At The Rockefeller Foundation, we have made our choice. To remain true to the mission that has guided the Foundation’s work since our founding in 1913 and the five-year strategy we launched in 2023, we must find new ways to open the door to the future for everyone at a time when too many are trying to close it.
Though this report, titled Delivering Results: The Power of Unlikely Partnerships, chronicles the past, it suggests a way to make that future possible. This impact report shows not just how the Foundation and its partners delivered results to 530 million people in communities across the United States and around the world by the end of last year, but also how to make change at a time when that seems harder than ever.
The stories in the following pages almost always begin the same way: with a simple connection between people, organizations, or governments, some of them the most unlikely partners. Those partnerships are often the backbone of change in this dynamic era because leveraging support, skills, and resources from a wide array of partners is the only way to build, scale, and sustain the solutions to the world’s problems.
To continue having the kind of impact described in these pages, we know that we must adapt and experiment.
We are using all our capacities. For the last several years, the Foundation has exceeded the 5 percent requirement on grant-making to give more than 6 percent as compared to our endowment value. We are also increasingly focused on leveraging innovative financial tools and using our voice and convening platform to rally others to action.
We are also aiming to shape the environment in which we pursue our strategy. This work includes partnerships to help revitalize global cooperation against common threats, reform and replace partnerships and institutions — in public health, food security, and more — so they’re ready for the realities of today and tomorrow. And we are also helping reimagine how more Americans can open the door to the American Dream.
And we know that none of us can navigate this moment alone. In these pages, you will see reminder after reminder that impact is only possible if we work with partners and grantees from across sectors, political divides, and national borders. You’ll see proof that cross-sector coalitions — such as the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet, Mission 300, and Food is Medicine — represent a promising new approach to problem-solving that has the potential to unleash progress on several pressing priorities. And you’ll find lessons that can help guide your work as well.
In all, this report makes clear that it’s possible to deliver results for people and planet. But just like those I met in Asheville, we must respond to today’s crises even as we fight for a better, brighter future. The challenges facing humanity are undeniable. But so too is the opportunity before us: to open the door to an era of problem-solving, dignity, and hope.
Onwards,
Dr. Rajiv J. Shah
President, The Rockefeller Foundation