous spread of disease. We expect to:
- Set up transboundary disease surveillance networks in Southeast Asia, and in Eastern and Southern Africa to enable disease surveillance practitioners to collaborate, share information and learn how to more effectively address disease threats.
- Give disease surveillance practitioners and their institutions better capacity to strengthen, apply and share technical and communication skills in disease surveillance to more effectively address disease threats.
- Provide disease surveillance practitioners with better access to improved tools and methods for efficiently monitoring, sharing and reporting information to respond to disease threats.
- Ensure that policymakers, human health and veterinary practitioners take a trans-disciplinary approach to policy and practice in animal and human health, emphasizing the “One Health” principles at global, regional and local levels.
Transforming Health Systems
The Challenge
Every year nearly ten million children and half a million mothers die from preventable causes because they cannot access the health care they need. Even when people do have access, quality care is often a luxury. And more than 25 million families descend into poverty each year because of catastrophic health expenses.
"Over 25 million families descend into poverty each year because of a catastrophic health expense."
While health spending has increased dramatically around the world, access to affordable, quality services has lagged. The ability to provide good and equitable health services for all people depends, in part, on the performance of health systems—networks of organizations, businesses, individuals, government entities and technological resources dedicated to promoting, maintaining, or restoring health.
In recent years, the global health field has focused on disease and population-specific programs, with insufficient attention paid to health systems. This has resulted in dysfunctional health service delivery and inequitable financing, especially in under-resourced areas. The challenge of creating affordable, high-quality health systems is universal, but the problems are especially acute in developing countries.
Our Strategy
New technologies and demographic, epidemiologic, and economic shifts are transforming health systems in countries around the world. There is now a window of opportunity to promote strategies that steer this transformation toward better health outcomes and financial protection through improved health systems performance and the expansion of universal health coverage in low- and middle-income countries.
The Rockefeller Foundation’s Transforming Health Systems initiative employs four key funding strategies:
- Fostering health systems research and agenda setting for universal health coverage
- Enhancing professional capacity to plan and manage high-performing health systems
- Harnessing the resources of the private sector to finance and deliver health services
- Leveraging interoperable eHealth systems
Key Outcomes
This initiative helps improve the health of more people through greater access to timely, appropriate, and affordable health services.
To achieve measurable results, this initiative aims to:
- Inform leadership and public policy so that universal health coverage is accepted as a feasible and desirable goal and is adopted by a growing number of national governments.
- Build capacity in both public and private sectors for enhanced development and stewardship of health systems in selected countries.
- Support innovation, tools, and global public-private partnerships and networks to develop interoperable eHealth systems that improve quality, access and affordability of health services in selected countries.
Global eHealth
Global eHealth--Going Digital to Transform Health Systems
Growing numbers of experts believe that eHealth—the innovative application of emerging information and communications technology in health systems—will fuel the next breakthrough in health systems improvement. Recognizing both the promise and the challenges of these new technologies, the Rockefeller Foundation has launched an effort to identify new methods of using eHealth to improve health systems, with a spotlight on low-resource settings.
eHealth resources, including everything from mobile devices and e-learning tools to electronic health records and information-gathering software, can enable immense leaps in quality of care. For example, a nurse in a remote village—through her laptop and mobile phone—can now access previously unavailable information on the world’s best treatments and can track and treat her patients using comprehensive electronic health records.
The Foundation is helping to broaden the use of eHealth by supporting the development of public-private partnerships, new capabilities, and best practices for interoperability, privacy and security.
"eHealth is “a ray of light on the horizon for the health and equity challenges that plague humanity.”
-- Cape Town Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu at the launch of the eHealth Call to Action
Achieving Results
A key milestone in the Foundation’s effort to improve health systems was the month-long Making the eHealth Connection: Global Partnerships, Local Solutions conference series in 2008.
Conference participants from around the world shared success stories and lessons learned about projects already underway, from telemedicine networks in Bangladesh and e-pharmacy projects in Malaysia to low-cost, sustainable electronic records for HIV/AIDS patients in Kenya.
Call to Action
Through the signing of the Rockefeller Foundation eHealth Call to Action—which is now being taken to global institutions, individuals, and governments with the power to change eHealth policy and practice—eHealth conference participants committed themselves to supporting the following:
- Timely, consensus-based global agenda-setting
- A rational policy process for eHealth
- Adequate and coordinated funding
- Collaborative networks and action platforms
- Knowledge-sharing and capacity building
- Interoperable eHealth demonstration projects
Join the more than 240 individuals who have signed the Bellagio eHealth Call to Action.
Advancing Innovation Processes to Solve Social Problems
The Challenge
Innovation is a major driving force in global economic growth and development. The Economist magazine defines it as “new products, business processes, or organic changes that create wealth or social welfare,” or simply, “the fresh thinking that creates value.”
"If you want an answer, ask everyone."
Historically, innovation has been practiced within institutions. And it has been largely driven by companies, individual innovators, or specialized researchers and designers rather than by those who are ultimate users of the innovations.
Over the last few decades, innovation has been moving to a more open and networked process—open to new ideas from enthusiasts (“the crowd”), from other fields, and from customers and end users. Companies from Toyota to eBay have applied “open and user-driven” processes to their product development with revolutionary results. Increasing connectivity now offers an unprecedented opportunity to harness global creativity and add value to products and services.
Our Strategy
Open and user-driven innovation models are not being widely applied to meet the needs of poor or vulnerable people. The Foundation’s Advancing Innovation Processes to Solve Social Problems initiative explores whether new innovation approaches can be applied more widely in development, and whether they can be scaled up for greater adoption.
The initiative supports four primary areas of activity:
- Testing the value and applicability of commercial innovation models for addressing social problems
- Scaling up or replicating existing socially-focused or not-for-profit innovation models
- Influencing providers of innovation platforms and techniques to sustainably and systematically provide their services to the social sector
- Encouraging NGOs, researchers, funders and entrepreneurs focused on pro-poor innovation to use open-innovation models
Key Outcomes
This initiative uses private-sector innovation tools and methods to discover social breakthroughs that development organizations and social entrepreneurs can use to respond to the complex circumstances facing poor and vulnerable populations. We expect to achieve four outcomes:
- Test and prove which existing commercial-market models of innovation (such as crowdsourcing, design thinking, and user-driven innovation) work as effective innovation tools for development.
- Provide NGOs and other pro-poor, not-for-profit development organizations with the necessary local and global knowledge and capacity to use innovation models to enhance the efficiency and productivity of their work.
- Enable both users and providers to replicate and scale up the use of and demand for innovation models that have a proven track record of success in addressing development problems to benefit poor communities.
- Foster partnerships between developers and providers of innovation tools and the social sector to continue sharing and demonstrating the effectiveness of socially-focused or not-for-profit innovation models.
Helping Build an Impact Investing Industry
The Challenge
It’s going to take far more money than all the philanthropies and governments have at their disposal to make a significant impact on improving the lives of all the poor and vulnerable people in the world. Impact investing— which helps address social and/or environmental problems while also turning a profit—could unlock substantial for-profit investment capital to complement philanthropy in addressing pressing social challenges.
"Impact investing could expand to a $500 billion industry in the next decade."
However, the small but rapidly growing impact investing industry stands at a pivotal moment in its development. There is increasing interest and enormous potential—some say it could expand into a $500 billion industry in the next decade. But the basic systems and networks necessary to identify, vet, and monitor investments efficiently are not in place. Until they are, potential impact investors remain on the sidelines and the industry cannot take off.
Our Strategy
The Foundation’s Helping Build an Impact Investing Industry initiative aims to overcome the major obstacle to the growth of the impact investing industry. Since 2007 we have asked hundreds of current and potential impact investors around the world what it would take for them to be able to address social and environmental challenges more efficiently with for-profit impact investments. The answers to this question form the basis of our four-pronged strategy:
- Catalyzing platforms for collective action that enable leading impact investors and intermediaries to coordinate efforts, such as disseminating standards, sharing information, and collaborating on deals
- Supporting the development of scaled intermediation vehicles that help absorb impact investments at a scale necessary to attract the institutional investors who control the lion’s share of global capital
- Building industry-wide infrastructure that enables broader and more effective participation in the impact investing industry
- Supporting research and advocacy efforts that promote an analytical understanding of the impact investing industry and take necessary steps to facilitate its maturation
Key Outcomes
This initiative seeks to help accelerate the development of an industry that can efficiently place for-profit impact investments to improve a wide range of social and/or environmental conditions. We work on four goals to achieve measurable outcomes:
- Spark collective action platforms for impact investing industry leaders to coordinate investment and promote the infrastructure, activities, education, research and collaboration needed for the growing industry to tackle a wider range of social challenges more efficiently.
- Develop industry infrastructure that can sustainably support impact investors to tackle a wider range of social challenges with for-profit investment and improve the performance of the industry.
- Support scaling of organizations and structures (such as private equity funds and investment clubs) to aggregate institutional-scale impact investments and place them efficiently with investees who use this capital in a range of areas (including improving agricultural productivity and enhancing access to healthcare and decent housing) and geographies.
- Contribute to fundamental research and advocacy of impact investing so that its promise and challenges are widely understood and policy reforms encourage accelerated expansion of impact investing by existing and new institutional investors.
Work in Exploration
The Rockefeller Foundation continually seeks, considers, and evaluates innovative funding approaches that build more resilient households and communities and foster more equitable growth around the world. Each time we identify a new area of focus within one or more of our five issue areas, we begin to hone our strategy, during an exploratory phase. Because not every potential intervention will result in effective outcomes, only the most promising work in exploration will become Foundation initiatives.
Carbon and Poverty Reduction
Much of the international discussion about combating climate change has focused on how developed countries can reduce emissions of greenhouse gases from the energy, transportation and industrial sectors. One promising response has been the development of carbon markets, where credits for reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and for carbon sequestrations can be sold and traded. The Rockefeller Foundation is exploring ways to ensure that such carbon markets contribute to both mitigating climate change and reducing rural poverty in the developing world.
Related issue areas:
Sustainable Employment in a Green US Economy
In response to the disproportionate effect of the current recession on the economic security of low-income workers, the Foundation is focusing on the green employment sector. This effort aims to maximize the “green” growth areas of the economy, such as opportunities presented by the demand for home-energy retrofits, while benefiting low- and moderate-income workers.
Related issue areas:
Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa Market Access
Overcoming chronic poverty and hunger in African countries remains one of the world’s greatest challenges. The Foundation is funding methods of reducing poverty by increasing incomes through linking millions of small-scale farmers to more efficient local, national and international markets.
Related issue areas:
Innovations for a Metro Nation
With the current housing crisis having exposed the vulnerabilities of US housing and urban policies, the Foundation is helping the country reinvent its existing systems. The intention of our efforts is to spark fresh ideas for creating effective regional governance, reforming housing markets, addressing the entrenched inequality and growing vulnerability of households, responding to changing demographics, and helping cities adapt to climate and energy constraints.
Related issue areas:
Networks for Urban Innovation
During the next two decades, nearly all of the urban growth that is projected to occur will take place in the developing world. By 2030, 80% of the world’s urban population will be living in developing countries. In spite of this growth, affected cities often lack the capacity to absorb this population increase. The Foundation is taking a multi-sector approach to helping these urban areas cope with the demands of already-scarce resources, new health risks and the negative effects of climate change.
Related issue areas:
Smart National Power Grid
Creating a new national power infrastructure could have a profound impact on the ability of the United States to dramatically reduce carbon dependence, improve energy efficiency and security, and enhance climate resilience. Yet the identification of sites of the transmission lines (above or below ground) remains a major barrier to such progress. The Foundation is exploring solutions for transmission line siting—whether related to policy, regulatory or technological issues.
Related issue area:
Smart Power for Environmentally Sound Economic Development
Some 1.6 billion people, or one-quarter of the world’s population, do not have access to electricity. The Rockefeller Foundation is exploring whether the massive and rapidly-growing infrastructure of cell phone towers in India and East Africa can be harnessed to help provide clean energy services and universal electrification in poor communities.
Related issue areas:
Business Process Outsourcing Growth and NGO Efficiency
Poor and vulnerable communities could benefit greatly if the development sector became a more efficient service provider and driver of job creation. To foster more innovative and effective operational practices, the Foundation is seeking to encourage development institutions to use shared business services and local providers (in East Africa) for both back office and core development functions.
Related issue area:
Land Tenure
The Foundation is helping to assure economic security by promoting fairer property and inheritance rights in developing countries.
Related issue areas:
Gender
Particularly in many developing countries, gender inequities exist in education and training, legal and policy reform, and access to and distribution of resources. The Foundation is working to increase opportunities for women and girls.
Related issue area:
Water
Safeguarding access to water for drinking, fishing, irrigation, and public health is critical to economic and social development. The Foundation is examining improved methods of preserving this essential resource for the future.
Related issue areas:
Where We Work
The Rockefeller Foundation has worked around the globe since our founding in 1913. Today, the Foundation works in regions where we can leverage our assets, experience, and expertise to help realize Smart Globalization: Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, and the United States.
Yet the Foundation does not limit its operations to these locations alone. We also support innovations and interventions in communities that provide new learning and build partnerships, alliances, and networks.
Africa
We support work that unleashes economic growth—helping smallholder farmers adapt to climate change and increase agricultural productivity, facilitating sustainable urban expansion and expanding affordable health services.
Asia
We support work that creates accessible, affordable health systems, shapes innovations in urban planning, finance and infrastructure, and reduces environmental and economic vulnerability.
North America
We support work that bolsters working families' economic security, builds resilience to climate change impacts, and enables sustainable and equitable metropolitan growth.
New York City
We support work that expands economic opportunity, promotes sustainable planning and growth, and fosters cultural innovation.
Developing Countries
We support work in developing countries, where economic opportunity is expanding but new vulnerabilities are emerging.
Our Global Work
We support work around the world to help more people tap into globalization's benefits and strengthen resilience to risk.
New York City
Global Capital of Creativity
The Rockefeller Foundation has contributed to New York City since our founding in 1913. During the ensuing nine decades, our predecessors supported a number of artistic, scientific and social advances—and institutions like Lincoln Center and the Museum of Modern Art—that continue to benefit the people of New York’s myriad communities.
Today, New York’s streetscapes serve as more than a setting for our work. Our city inspires and informs an active appreciation for and investment in the strength of cities and the significance of cultural innovation around the world.
The Rockefeller Foundation exercises unwavering commitments to urban experimentation, civic responsibility and creative expression in our hometown.
Local Institutions We’ve Supported
Today, through our New York City Opportunities Fund, the Foundation sparks bold solutions to local challenges, encourages innovation within the cultural and civic sectors and builds on our legacy of support to key local institutions:
- Jazz at Lincoln Center produced FREEDOM! A Celebration in Jazz, reflecting on the parallels of jazz and democracy, from the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to a new era under President Barack Obama.
- Tectonic Theater Project premiered The Laramie Project 10 Years Later (October 2009). This production, featuring the original cast of the play about the death of Matthew Shepard, was simultaneously presented at 150 venues throughout the United States and worldwide, with live video streaming allowing for real-time discussions (before and after the showing) on the issues of hate crimes, homophobia and tolerance.
- The Center for an Urban Future is preparing a report of compelling, actionable and affordable recommendations for New York City government, business and civic leaders to undertake to strengthen and grow the creative sector.
- Manhattan Institute’s Center for Rethinking Development hosted a public forum (September 2009) entitled "Thinking Big, New York & London: Heading Back to the Top" to explore how the two cities can learn from each other's successful ideas and innovations.
- MoMA received a grant toward the costs of Palisades Bay, an exhibition and workshop set for 2010 to address the environmental impact of climate change and sea level rise in the New York/New Jersey Harbor.
Our Three Primary NYC Projects
NYC Cultural Innovation Fund
The Foundation’s NYC Cultural Innovation Fund, launched in 2007, supports creativity and the arts, with an emphasis on innovation. The Foundation awards two-year grants, ranging from $50,000 to $250,000.
Jane Jacobs Medal
In 2007, the year after the visionary urban activist Jane Jacobs died, the Rockefeller Foundation launched the Jane Jacobs annual award and medal to honor her work and to reaffirm the Foundation’s commitment to New York City.
Opportunity NYC
The Rockefeller Foundation is the leading funder of Opportunity NYC, which recognizes the day-to-day challenges faced by low-income people.
NYC Cultural Innovation Fund
Support for Local New York City Artists
The Foundation’s NYC Cultural Innovation Fund, launched in 2007, supports creativity and the arts, with an emphasis on innovation. The Foundation awards two-year grants, ranging from $50,000 to $250,000, for groundbreaking creative work that enriches the city’s cultural life and strengthens the role that the arts will play in the future of New York.
With the Foundation’s support, artists and art communities can build an innovative creative sector that provokes us to react, question and learn. These grants underscore our commitment to the impact and influence that creative expression and innovation can exert on social progress.
2009 NYC Cultural Innovation Fund Winners
Many of the 18 winners in 2009, selected from more than 500 diverse projects, focused on innovative survival strategies for the arts during a time of severe economic decline. Strong themes among the winning entries were: fresh business models, imaginative prototypes for public/private partnerships, entrepreneurial approaches to capital generation, artist peer loan programs, and new spins on marketing, especially to rapidly growing Latino communities.
- Alliance for Downtown New York, Inc., for a creative arts district prototype that supports permanent artists’ workspaces and commercial growth
- Alliance of Resident Theatres/New York, to develop sustainable business models that enable Off- and Off-Off-Broadway theaters to survive and thrive
- Asia Society, for a series of debates in which artists, scientists, business leaders and scholars use ancient forms of dialogue to address contemporary challenges
- BRIC Arts | Media | Bklyn, to inaugurate a creative laboratory and residency linking the visual, media and performing arts
- The Council on the Arts and Humanities for Staten Island, to redesign and repurpose the North Shore waterfront as a creative sector incubator
- Creative Capital, to harvest successful business and NGO capital-generation models for the benefit of artists
- HERE Arts Center, for an interactive video, blog and podcast series examining the real-life survival challenges of New York City performing artists
- Institute for Urban Design, to launch Urban Design Week, an open-air festival celebrating the year’s innovations in architecture and urban design
- The Joyce Theater Foundation, Inc., to use creative arts residencies to support projects combining theater and dance
- New York City Ballet, for a convergence of architecture and dance through commissioning new ballets for a set designed by architect Santiago Calatrava
- The New School, for a design and public policy partnership to research, promote, and amplify community-based solutions for sustainability
- Polytechnic Institute of NYU, for community access to Betaville, an online platform showing proposed urban design and public art projects in 3D on real streets
- Pregones Theater, to expand Zip Tickets, the VIP discount ticket service for South Bronx, Washington Heights, and East Harlem zip codes
- Project Enterprise, in partnership with ArtHome, to help artist entrepreneurs build assets and equity through an artist peer loan program
- Queens Council on the Arts, to design an interactive cell phone cultural map to transform the #7 train into an art express
- Ringside Inc. (STREB), to spark new dance forms by incorporating extreme action techniques such as high wire feats and skydiving
- Teatro Círculo, to grow Latino audiences by training micro-entrepreneurs, from empanada vendors to beauty shop owners, to become sales agents for cultural events
Jane Jacobs Medal
Honoring the Visionary Urban Activist
In 2007, the year after the visionary urban activist Jane Jacobs died, the Rockefeller Foundation launched the Jane Jacobs annual award to honor her work. This medal reaffirms the Foundation’s commitment to New York City by recognizing those whose creative uses of the urban environment build a more diverse, dynamic and equitable city.
Jane Jacobs’ ties to the Rockefeller Foundation stretch back a half-century (to 1958) when this relatively unknown scholar received a Rockefeller Foundation grant to expand upon her ideas about how a city should look and feel and work. The book she published in 1961, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, transformed how city dwellers and scholars think about cities and urban planning.
Today, more than 50 years later, her book is still regarded as one of the key texts for American architects and urban planners. Jacobs challenged the prevailing assumptions of what makes a city thrive. Her harsh criticism of “slum-clearing” and high-rise housing projects was instrumental in discrediting what were, up until then, universally supported planning practices. She called on urban residents to nurture what she termed the “intricate mingling” and “sidewalk ballet” of the city. And she reminded us that if cities and the neighborhoods within them are to succeed, the people affected by city policy must have a voice in setting the policies that shape the texture and fabric of daily life in those cities.
“Cities have the capability of providing something for everyone,” Jacobs wrote, “only because and only when they are created by everybody.”
The Medal: Two Awards for New Ideas & Activism and Lifetime Leadership
Medals are awarded to two living persons whose accomplishments represent Jane Jacobs’ principles and practices in action in New York City. The selection of the winners and allocation of the prize money—totaling $200,000—are decided by the members of a medal selection jury.
The first award recognizes leadership and lifetime contribution. The second award recognizes new ideas and activism. Together, the medalists represent the creativity, innovation and dynamism of New York City.
2009 Recipients of the Jane Jacobs Medal
The recipients of the Rockefeller Foundation’s 2009 Jane Jacobs Medal are
Damaris Reyes, Executive Director of Good Old Lower East Side (GOLES), and Richard Kahan, Founder and CEO of the Urban Assembly.
Jane Jacobs’ Principles
Winners of the Jane Jacobs Medal support her principles, which encompass the following values and ideas:
- Make New York City a place of hope and expectation that attracts new people and new ideas
- Challenge traditional assumptions and conventional thinking
- Promote dynamism, density and diversity
- Generate new principles for the way we think about development and preservation in New York City
- Take a common-sense approach to complex problems
- Provide leadership in solving common problems
- Respect neighborhood knowledge
- Generate creative use of the urban environment
Opportunity NYC
Recognizing the Challenges Low-Income Families Face Every Day
The Rockefeller Foundation is the leading funder of Opportunity NYC, which recognizes the day-to-day challenges faced by low-income people: The mother who must choose between taking her child to a doctor or showing up at work so she can pay the monthly bills. Or the eighteen-year-old who is faced with the tough choice of finishing school or quitting to get a job.
Opportunity NYC aims to change the economics of this kind of decision making. The program provides payment to low-income families and individuals to increase participation in three targeted activities—education, health and employment—to maximize their chances of breaking the inter-generational cycle of poverty. By offsetting the costs of choosing education, training and preventative health care, we are encouraging choices that invest in families’ futures.
Conditional Cash Transfers (CCTs)
As a global foundation, we are funding poverty-fighting models that work in different contexts around the world.
Conditional Cash Transfers (CCTs) are a relatively new but increasingly popular tool in the field of international development. CCTs are designed to decrease the factors that contribute to poverty by promoting greater investments in human capital.
CCT programs originated in the late 1990s in Mexico with the creation of a program called Progresa (now Oportunidades), which serves more than 20 million Mexican families, and has been replicated in more than 20 countries. Progresa and other CCT programs have been subject to rigorous evaluation, which has documented reductions in the incidence and severity of poverty and malnutrition, as well as improvements in school enrollment and completion.
Three Model CCT Projects
Opportunity NYC consists of three separate demonstration projects:
- A family-focused CCT, called Opportunity NYC Family Rewards, which includes workforce, education and health components, and serves 2,550 families (with an additional 2,550 families participating in a control group that does not receive any services);
- An adult-focused CCT, exclusively designed to improve workforce participation, reaching 2,400 families; and
- A child-focused CCT, designed to boost test scores among 4th- and 7th-grade students, reaching 8,600 students.
Groundbreaking Innovation is Unique in New York City
The New York City pilot is unprecedented in three important ways:
- First, this is the first CCT program to be tried in United States or Western Europe—as such, it represents an unparalleled attempt to test a successful anti-poverty program from the Global South (developing countries) in the Global North (developed countries).
- Second, the New York City experiment is the first program to include a significant workforce participation component in addition to the traditional health and education components.
- Third, Opportunity NYC is being piloted in the largest urban center in the United States, while the majority of CCT beneficiaries in the Global South are located in rural areas.
Background on the Funding and Implementation
The Foundation has played a leading role in funding the design, implementation and evaluation of the Opportunity NYC program, which is being financed wholly through private sources in its pilot phase. The CCT program was launched in September 2007 and by mid-December, the first incentive payments to families in the pilot program were made. In 2009, the pilot program was extended from two to three years. (Complete first-year findings are expected to be released at the end of 2009.)
The design and evaluation of the program will be managed by the social science research firm MDRC. Implementation is being led by Seedco, a nonprofit intermediary organization specializing in workforce and community economic development, in conjunction with a network of community-based organizations.
As a result of the success of this first program, the Foundation has funded another: the Conditional Cash Transfer Learning Network.
North America
Globalization’s promises and perils do not only manifest themselves in nations around the world, but also in communities across North America.
The Rockefeller Foundation, therefore, works both at home and abroad to assure that more people can reach the benefits of progress and growth while strengthening resilience to new and evolving social, economic, health and environmental challenges.
Local Action Yields Global Results
Many of our model programs start domestically, but yield global impact:
- Our successes in combating malaria began as pilot projects in Arkansas and Mississippi and later expanded to research centers in 25 locations in Latin America, Europe, the Near East and Asia.
- The vaccine to prevent yellow fever was developed in the Foundation’s New York laboratories in 1935. For this, Foundation scientist Max Theiler was later granted the Nobel Prize in Medicine and Physiology.
- The Foundation launched the concept of improving public health through public health education with the endowment of the first school of public health at Johns Hopkins University in 1921. That was followed by the creation of two other schools at Harvard and the University of Michigan. These three served as the model for dozens of schools of public health that the Foundation endowed in cities from Athens to Zagreb.
- The Foundation also has a long tradition—one that continues today—of supporting the arts and cultural development across the United States with fellowships to artists, writers, dancers, filmmakers, teachers and scholars whose creativity can influence social change around the world.
Some of Our Current Projects in the United States
Rebuilding New Orleans
Taking a long-term approach to rebuilding the city, the Foundation supported the successful process of developing the Unified New Orleans Plan (UNOP). Now in its final phase, the Rebuilding New Orleans initiative is working to implement UNOP ideas to build thriving and diverse neighborhoods.
Protecting American Workers’ Economic Security
Millions of American workers have been left financially insecure as the economy has contracted in the last two years.
Promoting Equitable, Sustainable Transportation
The United States can no longer afford to ignore its crumbling infrastructure. Failing levees in New Orleans, the collapse of the I-35 bridge in Minnesota, and an exploding steam pipe in Manhattan all underscore the urgency of attending to this challenge.
Sustainable Employment in a Green US Economy
We work to maximize the “green” growth areas of the economy, such as opportunities presented by the demand for home-energy retrofits, while benefiting low- and moderate-income workers.
NYC Cultural Innovation Fund
The Foundation’s New York City Cultural Innovation Fund, launched in 2007, supports creativity and the arts, with an emphasis on innovation.
Jane Jacobs Medal
In 2007, the year after the visionary urban activist Jane Jacobs died, the Rockefeller Foundation launched the Jane Jacobs annual award and medal to honor her work.
Opportunity NYC
The Rockefeller Foundation’s Opportunity NYC recognizes the day-to-day challenges faced by the poor: The mother who must choose between taking her child to a doctor or showing up at work so she can pay the monthly bills. Or the eighteen-year-old who is faced with the tough choice of finishing school or quitting to get a job.
Asia
In many Asian countries, especially during the past three decades, we have seen unprecedented advances. Poverty has been reduced. Health care has improved. Education has been strengthened. With these advances has also come a tremendous shift in the region’s economic structure and population distribution, with 60% of global population growth during the next 30 years expected to occur in Asia’s cities.
These changes have been driven by a combination of forces: a rapid expansion of economic opportunity, political will, increased civic engagement, and greater innovation and dynamism across many fields. The private sector, academia, and the sciences, along with the Rockefeller Foundation and other philanthropic institutions, have all contributed to these transformations. But there is also another Asia. Hundreds of millions of people have been left out of the positive picture.
Along with unstable and uneven progress toward good governance, the fact that so many millions are falling through the cracks is increasingly because some of the world’s most acute climate hotspots are found in Asia. Water supplies are threatened. Despite major improvements in food production, unequal access and distribution leaves millions still hungry. Health and safety are precarious for too many, in both rural and urban areas. Even rapidly developing countries, such as Thailand and Vietnam, remain especially vulnerable to natural disasters, economic shocks, and global volatility.
Asia accounts for nearly 50% of the world’s poorest people (those living on less than a dollar a day), according to the World Bank.
Our Strategy
By funding a strategic mix of organizations, institutions, and projects, the Foundation is fostering smart globalization. We are investing in promoting equitable economic growth while building the abilities of households, communities, systems and countries to withstand current and emerging risks.
Our Current Initiatives
To sustain and build on the gains Asia has been able to make, the Rockefeller Foundation is focusing its support on five main initiatives:
Asian Cities Climate Change Network, a component of the Foundation’s Developing Climate Change Resilience initiative
Helping urban communities cope with imminent consequences of climate change
We are piloting resilience strategies in ten cities across Asia. Our aim is to help build the capacity of city stakeholders to address the challenges they face, and to create a sustainable network for sharing these experiences with many others.
Linking Global Disease Surveillance Networks
Establishing transnational detection, monitoring and communication systems to strengthen disease prevention
The Foundation’s investment in disease surveillance networks began in 2001 with its support for the trailblazing Mekong Basin Disease Surveillance Network.
Transforming Health Systems
Widening access to affordable, high-quality health services by leveraging and coordinating resources
We are investing in efforts to achieve greater health system coverage in Vietnam. In addition, we are working with successful public health organizations and systems the Foundation has nurtured over many decades in Thailand to serve as resources for neighboring countries.
Helping Build an Impact Investing Industry
Expanding and increasing the effectiveness of investments that solve social and environmental problems and generate a profit
Some of the freshest approaches to impact investing are being developed in India and Singapore.
Advancing Innovation Processes to Solve Social Problems
Building models to expand the use of cutting-edge innovation methods to achieve social impact
Some of the Foundation’s most dynamic grantees for this initiative are from Asian countries, demonstrating that this sector’s newest ideas are coming from across the globe, not just from developed countries. Innovation successes in Asia will serve as models for other regions.
Our Work in Exploration
Each time the Foundation identifies a new area of focus within one or more of our five issue areas, we begin to hone our strategy during an exploratory phase. For example, the Foundation is attempting to determine whether India’s rapidly-growing infrastructure of cell phone towers can be harnessed to provide clean energy services and universal electricity access in poor communities.
Our Asia Regional Office
First established in 1964, the Rockefeller Foundation’s Asia Regional Office is located in Bangkok, Thailand. For more information, please contact:
The Rockefeller Foundation
21st Floor UBC II Building
591 Sukhumvit 33, Wattana
Bangkok 10110- Thailand
Phone: 66-2-262-0091 to 95
Fax: 66-2-262-0098
Africa
Building on many decades of work in African countries, the Rockefeller Foundation is now supporting innovative efforts to improve health systems and to use agricultural advances to diminish poverty, hunger and malnutrition, among other projects.
Over the next 10 years, improved crop varieties are expected to increase by 400, which—combined with Rockefeller Foundation work in 20 African countries—can contribute to eliminating hunger for 30 million people, and move 15 million out of poverty.
The Foundation has invested millions of dollars in partnerships with African government entities as well as academic and civic institutions. These collaborations aim to tackle the major issues—from climate change to rapid urbanization—that are hindering the progress of so many people, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Our Strategy
The Foundation’s strategic funding promotes smart globalization. We foster equitable economic growth while building the abilities of households, communities, systems and countries to anticipate, prepare for and withstand current and emerging risks.
Outcomes of Foundation grants to organizations, institutions and programs in countries in West, East and Southern Africa are used as demonstration models that ultimately enhance lives throughout the continent and in other parts of the world.
Our Current Initiatives
The Rockefeller Foundation is focusing its support on five main initiatives benefiting Sub-Saharan Africa:
Strengthening Food Security: Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA)
Increasing smallholder agricultural productivity with better seeds, soils, markets, financing and agricultural policies
In 2006, the Rockefeller Foundation and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation launched AGRA, with a combined investment of $340 million, to improve the productivity and incomes of resource-poor farmers in targeted African countries. An African-based and African-led organization, AGRA is charged with increasing the productivity and profitability of small-scale farms throughout Africa. Since it is not enough simply to increase production, this initiative is also spearheading new methods of diversifying markets to absorb this increase.
Transforming Health Systems
Widening access to affordable, high quality health services by leveraging and coordinating resources
Building resilient, sustainable health systems and helping to bolster the basic survival of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people are two fundamental Foundation priorities. This initiative supports models for systemic health shifts, through African infrastructure and governance.
Developing Climate Change Resilience
Helping communities cope with imminent consequences of climate change
Research shows that climate change will hit already-struggling communities the hardest. The vast majority of African households depend, whether directly or indirectly, on agriculture for their livelihoods. The Foundation is therefore attempting to strengthen the adaptive capabilities of African smallholder farmers in anticipating and responding to climate change. Our support of the weather-index crop and livestock insurance project [LINK TO “index-based weather insurance” publication] is one example of our innovative approach.
Linking Global Disease Surveillance Networks
Establishing transnational detection, monitoring and communication systems to strengthen disease prevention
Particularly in developing countries, infectious diseases (such as HIV/AIDS, Ebola, SARS, avian influenza and H1N1) do not just threaten health, but livelihoods as well. This initiative has helped form the East African Infectious Disease Surveillance Network, comprised of the ministries of health of Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, as well as academic institutions; and the Southern Africa Center for Infectious Disease Network, covering countries within the Southern Africa development community. These networks are building sustainable methods of exchanging and sharing information on communicable diseases that can improve both health and economic stability.
Helping Build an Impact Investing Industry
Expanding and increasing the effectiveness of investments that solve social and environmental problems and generate a profit
Increasingly, African and international investors are interested in deals in Africa that offer both social and financial returns. The Foundation is working to build a global network of these investors around hubs of impact investing activity, including those in East, West and Southern Africa. Efforts are also underway to build impact investing infrastructure and support intermediaries focused on sectors of particular interest to impact investing, such as smallholder agriculture, low-income housing, health care, technology and renewable energy.
Our Work in Exploration
Each time the Foundation identifies a new area of focus within one or more of our five issue areas, we begin to hone our strategy during an exploratory phase. For instance, the Foundation is examining ways to ensure that carbon markets contribute to both mitigating climate change and reducing rural poverty in African countries and other parts of the developing world. (Through carbon markets, credits for reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and for carbon sequestrations can be sold and traded.)
The Foundation is also supporting development organizations in improving their service delivery to poor and vulnerable communities through outsourcing and shared services for their front and back office operations. These services are delivered by people in low-income countries and underprivileged populations. This practice generates new jobs, economic growth and innovation among people who are very much in need.
Our Africa Regional Office
Established in 1966, the Rockefeller Foundation’s Africa Regional Office is located in Nairobi, Kenya. For more information, contact
Rockefeller Foundation
Eden Square Building, Block 1, 2nd Floor
Greenway Lane, off Westlands Road
P.O. Box 14531 Westlands, 00800
Nairobi, Kenya.
Telephones : +254. 20. 3742 726/ 3742 727
Fax Line: +254. 20. 3675 260
Our Long History in Africa
The Rockefeller Foundation’s work in Africa has focused on critical issues surrounding poverty and economic instability. The foundation has succeeded in saving and improving lives by focusing on health, population, education and agriculture, and leveraging resources from a range of partners, including government, industry and other funders. Through the years, the Foundation’s support has led to the development of vaccines for deadly diseases, greater access to higher education, and improved crop varieties for famers and ultimately had a major impact for communities across the continent.
Early Years:
- Between 1913 and the 1930s, the Foundation supported critical yellow fever research in Africa. All yellow fever vaccines manufactured today are based on this research, conducted with support from the Rockefeller foundation.
- During the early 1960’s the Foundation launched a 20-year University Development program that aided in the development of agriculture, public health, medicine, and social science departments in countries throughout Africa. From 1961 through 1974, of the $125 million the Foundation spent on the University Development Program (an equivalent of $550 million), more than $40 million was granted to Africa alone, and over 500 fellowships were awarded for Ph.D. studies across the continent.
- The Foundation provided initial support for the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, established in 1967 and headquartered in Nigeria. The Institute’s cutting edge research into the development of drought, disease, and pest-resistant cassava and maize has provided food to tens of millions of people throughout Africa.
Late 20th Century:
- In 1973, the Foundation established the International Laboratory for Research on Animal Diseases, which served as the initial organizational infrastructure for what later became the International Livestock Research Institute. Currently employing more than 700 staff in over 40 countries, the Institute, since Rockefeller’s initial support, has become one of the world’s leading research centers working at the intersection of livestock and poverty.
- In an effort to analyze the relationship between the United States and Southern Africa, with a focus on the political, social, and economic situation in South Africa, the Foundation convened a study in 1977. The final report, South Africa: time Running Out, which was ultimately released in 1981, was influential in developing an integrated policy framework in the U.S. for action by the government and private sector and is credited with leading to increased opposition to the apartheid regime.
2000s:
- In 2000, the Rockefeller Foundation, along with the Ford Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and Carnegie Corporation of New York, launched the partnership for higher education in Africa to coordinate support for higher education in Africa. In its first six years, from 2000 through 2005, the Partnership contributed more than $150 million to build core capacity and support special initiatives at universities in Africa. The partnership has since supported 49 universities in nine countries.
- In 2001, the Foundation helped to start the Mother-to-Child transmission Plus initiative, which works to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV by providing treatment for HIV/AIDS infected mothers. The program also treats the infected children. This approach has been implemented through 14 clinical programs based in nine countries throughout Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. The initiative has provided life-saving care and treatment to more than 13,000 adults and children.
- In 2006, the Foundation, along with other donors, helped establish the African Agricultural Capital, a venture that invests in small and medium-sized agriculture-related businesses in East Africa. Rockefeller’s investment has strengthened programs to help local businesses deliver improved seeds and soil enhancement packages to small-scale farmers, helping to advance agriculture and recue poverty in African countries. Additionally, in 2006 the Foundation directed $1 million toward the Africa Fertilizer Summit, which brought together 40 African governments to promote the removal of taxes and tariffs on fertilizer, support and emerging network, and create a program to finance the production and distribution of fertilizer.
- In 2006, the Foundation began in initiative to replicated its earlier success in agriculture production in Latin America, the Green Revolution. The foundation along with partners committed $340 million toward improving African agriculture as part of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA). Built on the lessons learned from the Rockefeller’s past commitments to improving agriculture and the foundation’s institutional history which began in the mid-twentieth century with Nobel Peace Prize winner and Rockefeller Foundation agricultural scientist Dr. Normal Borlaug, AGRA’s goal is to ultimately improve the productivity and incomes of resource-poor farmers in Africa.
Developing Countries
Foundation efforts are designed to equip people, organizations, and communities to weather the risks of a more complex, more interconnected world. Thus, much of our work supports the improvement of lives in developing countries across the globe.
Some of Our Current Initiatives
Strengthening Food Security: Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA)
Increasing smallholder agricultural productivity with better seeds, soils, markets, financing and agricultural policies.
The Rockefeller Foundation and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation launched AGRA in 2006. An African-based and African-led organization, AGRA is charged with increasing the productivity and profitability of small-scale farms in African countries.
Transforming Health Systems
Widening access to affordable, high-quality health services by leveraging and coordinating resources
While health spending has increased dramatically around the world, access to affordable, quality services has not, particularly in developing countries. This initiative supports models for systemic health shifts, through infrastructure and governance.
Developing Climate Change Resilience
Helping communities cope with imminent consequences of climate change
Through our Asian Cities Climate Change Network, we are piloting resilience strategies in ten cities across Asia. Our aim is to help build the capacity of city stakeholders to address the challenges they face, and to create a sustainable network for sharing these experiences with many others. The Foundation is also attempting to strengthen the adaptive capabilities of African smallholder farmers in anticipating and responding to climate change.
Helping Build an Impact Investing Industry
Expanding and increasing the effectiveness of investments that solve social and environmental problems and generate a profit
Some of the freshest approaches to impact investing are being developed in South and Southeast Asia as well as East, West and Southern Africa. Foundation efforts are underway to build impact investing infrastructure and support intermediaries focused on smallholder agriculture, low-income housing, health care, technology and renewable energy.
Our Work in Exploration
Each time the Foundation identifies a new area of focus within one or more of our five issue areas, we begin to hone our strategy during an exploratory phase. For instance, the Foundation is examining ways to ensure that carbon markets contribute to both mitigating climate change and reducing rural poverty in the developing world. (Through carbon markets, credits for reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and for carbon sequestrations can be sold and traded.)
Our Gobal Work
Since 1913, the Rockefeller Foundation has supported life-changing work on almost every continent. Today, we continue to fund efforts across the globe, wherever we believe we can have the greatest impact.
In everything we do, we attempt to expand opportunities for individuals, communities and nations to build the resilience and equitable growth they need to adapt and thrive in the 21st century. Our funding also demonstrates that we are not only citizens of the world, but of the United States, where our headquarters are located.
Along with our regional offices in Bangkok, Thailand, and Nairobi, Kenya, the Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center provides a setting for international dialogue and collaborative work.
Some of Our Current Initiatives
Linking Global Disease Surveillance Networks
Establishing transnational detection, monitoring, and communication systems to strengthen disease prevention
The Foundation’s investment in disease surveillance networks began in 2001 with its support for the trailblazing Mekong Basin Disease Surveillance Network. Since then, this initiative has also helped form the East African Infectious Disease Surveillance Network and the Southern Africa Center for Infectious Disease Network. These networks are all building sustainable methods of exchanging and sharing information about communicable diseases, which can improve both health and economic stability.
Advancing Innovation Processes to Solve Social Problems
Building models to expand the use of cutting-edge innovation methods to achieve social impact
Some of the Foundation’s most dynamic grantees for this initiative are from Asian countries, demonstrating that this sector’s newest ideas are coming from across the globe, not just from developed countries. Innovation successes in Asia will serve as models for other regions.
Protecting American Workers’ Economic Security:
Campaign for American Workers
Shaping plans, products and policies to provide a modern economic safety net
This initiative promotes policies and tools to increase savings and retirement security. It also fosters demonstrations that ensure more secure and portable health care coverage. In addition, it supports evidence-based analysis of proposed and current policies on the economic security of American workers, particularly the most vulnerable and disadvantaged.
Our Work in Exploration
Each time the Foundation identifies a new area of focus within one or more of our five issue areas, we begin to hone our strategy during an exploratory phase. For example, to boost the economic security of low-income American workers, the Foundation is focusing on the green employment sector. This effort aims to maximize the “green” growth areas of the economy, such as opportunities presented by the demand for home-energy retrofits, while benefiting low- and moderate-income workers.
The Foundation is also attempting to determine whether India’s rapidly-growing infrastructure of cell phone towers can be harnessed to provide clean energy services and universal electricity access in poor communities.
Grants & Grantees
Featured Grantee
Transportation policy is not a matter for policy wonks only. It can affect every aspect of Americans’ daily lives—from how much we have to spend on getting to work to whether our families can walk and ride the streets safely.
What We Fund
Through grantmaking, the Rockefeller Foundation works to spread the benefits of globalization to more people in more places around the world. The Foundation is a proactive grantmaker. We seek out opportunities to fund work that addresses the Foundation’s areas of focus and contributes to one or more of our initiatives, rather than simply reacting to unsolicited proposals. Only proposals that fall within the Foundation’s initiatives are considered.
The Rockefeller Foundation does not give or lend money for personal aid to individuals, or, except in rare cases, provide general institutional funding, contribute to endowments, or support building or operating funds.
If you have reviewed the descriptions of our work and have a project that fits within one or more of our initiatives, you are welcome to submit a funding inquiry to Grantinquiry@rockfound.org.
Resources for Grantseekers
We have provided resources that you may find useful in your search for funding.
Grantee Profiles
Promoting Equitable, Sustainable Transportation
Transportation for America
Transportation policy is not a matter for policy wonks only. It can affect every aspect of Americans’ daily lives—from how much we have to spend on getting to work to whether our families can walk and ride the streets safely.
America is at a crossroads on transportation policy. Every six years the Federal Transportation bill comes up for review. This year, the Transportation for America (T4America) coalition aims to help move the conversation and the action on that bill in the right direction. This organization is committed to creating a national transportation program that
T4America has forged a broad coalition of 300 influential national groups
will take the United States into the 21st century “by modernizing our infrastructure and building healthy communities where all people can live, work and play.
The Rockefeller Foundation’s funding has helped T4America take action:
- They have researched and ranked the most dangerous cities in America for walking—where there are the most pedestrian deaths—and they’re letting policymakers know. (See “Dangerous by Design”)
- They are conducting online debates and webinars on the issues.
- They have tracked how taxpayers’ dollars are being used on transportation state by state —to let the public know if their money is being wisely spent. (See “Transportation in Your State”)
Most important, T4America has forged a broad coalition of influential groups that had never before worked together on transportation policy reform. The uniting of over 300 partners has given this group an excellent platform for getting the attention of thought leaders and policymakers.
Partners range from the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), whose elderly members care about transportation choices that foster walkable communities, to the National Resources Defense Council, which is fighting against environmental degradation and greenhouse gas emissions. They also include PolicyLink, the American Public Health Association, and the National Association of Realtors, among others.
T4America’s work—supported through a Rockefeller Foundation grant to Smart Growth America—demonstrates that transportation policy isn’t just about how we get from point A to point B. It affects the texture of our everyday lives.
PROMOTING EQUITABLE SUSTIANBLE TRANSPORTATION
Transforming Health Systems
Open MRS
Open Medical Record Systems and the Regenstreif Institute, Inc.,
OpenMRS is improving health care in developing countries by providing the technical and medical experts, training and tools necessary to build open-source electronic medical record systems (EMRS). The organization receives support from Rockefeller Foundation grantee Regenstrief Institute, Inc. (http://www.regenstrief.org/)
The aim of electronic medical record systems is to empower patients and health care workers alike. For patients, having their entire medical and drug history recorded in electronic form means they don’t have to fill out lengthy medical histories each time they visit a doctor—which is especially useful in emergency situations. For doctors, seeing a patient’s entire history at a glance enables them to treat patients better and more safely —with fewer errors.
Some EMRS even have clinical decision support built in to help doctors provide better care. For example, if a doctor is prescribing a certain drug, reminders might pop up on the computer screen prompting the doctor to ask the patient about certain other drugs to guard against potentially dangerous interactions, allergies or side effects.
OpenMRS also emphasizes “open sourcing,” meaning that it makes the code used in developing the medical recording software available online for all to use absolutely free. This openness is especially valuable to developing countries, which may not have the money or resources to create such complex tools on their own.
To date, OpenMRS has implemented regional electronic medical records in clinics, hospitals and health ministries in over twenty countries, including South Africa, Kenya, Lesotho, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Uganda, Tanzania, Haiti, India, China, the United States, Pakistan, and the Philippines.
With the Rockefeller Foundation support, OpenMRS is expanding its work. It is applying the lessons learned in the regional EMRS to create a nationwide EMR program across Rwanda.
These innovative electronic medical record systems are far more sophisticated and efficient than the record-keeping systems currently in use in many developed countries in North American and Europe. They could serve as models for health care improvements worldwide.
Advancing Innovation Processes to Solve Social Problems
Vilgro
Villgro, formerly Rural Innovations Network, works with small-holder farmers in rural India to develop, field test and commercialize inventions that can help significantly improve the lives of poor and vulnerable people.
With support from the Rockefeller Foundation, Villgro follows a "user-driven" model for innovation. The organization recognizes that end-users themselves know their problems best and are best equipped culturally and socially to come up with the solutions. It has helped local inventors produce and sell their inventions to other farmers across rural India.
Since 2001, Villgro has tapped into the experience and wisdom of rural farmers to successfully create close to 1500 products for local users.
- Villgro helped an inventor develop an energy-efficient burner for kerosene stoves that is cheaper, longer-lasting, safer and easier to maintain than conventional burners—making it appealing to the rural consumer.
- The organization helped create a substitute for farmyard manure that is cleaner and easier to apply.
While open to ideas from any sector, Villgro currently focuses on agriculture: seeds, agri-pesticides, agri-fertilizers, farm machinery and tools, extension services and farmer-to-market linkage services.
ADVANCING INNOVATION PROCESSES TO SOLVE SOCIAL PROBLEMS
Innovations for a Metro Nation
Front Seat’s Walk Score
Every year, one out of six Americans relocates to a new residence. Each of these moves provides an opportunity for a household to settle in a neighborhood that encourages walking and has more transportation options—a neighborhood that offers multiple benefits for individuals, the community, and our planet.
More walkable neighborhoods can
- help households become less automobile-dependent
- reduce auto-related deaths
- lower household transportation costs
- decrease greenhouse gas emissions
- enhance health (residents of walkable neighborhoods weigh seven pounds less on average than residents of less-walkable neighborhoods)
- offer higher long-term home values (homes in walkable neighborhoods retain their value better than homes in more auto-dependent areas)
As part of its Innovations for a Metro Nation exploration, the Rockefeller Foundation has provided support for the trailblazing efforts of Front Seat, a civic, mission-driven software company and incubator. Through this grant, the Foundation is helping Front Seat's Walk Score™ project provide more accurate data to enable people to make better decisions as they consider the location of their next home. The grant is also helping to make Walk Score suitable for use in urban planning research and public policy decisions related to reducing vehicle miles traveled (VMT).
“We believe walkable neighborhoods are one of the simplest and most effective ways to halt climate change, improve our health, and strengthen our communities,” says Mike Mathieu, founder and Chairman of Front Seat. “Our vision is a Walk Score for every property listing--3 br, 2 ba, Walk Score: 84--so that walkability and transportation costs become a key part of choosing where to live.”
Front Seat has expanded Walk Score to incorporate public transit (starting with the 40 transit agencies that distribute public data feeds about their services). This lets households visualize nearby bus, train or subway stops as walking destinations in their own right.
Mathieu explains that “walkability is a great short hand for the characteristics of a vibrant neighborhood—healthier communities, mixed-uses, more transportation options.” Both consumers and real estate professionals can use Walk Score’s objective measure of the benefits of walkability on community health and environmental impact.
Prior to Walk Score, the real estate industry used conflicting definitions of what constituted a walkable neighborhood. Did the provision of nature trails or parks in low-density, suburban-grade developments make these areas walkable? As far as reducing car use, were single-family subdivisions with sidewalks comparable to compact, mixed-use urban neighborhoods? Consumers had no independent gauge of the walkability of locations they were considering for their next move. They also did not understand how moving to a walkable neighborhood would help them lower their household transportation costs.
By using proximity to amenities (the leading predictor of the number of walk trips taken by any household) as its core measure, and by building its interface on Google Maps® with Google Local Search data, Walk Score provides a standardized, nationally-available and easily-accessible measure of walkability. Walk Score corrects the information asymmetry—presenting the concept of walkability together with an easy-to-understand metric by which consumers can evaluate each location. The Rockefeller Foundation grant also supports Front Seat's effort to release the Walk Score algorithm (http://www.Walk Score.org/) to the open source community.
Africa
Forum for African Women Educationalists
“When I was 12, my dad tried to marry me off,” Yvonne says. “I refused and he chased me away from home. I ran away to my aunt. My uncle was circumcising his daughters and decided I would be included. In Kenya, once a girl is circumcised, she is immediately given away in marriage” and often doesn’t go to school. Of the 880 million illiterate adults worldwide, the majority are women from Sub-Saharan Africa. In many of these countries, only one in four girls receives a secondary education.
Yvonne, however, was among the lucky ones. After escaping from her uncle’s home, she found her way to a program for rescued girls run by the Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE), a pan-African organization launched in 1992 with the support of the Rockefeller Foundation. Today, Yvonne says, “I would like to become a lawyer.” Underscoring the Foundation’s long-standing commitment to fortifying education across the continent, FAWE has touched the lives of some 12 million African girls.
As many studies have shown, the empowerment of women through education brings enormous benefits not only to individual girls and women, but to communities, countries, and regions—and, therefore, to boys and men as well. As educated girls become educated women, with the knowledge and skills to influence the direction and governance of their societies, livelihoods improve, families become healthier, and civil liberties expand.
“We are not helpless as a group,” FAWE founding member Fay Chung noted at the Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center meeting that sparked the creation of the organization. “We need to have a vision of where we want to go, realizing that each day, there is something positive we can do.”
What FAWE does each day is to mobilize female government ministers, university heads, and senior policy makers at the national level, along with human rights activists, to design and model educational policy that promotes gender equity. The organization is also involved in the training and mentoring of university-level women to help them successfully complete their undergraduate studies and prepare for leadership roles in higher education—so that women like Yvonne will no longer be the exception.
Resources for Grantseekers
Links to other Philantrophic Sources
You may find these resources useful in your search for funding:
|
Africa Grantmakers Affinity Group |
|
|
Association of Small Foundations |
Latin America Donors Index |
|
Council on Foundations |
National Center for Family Philanthropy |
|
Chronicle of Philanthropy |
National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy |
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European Foundation Centre |
National Science Foundation |
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FedMoney Site |
Network for Good Learning Center |
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Forum of Regional Associations |
Philanthropy New York |
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The Foundation Center |
PRI Makers Network |
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Foundation Center’s links to http://foundationcenter.org/getstarted/topical/international.html |
Seedco |
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GlobalGiving |
TechSoup Global |
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Grantmakers for Effective Organizations |
TrustAfrica |
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Grantmakers in Film and Electronic Media http://www.gfem.org |
U.K. Directory of Social Change |
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Grantmakers in the Arts |
United Way National |
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GuideStar |
Urban Institute Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy |
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Independent Sector |
Yahoo -- Philanthropy |
News
Chiang Rai, Hat Yai Join Climate Talks
December 14, 2009
Bangkok Post
Chiang Rai and Hat Yai will join eight other cities throughout Asia in a move to address the consequences of climate change.>
International Rice Research Institute Celebrates its 50th anniversary
December 9, 2009
Manila Bulletin
In the 50 years of IRRI, the institute’s work has helped feed much of the world’s population, reduce poverty and hunger.>
The Power of Positive Deviants
November 29, 2009
Boston Globe
This initiative is an example of “positive deviance,” an approach to behavioral and social change.>
Rockefeller Grants Help Struggling Nonprofits
October 14, 2009
Crain’s New York Business
Miriam Souccar
The Rockefeller Foundation announced Wednesday it will give away $2.7 million in grants to support New York City-based arts organizations.>
Insuring Countries Against Climate Catastrophe
September 28, 2009
CNN.com
Reenita Malhotra
Developing nations are especially under threat, according to Cristina Rumbaitis Del Rio, Associate Director of the Rockefeller Foundation and a key researcher in the report.>
Norman Borlaug, Plant Scientist Who Fought Famine, Dies at 95
September 14, 2009
The New York Times
Dr. Borlaug’s advances in plant breeding led to spectacular success in increasing food production in Latin America and Asia and brought him international acclaim.>
Bloomberg, US Mayors Launch Volunteer Effort
September 10, 2009
The Associated Press
New York's Michael Bloomberg and other mayors from around the country are talking about how to get more Americans to do volunteer work.>
Surat Ahead in Climate Change Strategy
August 27, 2009
Times of India
The city is taking practical measures and outlining strategies to cope up with the effects of climate change. ACCCRN>
New Poll Shows Preference for Raising Taxes to Preserve Social Security
August 13, 2009
POLITICO
Jonathan Martin
A strong majority of Americans support levying higher taxes if that ensures the preservation of Social Security, according to a nationwide poll conducted last month.>
Rockefeller Pledge Support to Health Systems
June 30, 2009
The New Times
Edmund Kagire
The Rockefeller Foundation, a US-based philanthropic organisation has pledged to work hand in hand with the Government of Rwanda to strengthen the country’s health systems.>
Innovation – Not Just a Product, a Process
Summer 2009
Stanford Social Innovation Review
Eric Nee
"We now have tools that revolutionize how knowledge is produced and shared."- Stanford Social Innovation Review>
The Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center
"Here we nurture innovations and collaborations that change the way we solve global problems."
The Mission and the Vision
The Center brings together people of diverse expertise and cultures in an inspiring and thought-provoking environment to promote international understanding that allows innovation and creativity to flourish. We believe in the power and results of investing in and unleashing human capacity.
- The Bellagio experience fosters a robust exchange of ideas between scientists and artists, theorists and practitioners, those who make policy and those who are affected by it.
- The Center infuses unorthodox, radical thinking into searches for solutions to critical social, political, health, environmental and economic issues.
- It unites the fundamental functions of right-brain ingenuity and left-brain rationality.
- The Center encourages all to debate on globally relevant issues and push the boundaries of collective knowledge to translate theory into action.
The History: The First 50 Years
The buildings and grounds of the Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center have been many things to many people—from an ancient fortress on the top of a promontory to a medieval palace, from a gilded villa to the home of an American-born Italian princess, from a monastery to a modern sanctuary for international philanthropic engagement.
But it has always been guided by people concerned with the well-being of others.
Today, the Center is an efficiently-run site for international conferences and residencies for artists, scholars and practitioners. It is hard to imagine the challenges the Foundation faced half a century ago when it received the 53-acre property as a gift.
Bellagio Conferences
Selection Process and Criteria | Financial Assistance | Accommodations | Considerations | FAQs | Application Requirements for the Conferences | Application Checklist I
International Conferences on Global Issues
The Bellagio Conference Program provides space for framing debates on world issues, for translating theory into action and for devising creative responses to some of the most pressing issues of our time -- especially those directed at alleviating poverty and vulnerability.
Conference Themes
The Foundation seeks applications from groups who are addressing significant issues and who expect the conference to generate innovative yet concrete outcomes. Conferences must be consistent with the Foundation’s mission to expand opportunities for poor or vulnerable people and to help ensure that globalization’s benefits are shared more widely.
The Participants
Conference organizers are encouraged to invite a gender-balanced and international mix of participants (especially from developing countries) when appropriate. Generally, no more than half the participants should be citizens of any one country.
The Facilities
The Center operates two buildings for meetings; the first building can accommodate up to 19 participants and the second building, up to 23. Organizers may need to modify the number of participants invited as a result of the size limitations of available accommodations. Conferences are generally scheduled for five days or less, the first day being the day of arrival and the last day for departure.
Smaller groups working on intensive projects can be scheduled for more than six days if space permits.
Single Meetings or a Series
Most conferences are one-time events, but applications for a series of meetings can be considered. However, the Foundation does not guarantee space for the full series of meetings. Each meeting in the series will be evaluated separately, with assessments of previous meetings a key factor in the decision to host subsequent meetings.
Applications for routine or annual meetings of organizations or professional societies are not accepted.
Bellagio Conference Requirements
Selection Process and Criteria | Financial Assistance | Accommodations | Considerations | FAQs | Application Requirements for the Conferences | Application Checklist I
Selection Process and Criteria
Decisions are based upon:
- alignment with the Foundation’s mission,
- the timeliness of the convening,
- the conference design, preferably focused on outcomes,
- the questions posed and the approach used to address them,
- the potential impact,
- the mix of participants and perspectives,
- the qualifications of the conference organizer(s), and
- the suitability and value of the Center for the proposed convening.
Applications are reviewed by the senior program leadership of the Rockefeller Foundation, who make the final selection.
Financial Assistance
The Foundation provides room and board without charge for all meeting participants. Personal expenses (phone and fax, for example) are the individual’s responsibility. Most conference participants cover and arrange for their own travel, although assistance is available for those who meet the criteria below.
Conference leaders are welcome to apply to the Bellagio Fund for a grant to provide travel support for participants from developing countries. Details on applying for travel funds will be provided when the meeting has been scheduled.
Accommodations
Participants are provided with a private room (with private bath) in one of the buildings on the grounds.
As a strict policy, accommodations are not offered to spouses/life partners of conference or team participants or to other family members, friends or pets.
High-speed Internet access is provided free of charge in each room and email can also be accessed at various workstations. Participants may wish to bring their own laptops for more convenient access. Standard conference-center equipment is available—a DVD player, fax machine, photocopy machine, printers, slide and LCD projectors, tape-recording equipment and VCR. Video conferencing is available in some meeting rooms.
Considerations
Rooms are available for those with restricted mobility, and several of the buildings now include an elevator. Nonetheless, the hillside setting of the facility and the surrounding area restricts the mobility of persons who have difficulty walking or climbing stairs.
The Center is not equipped to provide medical services or assisted care. The nearest major hospital is in Lecco, a 40-minute drive away.
Conference Program Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Q: When are the application deadlines?
A: Conference applications are now on a rolling admissions deadline. We suggest you apply six months in advance (but no more than nine). You may email us at bellagio_conf@rockfound.org beforehand to check availability. However, please note that we do not reserve space until after an application is accepted.
Q: Can we apply to hold a series of meetings at Bellagio?
A: Yes, series of meetings are possible. However, the Foundation does not guarantee space for the full series of meetings. Each meeting in the series will be evaluated separately, with assessments of previous meetings a key factor in our decision to host subsequent meetings.
Q: The meeting I am planning is several months away. Do I have to submit a participant list now?
A: While we understand that participants cannot make firm commitments for a meeting that has not been scheduled, we encourage organizers to survey potential participants and ascertain interest, subject to convenient scheduling. The proposed list should be your “best estimate” of who will participate in the meeting. Once participants are invited, a confirmed list must be submitted two months prior to your meeting. The Foundation reserves the right to decline last-minute changes.
Q: Our organization is holding an annual retreat that we would like to schedule at Bellagio.
A: The Bellagio Center has a policy that annual retreats or meetings where the participants are affiliated with one organization are not considered.
Q: Is the Bellagio Center available to rent for meetings or events?
A: The Bellagio Center is not available as a rental facility. All meetings go through a rigorous review process and are awarded the space on a competitive basis.
Application Requirements for Conferences
The application and documentation must be completed online in English.
Applicants must submit the application via the online application form (see link below).
A final decision will be made within 6-8 weeks of the submission date. The checklist below is helpful for the online application process.
Conference Application Checklist
During the online application process, the following documents will be required, and must be attached as Word or PDF documents:
- A detailed conference proposal (five pages maximum; succinct is best).
- A one-page summary of the expected outcomes and how the meeting’s success will be evaluated.
- A tentative agenda/work plan.
- A tentative participant list, including (in alphabetical order): last name, first name, gender, nationality, title, affiliation and a one-sentence description of the likely contribution of the participant (please type surname in capital letters).
- Abbreviated career highlights and curriculum vitae for the principal organizer (who is the contact person) as well as for the other organizers, if any, highlighting previous experience in organizing international meetings or working in group situations and/or team problem solving, and any publications or achievements relevant to the proposed meeting (maximum four pages).
- If you’ve previously organized a conference at Bellagio, a one-to-two page summary of the outcomes of any Bellagio meeting related to the current proposal.
- If you are organizing the conference on behalf of an institution or university department, submit an official letter of request on your organization’s letterhead, signed by the head of your department or institution. This may be sent via post.
- If you or your conference is NOT affiliated with an institution, supply three references with knowledge of your project. They must be able to respond via email. Upon submission of a proposal, the online form will automatically email your references requesting an evaluation of the proposal (you will receive a copy of each letter of request). We will only accept reference letters sent directly to the Bellagio Center Office; letters may not be submitted through the applicant.
Residency Programs at the Bellagio Center
"My Bellagio residency was a life-changing experience."
—Chiori Miyagawa, playwright
Bellagio Center Residency Programs
The Bellagio Center sponsors three kinds of residencies—typically one-month stays—for practitioners (limited to those outside of academia), scholars and creative artists who are working in fields that are consistent with the Rockefeller Foundation’s focus areas.
- Scholarly Residencies
Humanities, sciences, social sciences, academic disciplines
The Center typically offers one-month residencies for no more than 12 scholars and scientists at a time. Individuals in any discipline—and from any part of the world—are welcome to apply. Space is reserved for both academic projects, as well as work consistent with the mission to expand opportunities for poor or vulnerable people and to help see that globalization’s benefits are shared more widely.
- Creative Artist Residencies
Artists, composers, writers
Bellagio creative artist residencies—for composers, novelists, playwrights, poets, video/filmmakers and visual artists—provide time for disciplined work, individual reflection, and collegial engagement, uninterrupted by the usual professional and personal demands. The Center typically offers one-month stays for no more than three to five creative artists at a time. Artists of significant achievement from any country are welcome to apply.
More on Creative Artist Residencies
- Practitioner Residencies
Policy makers, nonprofit leaders and public advocates
The Center offers residencies to professionals working outside of academia in fields of interest to the Rockefeller Foundation. We seek applicants with demonstrated leadership qualities and responsibilities to contribute to the intellectual life at the Center. Priority is given to people working in fields that are consistent with the mission of the Foundation. Individuals from outside North America (especially developing countries); as well as postdoctoral, pre-tenure academics and other young professionals with significant accomplishments are encouraged to apply.
More on Practitioner Residencies
Scholarly Residencies at the Bellagio Center
Selection Process and Criteria | Accommodations | Considerations | FAQs | Application Requirements | Scholarly Residencies Application Checklist | Application Deadlines
Selection Process and Criteria
A Bellagio residency provides time for critical thinking, disciplined work, individual reflection and collegial engagement, uninterrupted by the usual professional and personal demands.
Eligibility
The Center typically offers one-month residencies for no more than 12 scholars and scientists at a time. Individuals in any discipline—and from any part of the world—are welcome to apply. Space is reserved for academic projects and for projects that are consistent with the Foundation’s mission to expand opportunities for poor or vulnerable people and to help ensure that globalization’s benefits are shared more widely.
The Experience
The residency is open to artists, writers, non-governmental organization practitioners, policymakers, scholars and scientists from around the world. Meals and informal presentations of work provide an opportunity for residents to engage with each other. During special dinners, residents also have the chance to interact with the participants of international conferences that are hosted in various buildings on the Center’s property. The combination of private time for work and reflection and informal gatherings is an important part of life at the Center.
Spouses/life partners may accompany the resident, or may apply for a concurrent residency.
The Center also offers collaborative residencies for two to four persons working on the same project.
Length of Stay
Residencies are typically four weeks in length, however, shorter periods may be available. Applicants will need to submit a statement describing why an alternate length of time is requested.
Scholarly Residencies at the Bellagio Center Requirements
Selection Process and Criteria | Accommodations | Considerations | FAQs | Application Requirements | Scholarly Residencies Application Checklist | Application Deadlines
Selection Process and Criteria
The Foundation seeks applicants who are able to demonstrate a history of significant achievement in their respective fields.
Decisions are based on:
- the quality of the proposed project,
- the urgent or compelling nature of the problem,
- the importance and potential impact of the project, and
- the professional qualifications and achievements of the applicant.
The Center aims to host an international mix of residents, therefore consideration may also be given to nationality and/or geography. Individuals from developing countries are particularly encouraged to apply.
Additionally, the committee takes into consideration the personal qualities that are likely to make a candidate a contributing member of an international, interdisciplinary community — curiosity, breadth of interests, ability to honor other viewpoints and sensitivity to other cultures.
Applications are reviewed by peer panels and then presented to the senior program leadership of the Rockefeller Foundation, which makes the final selection.
Residencies requesting time for writing dissertations or textbooks will not be considered.
Accommodations
Residents are housed in two main buildings and each resident is given a private room with bath and a study, either adjoining the bedroom or on the grounds. High-speed Internet access is available free of charge in all bedrooms and most studies.
The Center is not a research facility. We do have a small library that includes basic reference books and online research tools. The works of many former residents and those resulting from Bellagio conferences are also available.
The Center does not have a science laboratory.
Accommodations are not available for children and family members other than spouses/life partners, nor for friends or pets.
Considerations
Several resident suites are available for those with restricted mobility, and several of the buildings now include an elevator. Nonetheless, the hillside setting of the facility and the surrounding area restricts the mobility of persons who have difficulty walking or climbing stairs.
The Center is not equipped to provide medical services or assisted care. The nearest major hospital is in Lecco, a 40-minute drive away.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Can I apply for a residency to work on my dissertation or textbook?
A: The Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center is not an appropriate place for dissertation work and it is our policy that residencies are not scheduled to work on textbooks.
Q: I can only stay for two weeks. Can I apply for a residency?
A: Yes. While most residencies are for four weeks, two-and three-week residencies are considered. Please include a brief statement with your application describing why you are asking for a shorter residency.
Q: If I receive a residency, may I bring my child?
A: We are not able to accommodate children, even adult children.
Q: My spouse/partner and I each have projects and are both applying for a residency; does this mean our chances are better?
A: Each application is considered on its own merits. If only one individual is invited, the spouse/partner may accompany the invitee, but will not be considered a Bellagio resident. While studies and studio space are reserved solely for the use of residents, the Center offers plenty of common space for spouses/partners to work on their own projects.
Q: My project requires close collaboration with others. Is a group residency possible?
A: Yes. Collaborative residencies are available for two to four persons working on the same project.
For Collaborative teams of two:
- Each collaborator must separately fill out an online form accessed through this website.
- Each collaborator should provide the same abstract and project description.
- Work samples should represent previous collaborative work. However, if you are a new collaborative team, separate work samples may be submitted.
- Collaborators may list the same references only if the references are familiar with both (or all) applicants.
For Collaborative teams of three or four:
- In addition to the instructions above, attach a separate word or PDF letter stating your intention to apply as a collaborative group and list all team members.
Q: If I receive a residency, what do I have to pay for?
A: Room and board are provided without charge to all residents and their spouses/partners. Residents and spouses/partners must pay for their own airfare and local transportation to/from Bellagio. Assistance with round-trip economy airfare between the home country and Milan is available on a financial needs basis to qualifying residents and their spouses/partners – preference is given to applicants from developing countries. Travel assistance is awarded in a separate process from the residency competition. You may apply for travel assistance after you are invited to the Center.
Q: May I reapply if I do not get accepted for a residency?
A: Applicants who have not been accepted must wait two years before reapplying. Previously unsuccessful projects cannot be resubmitted.
Q: I had a residency some years ago. Can I apply for a second residency?
A: Former residents (and spouses/partners who accompanied them) must wait 10 years before reapplying. Third residencies, even for those who were the accompanying spouse/life partner, are not offered.
Q: What are the guidelines for submitting proposals?
A: We request that you submit all paperwork, such as proposals and written statements in 12 point type, double spaced with 1” margins. We advocate that succinct is best.
Q: Who should I list as references?
A: Your references should know your work and be knowledgeable about the project you propose to work on at Bellagio. You should not list more than one person from the same university or institution, nor should you list editors or others with a financial interest in your success. Please contact your references in advance to ask if they are willing and available to write on your behalf, and to confirm email addresses. You will also need to send them a copy of your Bellagio proposal. The online application form will automatically send an email to your references once you submit your application (you will receive a generic copy of the email). Your references will be asked to provide a professional reference and an evaluation of the merit and substance of your proposed project, as well as a few words on your likely contribution to the intellectual and social community of scholars and artists at Bellagio.
The letters are due approximately three weeks after you submit your application. Our office will only contact your references once. You will be responsible for follow-up to ensure that we receive the letters on time. Frequently emails are trapped by spam filters; therefore it is a good idea to email your references soon after submitting your application to check that they received the reference request. Please note, the recommendation letters are considered a valuable part of your application, and are read by all proposal reviewers. It is mandatory within the provisions of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code for The Rockefeller Foundation, as a private foundation, to seek independent, objective opinions for each applicant.
Q: I am not sure which category I should select for my proposal, since my work cuts through several areas.
A: If you have questions about categories, please call or email: bellagio_res@iie.org or 212-984-5537.
Applicants from developing countries who have trouble accessing our online form may contact our office to discuss alternative ways to submit the application: bellagio_res@iie.org or 212-984-5537.
Mailing work samples:
If you are submitting anything as a hard copy, please send it to the program administrators at:
Institute of International Education (IIE)
Bellagio Competition
809 United Nations Plaza, 7th Floor
New York, NY 10017 USA
Application Requirements for Scholars and Scientists
The application must be completed online in English and submitted by the published deadline.
Applicants from developing countries who have trouble accessing our online form may contact our office to discuss alternative ways to submit the application: bellagio_res@iie.org.
Scholarly Residencies Application Checklist
During the online application process, the following items will be required, and must be attached as Word or PDF documents:
- A one-page summary written for a general audience, indicating the purposes and goals of your time at Bellagio, and the scholarly and/or global context of your work. The summary should also indicate the specific output of your residency, the planned outcome of your project, the target audience, the planned means of dissemination and evaluation of success.
- A project proposal (about 5 pages-see FAQs for specific information). Please provide a clear description of:
- the scholarly and/or global context of your work,
- the importance and potential impact of your project,
- the specific outputs and/or intended outcomes of your project,
- a chapter outline of your book (if relevant),
- the target audience and the planned means of dissemination,
- the phase of the project you will be working on during the proposed Bellagio residency, a specific work plan for your time at Bellagio, and
- the suitability and value of the Bellagio Center for the proposed activity.
- An abbreviated CV with career highlights, including publications and awards. (maximum 4 pages)
- Work sample: one published chapter or article (maximum 35 pages). If none of your previous work is published in English, please provide either an English translation or a summary, in English, of the work sample. (See the FAQs for more information)
- Three references with knowledge of your project. They must be able to respond via email. (See the FAQs for more information)
- Published reviews of the applicant’s previous work – optional. (maximum of 3 reviews)
Former Bellagio residents must submit a one-to-two page summary of what was accomplished during the previous residency, indicating the specific outputs and/or outcomes, the critical response and what has been accomplished since then.
Application Deadlines
Residencies for Scholars and Creative Artists
The next deadline for the Bellagio residency competition for scholars and creative artists will be announced during April 2010, for a possible residency from March 2011 – June 30, 2011. Please check back during April for deadline dates.
Practitioner residency and conference applications are accepted at any time.
Creative Artist Residencies at the Bellagio Center
Selection Process and Criteria | Accommodations | Considerations | FAQs | Application Requirements | Creative Artist Residencies Application Checklist | Application Deadlines
Selection Process and Criteria
Residencies for Creative Artists
Bellagio creative arts residencies provide time for disciplined work, individual reflection and collegial engagement, uninterrupted by the usual professional and personal demands.
Eligibility
Residencies are open to composers, novelists, playwrights, poets, video/filmmakers and visual artists. The Center typically offers one-month stays for no more than three to five creative artists at a time. Artists of significant achievement, from any country, are welcome to apply.
The Experience
Residency participants include artists, writers, non-governmental organization practitioners, policymakers, scholars and scientists from around the world. Meals and informal presentations of work provide an opportunity for residents to engage with each other. During special dinners, residents also have the chance to interact with the participants of international conferences that are hosted in various buildings on the Center’s property. The combination of private time for work and reflection and informal gatherings is an important part of life at the Center.
Spouses/life partners may accompany the resident, or may apply for a concurrent residency.
The Center also offers collaborative residencies for two to four persons working on the same project.
Length of Stay
Residencies are typically four weeks, however, shorter periods may be available. Applicants will need to submit a statement describing why an alternate length of time is requested.
Creative Artist Residencies at the Bellagio Center Requirements
Selection Process and Criteria | Accommodations | Considerations | FAQs | Application Requirements | Creative Artist Residencies Application Checklist | Application Deadlines
Selection Process and Criteria
The Foundation seeks applicants who are able to demonstrate a history of significant achievement in their respective artistic disciplines. Individuals from developing countries and young artists with significant accomplishments -- exhibitions, publications, performances -- are particularly encouraged to apply.
Decisions are based on:
- the quality of the proposed project,
- the ability of the applicant to articulate the project’s purpose and goals,
- the professional qualifications and achievements of the applicant, and
- the suitability and value of the Center for the proposed activity.
The Center aims to host an international mix, therefore consideration may also be given to nationality and/or geography.
Additionally, the committee takes into consideration the personal qualities that are likely to make a candidate a contributing member of an international, interdisciplinary community — curiosity, breadth of interests, ability to honor other viewpoints and sensitivity to other cultures.
Applications are reviewed by peer panels and then presented to the senior program leadership of the Rockefeller Foundation, which makes the final selection.
Accommodations
Residents are housed in two main buildings and each resident is given a private room with bath and a study/studio, either adjoining the bedroom or on the grounds. High-speed Internet access is available free of charge in all bedrooms and most studies. There is a small library that includes basic reference books and online research tools; the works of many former residents and those resulting from Bellagio meetings are also available.
The visual artist studio is quite small, and not suited for large works or installations. There is no kiln or darkroom at the Center.
Accommodations are not available for children and family members other than spouses/life partners, nor for friends or pets.
Considerations
Several resident suites are available for those with restricted mobility, and several of the buildings now include an elevator. Nonetheless, the hillside setting of the facility and the surrounding area restricts the mobility of persons who have difficulty walking or climbing stairs.
The Center is not equipped to provide medical services or assisted care. The nearest major hospital is in Lecco, a 40-minute drive away.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Can I apply for a residency to work on my dissertation or textbook?
A: The Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center is not an appropriate place for dissertation work and it is our policy that residencies are not scheduled to work on textbooks.
Q: I can only stay for two weeks. Can I apply for a residency?
A: Yes. While most residencies are for four weeks, two-and three-week residencies are considered. Please include a brief statement with your application describing why you are asking for a shorter residency.
Q: If I receive a residency, may I bring my child?
A: We are not able to accommodate children, even adult children.
Q: My spouse/partner and I each have projects and are both applying for a residency; does this mean our chances are better?
A: Each application is considered on its own merits. If only one individual is invited, the spouse/partner may accompany the invitee, but will not be considered a Bellagio resident. While studies and studio space are reserved solely for the use of residents, the Center offers plenty of common space for spouses/partners to work on their own projects.
Q: My project requires close collaboration with others. Is a group residency possible?
A: Yes. Collaborative residencies are available for two to four persons working on the same project.
For Collaborative teams of two:
- Each collaborator must separately fill out an online form accessed through this website.
- Each collaborator should provide the same abstract and project description.
- Work samples should represent previous collaborative work. However, if you are a new collaborative team, separate work samples may be submitted.
- Collaborators may list the same references only if the references are familiar with both (or all) applicants.
For Collaborative teams of three or four:
- In addition to the instructions above, attach a separate word or PDF letter stating your intention to apply as a collaborative group and list all team members.
Q: If I receive a residency, what do I have to pay for?
A: Room and board are provided without charge to all residents and their spouses/partners. Residents and spouses/partners must pay for their own airfare and local transportation to/from Bellagio. Assistance with round-trip economy airfare between the home country and Milan is available on a financial needs basis to qualifying residents and their spouses/partners – preference is given to applicants from developing countries. Travel assistance is awarded in a separate process from the residency competition. You may apply for travel assistance after you are invited to the Center.
Q: May I reapply if I do not get accepted for a residency?
A: Applicants who have not been accepted must wait two years before reapplying. Previously unsuccessful projects cannot be resubmitted.
Q: I had a residency some years ago. Can I apply for a second residency?
A: Former residents (and spouses/partners who accompanied them) must wait 10 years before reapplying. Third residencies, even for those who were the accompanying spouse/life partner, are not offered.
Q: What are the guidelines for submitting proposals?
A: We request that you submit all paperwork, such as proposals and written statements in 12 point type, double spaced with 1” margins. We advocate that succinct is best.
Q: Who should I list as references?
A: Your references should know your work and be knowledgeable about the project you propose to work on at Bellagio. You should not list more than one person from the same university or institution, nor should you list editors or others with a financial interest in your success. Please contact your references in advance to ask if they are willing and available to write on your behalf, and to confirm email addresses. You will also need to send them a copy of your Bellagio proposal. The online application form will automatically send an email to your references once you submit your application (you will receive a generic copy of the email). Your references will be asked to provide a professional reference and an evaluation of the merit and substance of your proposed project, as well as a few words on your likely contribution to the intellectual and social community of scholars and artists at Bellagio.
The letters are due approximately three weeks after you submit your application. Our office will only contact your references once. You will be responsible for follow-up to ensure that we receive the letters on time. Frequently emails are trapped by spam filters; therefore it is a good idea to email your references soon after submitting your application to check that they received the reference request. Please note, the recommendation letters are considered a valuable part of your application, and are read by all proposal reviewers. It is mandatory within the provisions of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code for The Rockefeller Foundation, as a private foundation, to seek independent, objective opinions for each applicant.
Q: I am not sure which category I should select for my proposal, since my work cuts through several areas.
A: If you have questions about categories, please call or email: bellagio_res@iie.org or 212-984-5537.
Applicants from developing countries who have trouble accessing our online form may contact our office to discuss alternative ways to submit the application: bellagio_res@iie.org or 212-984-5537.
Mailing work samples:
If you are submitting anything as a hard copy, please send it to the program administrators at:
Institute of International Education (IIE)
Bellagio Competition
809 United Nations Plaza, 7th Floor
New York, NY 10017 USA
Application Requirements for Creative Artists
The application must be completed online in English and submitted by the published deadline.
Applicants from developing countries who have trouble accessing our online form may contact our office to discuss alternative ways to submit the application: bellagio_res@iie.org or 212-984-5537.
Creative Artist Application Checklist
During the online application process, the following items will be required, and must be attached as Word or PDF documents (work samples for composers/video/filmmakers may be sent via post):
- In addition to an introductory summary of your Bellagio project, submit a one-page artist’s statement that also indicates additional details about the planned work. It should be specific about the stage of the project and the future plan for exhibiting, performing, publishing the work.
- For literary arts; novelists, non-fiction, poets and playwrights: a detailed description of the project, indicating its purpose and goals (5-10 pages - please review guidelines under Frequently Asked Questions). If available, please include a draft chapter or brief outline.
- Curriculum vitae, maximum four pages, including exhibitions, performances, publications and/or awards.
- Three references with knowledge of your project. They must be able to respond via email. (See the Frequently Asked Questions for more information.)
- Optional, but not mandatory. Published reviews of the applicant’s previous work (maximum of 3 reviews). Reviews must be in English.
Former Bellagio residents must submit a one-to-two page summary of what was accomplished during the previous residency, indicating the specific output and/or outcome, the critical response and what has been accomplished since then.
Work samples:
Creative artists submit different work samples which are detailed below. If none of your previous work is published in English, you must provide at least two published reviews in English of your work.
Composers. Three CDs and one score of the same work completed in the past three years – should be sent via post. Scores must be on 8 ½ x 11 (or A-4) paper with no complicated binding to facilitate photocopying
Non-Fiction, Novelists and poets. A selection from a book published in the past five years (maximum 35 pages) – must be submitted online as either a Word or PDF document.
Other Creative Artists. For genres not listed (such as new genres, multi-media, performance art, experimental work combining more than one genre, electronic art forms, choreography, and collaborative artists) select Video/Filmmakers: send three DVDs showing the same work which can be played on a PC or Mac, clearly labeled with a brief description of the work and date produced.
Playwrights. A selection from a play produced in the past five years (maximum 35 pages) – must be submitted online as either a Word or PDF document.
Video/Filmmakers. Three DVD copies of two different videos/films produced in the past five years (If running time exceeds 20 minutes, you may also include a 5 minute excerpt from each selection). Video/Film work samples should be sent via post.
Visual artists. A minimum of ten/maximum of twenty images created in the past five years (maximum height or width 1240 pixels, file format must be .jpg or .gif, 300 dpi resolution, file size should be no larger than 1.2 MB). Please include a list with image number, title, size, medium and date of work; OR
Three copies of a universal read CD (for Mac or PC) with a minimum of ten/maximum of twenty images created in the past five years (maximum height or width 1240 pixels, file format must be .jpg or .gif, 300 dpi resolution, file size should be no larger than 1.2 MB). Please include a list with image number, title, size, medium and date of work; OR
Three copies of a published catalog. (should be sent via post).
Questions not answered? Call +212-984-5537
Mailing work samples:
If you are submitting anything as a hard copy, please address all mail to the program administrators at:
Institute of International Education (IIE)
Bellagio Competition
809 United Nations Plaza, 7th Floor
New York, NY 10017 USA
Application Deadline for Creative Artist Residencies
Residencies for Scholars and Creative Artists
The next deadline for the Bellagio residency competition for scholars and creative artists will be announced during April 2010, for a possible residency from March 2011 – June 30, 2011. Please check back during April for deadline dates.
Practitioner residency and conference applications are accepted at any time.
Practitioner Residencies at the Bellagio Center
Selection Process and Criteria | Accommodations | Considerations | FAQs | Application Requirements | Practitioner Residencies Application Checklist | Application Deadlines
Selection Process and Criteria
Residencies for Practitioners
The Center offers residencies to professionals working outside of academia in fields of interest to the Rockefeller Foundation.
Eligibility
We seek applicants with demonstrated leadership qualities and responsibilities to contribute to the intellectual life at the Center. Priority is given to people working in fields that align with the mission of the Foundation.
Individuals from outside North America (especially developing countries) as well as postdoctoral, pre-tenure academics and other young professionals with significant accomplishments are encouraged to apply. We accept applications on a rolling admissions basis throughout the year and normally applicants are notified within eight weeks of applying.
In selecting the Practitioners, we look for three types of prospective residents:
- people who have led powerful lives and are stepping aside
- people who are in the throes of leading major change in the world in their current capacity (heads of state, NGOs etc); and
- young emerging leaders who may be at their creative zenith looking ahead.
Practitioners have used this uninterrupted time during their residency to work on projects such as book chapters or future organizational plans.
The Experience
Over meals and during informal presentations of work, residents engage with other fellows and, on occasion, interact with participants in conferences. The combination of private time for work and reflection and informal gatherings is a large part of life at the Center.
- Spouses/life partners are encouraged to accompany the resident and/or may apply for a concurrent residency.
- The Center also offers collaborative residencies for two to four persons working on the same project.
- Two- to four-week residency periods are available.
Practitioner Residencies at the Bellagio Center Requirements
Selection Process and Criteria | Accommodations | Considerations | FAQs | Application Requirements | Practitioner Residencies Application Checklist | Application Deadlines
Selection Process and Criteria
The Foundation seeks applicants who are able to demonstrate a history of professional leadership and significant achievement in their respective fields.
Decisions are based on:
- alignment with the Foundation’s mission,
- the professional qualifications of the applicant,
- the timeliness of the residency,
- the questions posed and the approach used to address them,
- the potential impact of the proposed work at Bellagio, and
- the suitability and value of the Center for the proposed activity.
The Center aims to host an international mix of residents, therefore consideration may also be given to nationality and/or geography. Individuals from developing countries are particularly encouraged to apply.
Additionally, the committee takes into consideration the personal qualities that are likely to make a candidate a contributing member of an international, interdisciplinary community — curiosity, breadth of interests, ability to honor other viewpoints and sensitivity to other cultures.
Applications are reviewed by the senior program leadership of the Rockefeller Foundation, which makes the final selection.
Accommodations
Residents are housed in two main buildings and each resident is given a private room with bath and a study, either adjoining the bedroom or on the grounds. High-speed Internet access is available free of charge in all bedrooms and most studies.
The Center is not a research facility. We have a small library that includes basic reference books and online research tools. The works of many former residents and those resulting from Bellagio conferences are also available.
Accommodations are not available for children and family members other than spouses/life partners, nor for friends or pets.
Considerations
Several resident suites are available for those with restricted mobility, and several of the buildings now include an elevator. Nonetheless, the hillside setting of the facility and the surrounding area restricts the mobility of persons who have difficulty walking or climbing stairs.
The Center is not equipped to provide medical services or assisted care. The nearest major hospital is in Lecco, a 40-minute drive away.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Can I apply for a residency to work on my dissertation or textbook?
A: The Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center is not an appropriate place for dissertation work and it is our policy that residencies are not scheduled to work on textbooks.
Q: I can only stay for two weeks. Can I apply for a residency?
A: Yes. While most residencies are for four weeks, two-and three-week residencies are considered. Please include a brief statement with your application describing why you are asking for a shorter residency.
Q: If I receive a residency, may I bring my child?
A: We are not able to accommodate children, even adult children.
Q: My spouse/partner and I each have projects and are both applying for a residency; does this mean our chances are better?
A: Each application is considered on its own merits. If only one individual is invited, the spouse/partner may accompany the invitee, but will not be considered a Bellagio resident. While studies and studio space are reserved solely for the use of residents, the Center offers plenty of common space for spouses/partners to work on their own projects.
Q: My project requires close collaboration with others. Is a group residency possible?
A: Yes. Collaborative residencies are available for two to four persons working on the same project.
For Collaborative teams of two:
- Each collaborator must separately fill out an online form accessed through this website.
- Each collaborator should provide the same abstract and project description.
- Work samples should represent previous collaborative work. However, if you are a new collaborative team, separate work samples may be submitted.
- Collaborators may list the same references only if the references are familiar with both (or all) applicants.
For Collaborative teams of three or four:
- In addition to the instructions above, attach a separate word or PDF letter stating your intention to apply as a collaborative group and list all team members.
Q: If I receive a residency, what do I have to pay for?
A: Room and board are provided without charge to all residents and their spouses/partners. Residents and spouses/partners must pay for their own airfare and local transportation to/from Bellagio. Assistance with round-trip economy airfare between the home country and Milan is available on a financial needs basis to qualifying residents and their spouses/partners – preference is given to applicants from developing countries. Travel assistance is awarded in a separate process from the residency competition. You may apply for travel assistance after you are invited to the Center.
Q: May I reapply if I do not get accepted for a residency?
A: Applicants who have not been accepted must wait two years before reapplying. Previously unsuccessful projects cannot be resubmitted.
Q: I had a residency some years ago. Can I apply for a second residency?
A: Former residents (and spouses/partners who accompanied them) must wait 10 years before reapplying. Third residencies, even for those who were the accompanying spouse/life partner, are not offered.
Q: What are the guidelines for submitting proposals?
A: We request that you submit all paperwork, such as proposals and written statements in 12 point type, double spaced with 1” margins. We advocate that succinct is best.
Q: Who should I list as references?
A: Your references should know your work and be knowledgeable about the project you propose to work on at Bellagio. You should not list more than one person from the same university or institution, nor should you list editors or others with a financial interest in your success. Please contact your references in advance to ask if they are willing and available to write on your behalf, and to confirm email addresses. You will also need to send them a copy of your Bellagio proposal. The online application form will automatically send an email to your references once you submit your application (you will receive a generic copy of the email). Your references will be asked to provide a professional reference and an evaluation of the merit and substance of your proposed project, as well as a few words on your likely contribution to the intellectual and social community of scholars and artists at Bellagio.
The letters are due approximately three weeks after you submit your application. Our office will only contact your references once. You will be responsible for follow-up to ensure that we receive the letters on time. Frequently emails are trapped by spam filters; therefore it is a good idea to email your references soon after submitting your application to check that they received the reference request. Please note, the recommendation letters are considered a valuable part of your application, and are read by all proposal reviewers. It is mandatory within the provisions of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code for The Rockefeller Foundation, as a private foundation, to seek independent, objective opinions for each applicant.
Q: I am not sure which category I should select for my proposal, since my work cuts through several areas.
A: If you have questions about categories, please call or email: Bellagio_ny@rockfound.org or 212-852-8431.
Application Requirements for Practitioners
The application must be completed online in English. .
Applicants from developing countries who have trouble accessing our online form may contact our office to discuss alternative ways to submit the application: bellagio_ny@rockfound.org.
Practitioner Residencies Application Checklist
Applications are accepted on a rolling admissions basis throughout the year. Your application should include:
- Complete online application form
- A brief statement of how this reflective time will make you a more effective person in your future work. (maximum 4 pages)
- A description of the work planned while in residency at Bellagio and a brief statement at what stage the work will be upon arrival (maximum 5 pages)
- A sample output of your work that will support your experience and the future project; such as a book chapter, report, manuscript, or website from your organization.
- An abbreviated CV of career highlights. (maximum 4 pages)
- Three references who must respond to our request via email
- Your application must be completed in English.
Applicants from developing countries who have trouble accessing our online form may contact our office to discuss alternative ways to submit the application: bellagio_ny@rockfound.org or by calling 212-852-8431.
Application Deadlines for Practitioner Residencies
Please note:
Practitioner residency applications are reviewed on a rolling admissions basis throughout the year. Applicants will be notified of the decision within 8 weeks of receiving the application and letters of reference.
Creative Arts Fellowships at the Bellagio Center
Program for Creative Arts Fellowship Launches in 2008
The 2008 launch of the annual Creative Arts Fellowship Program at the Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center dramatically increases the Foundation's stake in the visual arts. Global in scope, the Fellowship Program is rigorously ambitious, highly selective and an unparalleled opportunity for the chosen artists, who are selected by a panel through a nomination process.
The Award
Each Bellagio Creative Arts Fellow is awarded a three-month residency in a private apartment, complete with studio space, on the peaceful grounds of the Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center, adjacent to Northern Italy’s Lake Como. In addition to room and board, each Fellow will receive 12,000 Euros, a materials stipend, round-trip travel expenses to Bellagio, and a printed catalog of artwork, to be produced after the residency.
Meals and informal presentations of work provide an opportunity for the creative arts fellow to engage with other Center residents, who include a wide range of artists and writers, practitioners and policymakers, scholars and scientists from around the world. During special dinners, fellows and residents also have the chance to interact with the participants of international conferences that are hosted in various buildings on the Center’s property.
The Bellagio Center's conference and residency programs attract influential and relevant leaders, policymakers, artists and scholars from around the world to share their ideas and projects, to debate and to collaborate. They address issues that are fundamental to the Foundation’s mission.
The combination of private time for work and reflection and informal gatherings is an important part of life at the Center.
The Winners: 2008 Bellagio Center Creative Arts Fellows
The 2008 Creative Arts Fellows are:
The Selection Process
An advisory panel of leading international curators and artists identified 2008 nominees from all over the world. The Foundation has chosen three of the most outstanding candidates and announced the 2008 Fellows on October 15, 2008, during the London Frieze Art Fair.
Advisory Panel member and former resident Catherine de Zegher said, "To be offered a period of calm and distance away from other obligations allowed me to focus on the development of my writing.” She described her role as one of the advisory panelists as "a wonderful opportunity to share my enthusiasm for this rare space of quietude, reflection and unexpected lucidity of artistic expression.”
About the Rockefeller Foundation
The Rockefeller Foundation supports work that expands opportunity and strengthens resilience to social, economic, health and environmental challenges—affirming its pioneering philanthropic mission since 1913 to “promote the well-being” of humanity.
The Foundation operates both within the United States and around the world. The Foundation's efforts are overseen by an independent Board of Trustees and managed by its president through a leadership team drawn from scholarly, scientific and professional disciplines.
Governance
The governance practices of the Rockefeller Foundation are described in a set of documents including the Charter, Social Investing Guidelines, Bylaws and Code of Conduct, which are approved by the Board of Trustees.
Trustees
The Rockefeller Foundation is governed by the Board of Trustees,which consists of no fewer than 12 members, with the Foundation’s president serving as an ex-officio member. The Board of Trustees is generally responsible for overseeing the Foundation’s program and grantmaking strategy; budgets, expenditures and appropriation policies and guidelines; and investment strategies, allocations and performance. The Board of Trustees performs its duties through committees that include, but are not limited to: the Executive Committee, Investment Committee, Budget and Compensation Committee, Audit Committee and Trusteeship Committee as described in the Foundation’s Bylaws.
Staff
The Rockefeller Foundation’s senior leadership and staff members bring a broad range of talents to the organization with experiences drawn from scholarly, scientific, and private and nonprofit professional disciplines.
Board of Trustees
The Rockefeller Foundation is governed by the Board of Trustees which consists of no fewer than 12 members, with the Foundation’s president serving as an ex-officio member. The Board of Trustees is generally responsible for overseeing the Foundation’s program and grant making strategy; budgets, expenditures and appropriation policies and guidelines; and investment strategies, allocations and performance. The Board of Trustees performs its duties through committees that include, but are not limited to: the Executive Committee, Investment Committee, Budget and Compensation Committee and Audit Committee and Trusteeship Committee as described in the Foundation’s Bylaws.
James F. Orr, IIIBoard Chair
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Sandra Day O'ConnorRetired Associate JusticeUnited States Supreme Court |
Ann M. FudgeRetired Chairman & CEO
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Ngozi Okonjo-IwealaManaging DirectorThe World Bank |
Helene D. GaylePresident and CEO
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Richard D. ParsonsChairman of the BoardCitigroup Inc. |
Rajat K. GuptaSenior Partner Emeritus
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David Rockefeller, Jr.Director and Former ChairmanRockefeller & Co., Inc. |
Thomas J. HealeyPartner
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Judith RodinPresidentThe Rockefeller Foundation |
Alice S. HuangSenior Faculty Associate
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John W. RoweProfessorColumbia University |
Strive MasiyiwaExecutive Chairman
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Vo-Tong XuanVice President for Academic AffairsTan Tao University |
Diana NatalicioPresident
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Leadership
The Rockefeller Foundation’s senior leadership and staff members bring a broad range of talents to the organization with experiences drawn from scholarly, scientific, and private and nonprofit professional disciplines.
Executive Team
Judith RodinPresident |
Darren WalkerVice President, |
Peter MadoniaChief Operating Officer |
Zia KhanVice President, |
Shari L. PatrickGeneral Counsel & Corporate Secretary |
Ted Grant Jr.Special Assistant to the President |
Senior Leadership
Robert BuckleyManaging Director |
Samantha H. GilbertChief Human Resources Officer |
Antony Bugg-LevineManaging Director |
Fernando Mola-DavisChief Technology Officer |
Hilary CastilloDirector, Facilities & Administrative Services |
Janice NittoliAssociate Vice President & Managing Director |
Ashvin DayalManaging Director, |
James NyoroManaging Director, |
Donna DeanTreasurer and Chief Investment Officer |
Ariel Pablos-MéndezManaging Director |
Pamela FosterManaging Director, |
Pilar PalaciaManaging Director, Bellagio |
Diane FusilliDirector of Communications |
Ellen TausChief Financial Officer |
David J. JhiradSpecial Advisor, |
Gary ToenniessenManaging Director |
Claudia JuechManaging Director |
Nicholas TurnerManaging Director |
Nancy MacPhersonManaging Director |
Robert GarrisManaging Director |
Foundation Management
Wiebe BoerAssociate Director, |
Margot BrandenburgAssociate Director |
Juan C. BritoAssociate Director, |
Karl BrownAssociate Director |
Bob BykofskyManager, |
Scott Ceniza-LevineAssociate Director, |
Ronald ChenAssociate Director, |
Mushtaque ChowdhuryAssociate Director |
Douglass CoyleAssociate Director, |
Benjamin De La PenaAssociate Director |
Melvin GallowayAssociate Director, |
Brinda GangulyAssociate Director |
Stefan NachukAssociate Director |
Michelle PakAssociate Director, |
Cristina Rumbaitis del RioAssociate Director |
Paul SzetoAssociate Director, |
Edwin TorresAssociate Director, |
Chris Van BurenAssociate Direct, |
Victoria VysotinaAssociate Director, |
Teresa WellsChief Media Strategist |
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Annual Reports
You can see Annual Reports from today dating back to 1913, on the main site: www.rockefellerfoundation.org.
Financials
You can see Financials on the main site: www.rockefellerfoundation.org.
Contact Us
Inquiries
The Rockefeller Foundation makes every effort to review each query that is submitted. But because of the high volume of emails we receive, we ask your patience.
If you are interested in applying for funding, please visit the What We Fund section of Grants & Grantees or email Grantinquiry@rockfound.org.
If you are a job-seeker, please visit Careers in the About Us section or email HRInquiries@rockfound.org. If you are a member of the media, please go to the News & Media section or email media@ropckfound.org.
If you have other questions, please use the following contact information for the relevant Foundation initiative or office:
Developing Climate Change Resilience
Protecting American Workers’ Economic Security: Campaign for American Workers American_worker@rockfound.org
Promoting Equitable, Sustainable Transportation
Linking Global Disease Surveillance Networks
DiseaseSurveillance@rockfound.org
Transforming Health Systems
Advancing Innovation Processes to Solve Social Problems
Helping Build an Impact Investing Industry
New York City
NYCOpportunities@rockfound.org
Asia
Africa
Bellagio Center
RFBellagioCenter@rockfound.org
General/Other
New York Office
The Rockefeller Foundation
420 Fifth Ave
New York, NY 10018
Phone: (212) 869-8500
Fax: (212) 764-3468
Bangkok Office
The Rockefeller Foundation
21st Floor UBC II Building
591 Sukhumvit 33, Wattana
Bangkok 10110- Thailand
Phone: 66-2-262-0091 to 95
Fax: 66-2-262-0098
Nairobi Office
The Rockefeller Foundation
Eden Square, 5th Floor, Block1
Chiromo Road, Westlands
P.O Box 66773 00800 (GPO)
Nairobi, Kenya
Phone: 254-20-3750 627
Fax: 254-20-3750 653
Bellagio Center
Bellagio Study and Conference Center
Villa Serbelloni
Bellagio (Lago di Como) 22021 Italy
Phone: 39-031-9551
Fax: 39-031-955259