The safety, health, and well-being of our employees, our grantees, and those we serve is our top priority, and The Rockefeller Foundation is closely monitoring the implications from the outbreak of COVID-19 (coronavirus). As the situation evolves, we continue to assess the spread of the virus on a daily basis and have taken steps to safeguard our community.
As of Friday, March 13th, all employees in all our locations worldwide are working remotely until June 30th and possibly longer if circumstances warrant. We will continue to carry out our work to every extent possible and stand ready to address questions or concerns from our grantees whose work may be affected by illness or closings. The Rockefeller Foundation will not hold any events in our offices or facilities during this time. Despite that, we are committed to holding as many of the planned convenings as possible through virtual, online technology or postponing them.
Updates for Our Grantees
As a foundation dedicated to promoting the wellbeing of humanity throughout the world, we are deeply concerned about COVID-19, a global pandemic that threatens so many of us, including the communities we have served at home and around the world for more than a century. Coronavirus has exposed the reality that, during a crisis, too many American families cannot meet their basic needs here at home, and too many communities lack the resources and technologies to adequately track, mitigate and overcome this disease. That’s why we partner and work to achieve our mission every day.
We realize that during these extraordinary times, there isn’t one standard approach that will work for all our grantees and the important work they provide. We remain fully committed to our partnership with our grantees and are prepared to be as flexible and supportive as possible in how they use the grants funds. Below is general guidance our grantees may find useful. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to your Foundation grant officer to discuss further.
We will continue to carry out our important work to every extent possible and stand ready to address your questions or concerns, especially for those whose work may be affected by illness or closings.
Grants
We anticipate that many of our grantees will need to extend their grant terms and change the due dates of deliverables and reports due to delays caused by COVID-19. You may also need to revise your budget. If this applies to you, we encourage you to discuss with your grant officer who will work out a solution that’s appropriate for you.
For those with grants currently in the approval process, our program teams will reach out to you to incorporate any scheduling changes as necessary.
If your grant included funding for an event that was canceled, we are ready to support you to work on a refund or credit, donate goods, hold payments and/or extend or amend the contract to reschedule the event later in the year. If your event has not been yet been canceled or finalized, we will work with you to amend the terms of the grant in order to reschedule it for a future date.
Please note, The Rockefeller Foundation will not hold any events in our offices or facilities during this time. Despite that, we are committed to holding as many of the planned convenings as possible through virtual, online technology or postponing them.
The Foundation will work quickly to accommodate your specific needs. Please do not hesitate to reach out to your grant officer with any questions or concerns you may have.
Since our founding, we have met critical moments to help the world’s most vulnerable. We are meeting this moment and remain committed to unleashing the potential of those left behind through creative solutions using data, innovation, and partnerships.