Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors (RPA) is one of the nation’s most prominent philanthropic organizations. It not only makes direct grants but also develops strategic giving programs and assists other foundations in professionalizing their operations. ¹

Founded in 2002, RPA traces its principles to John D. Rockefeller’s strategy of “managing his philanthropy like a business.” ¹ RPA’s board chair, Valerie Rockefeller, is John D. Rockefeller’s great-great-granddaughter. ²

RPA made $410,541,087 in grants in 2023, with many of its largest grants going to organizations that promote left-of-center principles in areas such as environmentalism, leniency in criminal justice, abortion access, expanded immigration, gun control, and gender policy, as well as to funds connected to major left-of-center “pass-through” funders such as the Tides Nexus, Arabella Advisors, NEO Philanthropy, the Proteus Fund, and the Open Collective Foundation. ³

Activities

Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors claims that a focus of its work involves “philanthropic leadership.” It engages in research, writes papers, and creates coalitions for purposes of guiding donors and foundations. It has created a series of donor guides, addressing issues like gender and climate change, as well as donor practices. ⁴

In 2019, RPA launched the Theory of the Foundation initiative, a multi-year program to help philanthropists strategically plan their giving to maximize their impact. ⁵ Its outputs included The Philanthropy Framework, a philanthropic strategic methodology based on studies into the leadership methods of other left-of-center organizations including the California Endowment. ⁵

The foundation’s 2018 Scaling Solutions report claimed to advise on tips and strategies towards philanthropic operations, while using several left-of-center foundations as examples. ⁶

Grantmaking

According to its 2023 tax forms, Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors reported revenues of $644,895,042, expenses at $684,544,317, and total assets of $911,780,389. ³ This included $27,306,551 in government grants. ⁷

RPA regularly gives millions of dollars to apolitical organizations such as education institutions, museums, conservation organizations, and poverty assistance groups. However, it also funds many left-of-center organizations. ⁷

Environmental Advocacy

RPA is a major donor to left-of-center environmental advocacy, research, and litigation organizations. In 2023, seven of RPA’s 10 largest grants were to organizations directly engaged in left-of-center environmental policy: $10,247,809 to the Climate Leadership Initiative, $7,797,805 to Climate Breakthroughs, $6,633,000 to the Sustainable Markets Foundation, $5,082,261 to Climate Arc, $3,910,000 to Oil Change International, $3,069,696 to the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives, and $2,853,658 to the World Wildlife Fund. ³

RPA also made grants in 2023 to 350.org; the Rocky Mountain Institute; the Wildlife Conservation Society; the Global Energy Monitor; the Environmental Defense Fund; the Ocean Conservancy; Re:Wild; Stand.earth; the Resources Legacy Fund; the Natural Resource Governance Initiative; the Natural Resources Defense Council; The Nature Conservancy; the Conservation International Foundation; the World Resources Institute; Climate Resolve; the Greenpeace Fund; the Pacific Environment and Resources Center; the Oil and Gas Action Network; Earthworks; the Earth Island Institute; Friends of the Earth; the Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide; Ocean Outcomes; the Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network; the Southern Environmental Law Center; the American Conservation Association; the Women’s Environment and Development Organization; the Climate Defense Project; the Ocean Foundation; EarthRights International; the Surfrider Foundation; the Global Greengrants Fund; Care About Climate; Food and Water Watch; the Eco-Justice Collaborative; the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions; the Re-Earth Initiative; the Center on Race, Poverty, and the Environment; the Earth Care International; the Pacific Institute for Studies in Development, Environment, and Security; the Rainforest Foundation; the Rainforest Action Network; the Rainforest Alliance; the Environmental Justice Community Action Network; Amazon Watch; If Not Us Then Who; the Cloud Mountain Foundation, and other left-of-center environmental organizations. ³

Between 2013 and 2019, the MacArthur Foundation donated $20.785 million to RPA for several climate-based projects. ⁸ The Gates Foundation gave RPA almost $3.5 million to start an educational nonprofit in 2009. ⁹

International Development

RPA supports a number of international development initiatives and organizations, and has close relationships with the United Nations and U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). It is a supporter of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and supports the Earth Charter Fund, a UN-endorsed environmental advocacy coalition of international organizations, as well as other global development NGOs such as the Society for International Development and Global Citizen. ¹⁰  

In 2024, RPA boasted of its “uniquely significant presence” at the UN General Assembly and promoted its partnership with USAID and UNICEF in a program to eliminate lead from paint, fuels and other sources worldwide. ¹¹

Pro-Abortion Advocacy

In 2023, RPA funded national pro-abortion organizations including the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, SPARK Reproductive Justice NOW, Physicians for Reproductive Health, and the National Network of Abortion Funds, as well as local groups such as South Texans for Reproductive Justice, Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains, Planned Parenthood Southeast, NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio, and New Voices for Reproductive Justice. ¹²

In 2018, RPA and other left-of-center foundations founded the Reproductive Health and Women’s Rights Collaborative, later The Collaborative for Gender + Reproductive Equity (CGRE), to promote abortion and birth control. Left-of-center donor foundations involved in the Collaborative’s founding included the David and Lucile Packard Foundation (which gave $10 million), as well as Acton Family Giving, the Ford Foundation, and JPB Foundation. ¹³ Since its founding, other donors to the Collaborative have included MacKenzie Scott, the Foundation for a Just Society, the Hackerman Foundation, P-Squared Philanthropies, the Threshold Foundation, and the Wellspring Philanthropic Fund. ¹⁴

Support for Labor Unions

RPA supports labor-union-aligned causes. In 2023, it gave $395,000 to the Service Employees International Union (SEIU)-aligned Amalgamated Charitable Foundation, $267,000 to the International Labor Rights Forum, $200,00 to the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, $95,000 to the United Farm Workers’ UFW Foundation, $150,000 to One Fair Wage, and $150,000 to La Union del Pueblo Entero, a union-aligned get-out-the-vote organization created by UFW founder Cesar Chavez. ¹²

Immigration Advocacy

RPA supports a number of organizations that support increased immigration to the United States and assist both legal and illegal immigrants and refugees. In 2023, these groups included Welcoming America, the American Immigration Council, the International Refugee Rights Initiative, the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, the National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild, and the American Business Immigration Coalition. ¹²

Criminal Justice Advocacy

RPA supports organizations that promote left-of-center positions on criminal justice policy. In 2023, RPA made grants to criminal justice reform organizations including the William J. Brennan Center for Justice, the National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform (NICJR), Gathering For Justice, the Demand Justice Initiative, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF), the Equal Justice Initiative, First Defense Legal Aid, Centro Por La Justicia, and multiple state affiliates of the American Civil Liberties Union. ¹⁴

RPA was formerly the fiscal sponsor and continues to support the Art for Justice Fund. ¹⁵ Along with the Ford Foundation and other donors, RPA assists Art for Justice with creating artistic narratives that portray the U.S. police and justice system as deliberately targeting minorities for arrests and incarceration. ¹⁶   

Left-of-Center Organizing

In 2023, RPA made grants to a number of prominent left-of-center “pass-through” grantmaking organizations: ³

• $9,165,891 to the Tides Center, $100,000 to Tides Advocacy, and $50,000 to the Tides Foundation;
• $1,710,000 to the New Venture Fund and $1,247,000 to the Hopewell Fund of Arabella Advisors;
• $2,220,000 to NEO Philanthropy;
• $661,050 to the Proteus Fund;
• $67,490 to the Open Collective Foundation;
• $25,000 each to the Bill, Hillary, and Chelsea Clinton Foundation and the Barack Obama Foundation. ³

RPA also funds a broad array of left-of-center media, advocacy, and organizing groups such as ProgressNow, the New America Foundation, Defending Rights and Dissent, the Online Progressive Engagement Network (OPEN), the National Women’s Law Center, the National Urban League, the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee, Political Research Associates, the California Public Interest Research Group Education Fund (CALPIRG), the State Power Fund, Loud Light, the Movement Strategy Center, the Progressive Multiplier Fund, the Pillars Fund, We the People Michigan, Gender Justice, the Center for Law and Social Policy, Bend the Arc, the Sundance Institute, the Center for Economic and Social Rights, the Color of Change Education Fund, and the Millennial Action Project. ¹⁴

In May 2022, RPA announced a “New Pluralists” project where it would provide $10 million in grants to roughly 32 organizations that worked to “address divisive forces.” ¹⁷ One group that received a grant was After Party, a religious program started by Duke Divinity School professor Curtis Chang, New York Times columnist David French, and Christianity Today editor-in-chief Russell Moore. The program’s curriculum claims to be a space where pastors and other groups can reframe, “Christian political identity from today’s divisive partisan options.” ¹⁷

Leadership

President and CEO

Latanya Mapp was the previous president and CEO of the Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, being appointed to the position in January 2024. Prior to joining RPA, Mapp was the president and CEO of the Global Fund for Women and the executive director of Planned Parenthood‘s international advocacy branch, Planned Parenthood Global. Beforehand, she worked for the United Nations Childrens Fund (UNICEF), the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund (LDF). As of 2025, Mapp is a board member of both Oxfam International and Oxfam America, and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). ¹⁸

In March 2025, Mapp announced she was stepping down from the position with RPA immediately while releasing a statement claiming, “Considering recent national and global events, I feel compelled to answer my calling anew, and to work more proximately, intimately, with people and communities in the vanguard of democracy’s defense.” ¹⁹ At the same time, RPA announced that A. Nicole Campbell and Walter Sweet would be appointed as interim Co-CEOs and Co-Presidents following Mapp’s departure. ²¹

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2. “Meet our Team.” Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, Accessed February 10, 2025. https://www.rockpa.org/who-we-are/team/?member=valerie-rockefeller
3. “Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors Inc .” ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer, 2024. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/133615533
4.  Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, Philanthropy Roadmap, Accessed January 22, 2020. https://www.rockpa.org/philanthropy-roadmap/
5. “Theory of the Foundation.” Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, 2022. https://www.rockpa.org/project/theory-of-the-foundation/.
6. Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, Scaling solutions toward shifting systems: approaches for impact, approaches for learning,” October 2018. Accessed January 10, 2025. https://www.rockpa.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/10-20-RockPA-Scaling-Solutions-02-WEB-1.pdf
7. ^[1] “Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors Inc .” ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer, 2024. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/133615533.
8. MacArthur Foundation, Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, Accessed January 22, 2020. https://www.macfound.org/grantees/2322/
9. Gates Foundation, Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, Accessed January 22, 2020. https://www.gatesfoundation.org/How-We-Work/Quick-Links/Grants-Database/Grants/2009/09/OPPCR043
10. “The Movement.” Earth Charter. Accessed February 10, 2025. https://earthcharter.org/the-movement/.
11. “RPA Continues Its ‘Road to Bold’ with Uniquely Large Presence at the United Nations General Assembly.” Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, November 19, 2024. https://www.rockpa.org/unga-road-to-bold/
12. Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax, 2023, Schedule I https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/133615533/202433159349300308/full
13. Dolan, Kerry A. “The $3.1 Billion Philanthropist No One Knows.” Forbes, February 20, 2024. https://www.forbes.com/sites/kerryadolan/2024/02/15/after-her-husband-got-rich-off-of-bernie-madoffs-scheme-she-became-one-of-americas-most-generous-philanthropists/.
14. “About Us.” Collaborative for Gender + Reproductive Equity. Accessed February 10, 2025. https://cgre.org/about-us/.
15. “Art for Justice Fund.” Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors. Accessed February 10, 2025. https://www.rockpa.org/project/art-for-justice-fund/.
16. Read, Bridget. “Agnes Gund and the Art for Justice Fund Announce $22 Million in Grants to End Mass Incarceration.” Vogue, November 15, 2017. https://www.vogue.com/article/agnes-gund-art-for-justice-fund-22-million-grants-criminal-justice-reform.
17. Basham, Megan. “FOLLOW THE MONEY TO THE AFTER PARTY.” Frist Things, January 22, 2024. https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2024/01/follow-the-money-to-the-after-party
18. “Latanya Mapp.” Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, July 22, 2024. https://www.rockpa.org/team/latanya-mapp/.
19. Musaddique, Shafi. “Latanya Mapp steps down from Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors.” Alliance Magazine, March 13, 2025. https://www.alliancemagazine.org/blog/latanya-mapp-steps-down-from-rockefeller-philanthropy-advisors/
21. “Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors Announces the Appointment of A. Nicole (Nic) Campbell and Walter Sweet as Interim Co-CEOs and Co-Presidents.” Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors.” Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, March 8, 2025. https://www.rockpa.org/rockefeller-philanthropy-advisors-announces-the-appointment-of-a-nicole-nic-campbell-and-walter-sweet-as-interim-co-ceos-and-co-presidents/

    Board Chair

    Valerie Rockefeller is the board chair of RPA. She is the co-founder of environmentalist banking group BankFWD and previously served in the U.S. Department of Education during the Clinton administration. She also a member of CFR, the Aspen Institute‘s K12 Climate Action Commission, and the Generosity Commission. ²⁰  “Meet our Team.” Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, Accessed February 10, 2025. https://www.rockpa.org/who-we-are/team/?member=valerie-rockefeller