Frequently Asked Questions

We provide a limited number of grants each year to support U.S.-based, tax-exempt non-profit organizations engaged in efforts that strongly align with our Arts, Climate, and Justice program goals. For additional information about our grantmaking priorities, please see Programs.

The Fund primarily provides general operating support to eligible 501(c)(3) organizations (including their fiscally sponsored projects) operating within the United States. Occasionally, we provide smaller discretionary awards to resource sabbaticals, leadership transitions, succession planning or merger explorations, and other supports to strengthen our grantees' operations.

The Fund also makes project-specific grants to support the primary purpose of 501(c)(4) social welfare organizations, which are subject to expenditure responsibility requirements.

The Fund does not make grants to individuals, scholarships, international programs, or for-profit businesses. We do not make grants to afterschool, summer, and other out-of-school time programs for youth; individual museum and/or art gallery exhibitions, films, concerts/concert series, or theatrical productions; or diversion and re-entry programs.

As a private foundation, we also cannot fund social welfare organizations’ lobbying and voter registration activities.

Grant payments tend to fall within the range of $50,000 - $75,000 per year. Sabbatical support and other smaller discretionary grants do not exceed $20,000.

The Fund primarily awards grants to 501(c)(3) organizations (including projects fiscally sponsored by a qualifying organization). We also make primary purpose grants to 501(c)(4) social welfare organizations.

We prioritize making a small number of long-term, multi-year grants each year, which leaves limited funding available for us to pursue new opportunities. For that reason, and in the interest of respecting prospective grant seekers’ time, we do not accept unsolicited letters of inquiry.

Within each program area, we take a holistic, ecosystem-level approach to grantmaking. We identify new opportunities in partnership with, and based on recommendations from, current grantee partners and peers in the field. Please note that we conduct extensive due diligence on all prospective opportunities. Entering into a process of due diligence does not guarantee funding.

At the Fund, we believe that it is critical to align our investment portfolio with science-backed targets for climate change mitigation. With that in mind, we are taking meaningful steps to move the investment portfolio toward net zero and thus maximize our contribution to the decarbonization of the real economy. To learn more about the Fund’s climate-related investment targets, please see the linked press release.

We are also committed to increasing and retaining a diverse pool of investment managers within the portfolio. Learn more about our commitment to Confluence Philanthropy's Belonging Pledge here.

The publication Leading With Love and Gratitude: The David Rockefeller Fund at 30 offers a concise history of the Fund’s evolution between 1989-2019.