The Care for All with Respect and Equity (CARE) Fund is a grantmaking organization which channels contributions from major donors into initiatives related to child care, elderly care, and other types of care for people with assisted living needs. The fund focuses on initiatives that further left-of-center causes related to race, immigration, and gender in addition to their stated goal of enabling caregiving, and prioritizes the interests of minority populations.

CARE is managed by Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors (RPA), one of the nation’s largest philanthropic organizations. RPA is not affiliated with the similarly-named Rockefeller Foundation, though the foundation has provided RPA with funding in the past. ¹

Institutional Support

Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, which houses the CARE Fund, manages and advises on more than $400 million worth of grantmaking every year. This includes philanthropy by individuals, corporations, and other foundations. While not officially tied to the Rockefeller Foundation, it also carries the name of the influential Rockefeller family of American industrialists, politicians, and philanthropists, and claims to represent its legacy. RPA has helped distribute more than $3 billion worth of grants to causes in more than 70 countries since its founding in 2002, and serves as a fiscal sponsor for more than 90 smaller or developing organizations. ²

The public relations firm Spitfire Strategies manages the fund’s communications and handles press inquiries. Spitfire Strategies was founded by Democratic Party operative and campaign strategist Kristen Grimm, who also sits on the board of directors of the Windward Fund, a grantmaking organization within the philanthropic network overseen by the consulting firm Arabella Advisors. ³

CARE actively seeks out additional partners, but requires a minimal commitment of $500,000 a year for multiple years. The fund uses an internal process to identify organizations to support and does not accept outside proposals or inquiries. ⁴ Currently, CARE receives contributions from eight philanthropic organizations. These include the Ford Foundation, the Kellogg Foundation, the Schusterman Family Foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the Heising-Simons Foundation, all of which are leading left-of-center American grantmakers. CARE also takes funding from the Open Society Foundations, the flagship member of a massive international philanthropic network created by Hungarian-born financier George Soros. In addition, CARE receives support from the Perigee Fund and Pivotal Ventures. ⁵ The Perigee Fund supports childcare initiatives that advance left-of-center economic and immigration policies. Pivotal Ventures is an investment firm with left-of-center priorities that was created by Melinda Gates, the wife of Microsoft founder and philanthropist Bill Gates who announced the intention to seek a divorce from the technology billionaire in early 2021. ⁶⁷

Philanthropic Activities

The CARE Fund has issued grants to numerous labor organizations, activist groups, and smaller funds. One of these is the National Domestic Workers Alliance, a labor union-like organization which organizes child caregivers, house cleaners, elder caretakers, and workers in similar occupations to lobby for left-of-center legislation. Others include the MomsRising Education Fund, a left-wing group claiming to represent the interests of parents; Family Values at Work, a group pushing for the government to require businesses to provide paid leave; and the Paid Leave for All campaign. CARE has also given grants to several groups claiming to represent the interests of elderly and disabled people, including the American Association of People with Disabilities and the Diverse Elders Coalition. ⁸

As of May 2021, the CARE Fund had distributed $2.5 million in what it calls “rapid response” grants. ⁹ The fund intends to invest $50 million in five years with the end goal of transferring responsibility for its initiatives over to the public sector and increasing the scale of taxpayer-funded caregiving services so as to make them “universal.” CARE claims that this will “fuel the economy” and “improve outcomes for kids” while also reducing disparities in outcomes for minority groups, which the fund attributes to what it calls “the legacies of racism, slavery, xenophobia, sexism, ageism, and ableism.” ¹⁰

1.        “Funders Come Together to Launch $50 Million CARE Fund.” CARE Fund. Accessed May 20, 2021. https://carefund.org/app/uploads/2021/05/Final-Press-Release_The-CARE-Fund.pdf
2.    “Funders Come Together to Launch $50 Million CARE Fund.” PR Newswire. May 11, 2021. Accessed May 20, 2021. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/funders-come-together-to-launch-50-million-care-fund-301287874.html
3.          CARE Fund. Accessed May 20, 2021. https://carefund.org/
4.     CARE Fund. Accessed May 20, 2021. https://carefund.org/
5.             CARE Fund. Accessed May 20, 2021. https://carefund.org/
6.             Perigee Fund. Accessed May 20, 2021.

   Perigee Fund

7.         Pivotal Ventures. Accessed May 20, 2021. https://www.pivotalventures.org/
8.          CARE Fund. Accessed May 20, 2021. https://carefund.org/
9.        “Funders Come Together to Launch $50 Million CARE Fund.” PR Newswire. May 11, 2021. Accessed May 20, 2021. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/funders-come-together-to-launch-50-million-care-fund-301287874.html
10.     CARE Fund. Accessed May 20, 2021. https://carefund.org/