Mission/Giving Statement: The Rockefeller Family Fund works at the cutting edge of advocacy in such areas as environmental protection, advancing the economic rights of women, and helping citizens hold public and private institutions accountable for their actions.
Grantmaking Program Areas: Citizen Participation and Government Accountability; Economic Justice for Women; Environment; Institutional Responsiveness
Grantmaking Program Area Descriptions:
Citizen Participation and Government Accountability: Supports the efforts of nonpartisan organizations to help citizens exercise their right to vote, advocate for structural improvement to systems of government, and otherwise increase opportunities to participate in public policy formation.
Economic Justice for Women: Supports opportunities to promote economic justice. In particular, the program seeks to provide women with equitable employment opportunities and to improve their work lives.
Environment: Emphasizes public education on the risk of global warming and implementation of sound solutions, conservation of natural resources, protection of health as affected by the environment, meaningful implementation and enforcement of the nation's environmental laws, and public participation in national environmental policy debates.
Institutional Responsiveness: This is the most open-ended of the Family Fund's program areas. Its purpose is to help provide organizations with the means to affect the policies and actions of public and private institutions.
Type of Funding/Funding Restrictions: The Rockefeller Family Fund only supports tax-exempt organizations engaged in advocacy activities of national significance that are action-oriented and likely to yield tangible public policy results within its four program areas. Thus, the Fund does not ordinarily consider projects which pertain to a single community, except in the rare instance where a project is unique, strategically placed to advance a national issue, or is likely to serve as a national model. The RFF does not make grants for direct service providers, or for social services or human services programs, and it does not fund local or community-specific projects. Grants are rarely made to organizations which traditionally enjoy popular support, such as universities, museums, hospitals, or endowed institutions. In addition, grants are normally made to the same organization for no more than two years at a time, and except in extraordinarly cases, are not given to the same organizations for more than three or four consecutive years.
Application Instructions: Please submit all letters of inquiry via the online application system found on the Rockefeller Family Fund’s website: rffund.org. Before applying, applicants are advised to review the Frequently Asked Questions section, which details the Family Fund’s program guidelines. Online inquiries may be submitted at any time. Applicants should allow 6-8 weeks for staff to review and answer a letter of inquiry. Those organizations that are invited to submit a full proposal will be provided with guidelines for material to include.
Notes: Because the Fund has limited resources, it is unable to assist most applicants.
