Rockefeller Brothers Fund

The Rockefeller Brothers Fund advances social change that contributes to a more just, sustainable, and peaceful world

The Rockefeller Brothers Fund is a private, family foundation helping to advance social change that contributes to a more just, sustainable, and peaceful world. It was created in 1940 by the sons of John D. Rockefeller, Jr.—John 3rd, Nelson, Winthrop, Laurance, and David—as a vehicle by which they could share advice and research on charitable activities and coordinate their philanthropic efforts to better effect.

In March 2004, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund decided to concentrate its Asian grantmaking in southern China, one of the fastest growing and most dynamic regions of the world. This focus builds on the Fund’s history of philanthropy in East and Southeast Asia and continues over a century of Rockefeller family philanthropy in China which includes the founding of the Peking Union Medical College in 1917.

The RBF's southern China grantmaking seeks to assist indigenous Chinese efforts to: 1) prevent and mitigate environmental pollution and improve the well-being of the Chinese people; 2) further sustainability energy practices and climate change solutions; and 3) strengthen community leadership for sustainable development.

The Fund’s geographic area of interest encompasses the nine diverse and interconnected provinces of the Pan Pearl River Delta—Guangdong, Guangxi, Hunan, Yunnan, Sichuan, Guizhou, Fujian, Hainan, and Jiangxi—and, to a lesser extent, Hong Kong and Macau.