Big Bets, Real Results
In 2025, The Rockefeller Foundation built on what we’ve known since 1913: when we make big bets, we get real results.
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Our big bets are rooted in the belief that humanity's greatest challenges are solvable when we don't shy away from addressing their root causes. In 2025, as we navigated shifting global and national politics, that meant finding new ways to serve people in a dynamic world: with Frontier Technology that benefits everyone, Community-Driven Models that build lasting opportunity and security, and Decisive Data that enables the research and swift decision-making that saves lives.
Our commitment to delivering results for the people we serve has remained unchanged for 113 years, but how we do it has had to change. This report shows what our work in food, energy, health, and jobs looked like in 2025 — the Big Bets we made, the results we delivered, and the human stories behind them.
- Clean Energy Access — New Delhi, India
- Energy Resilience — Anse Rouge, Haiti
- Civic Participation — Cape Town, South Africa
- Reforestation — Maranhão, Brazil
- Food Rx — Boston, Massachusetts
- Community Resilience — Compton, California
- Climate-Smart Farming — Varanasi, India
- Pandemic Preparedness — Cali, Colombia
- Feeding School Kids — Makueni, Kenya
- Expanding Opportunity — Washington, DC
- Disease Prevention — Bissau, Guinea-Bissau
- Early Health Alerts — Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- Good Food — Austin, Texas
- Good Food — Tallahassee, Florida
- Good Food — Teec Nos Pos, Arizona
- Good Food — Poplar Bluff, Missouri
- Good Food — Columbus, Ohio
- Good Food — San Francisco, California
- Good Food — New Orleans, Louisiana
- Good Food — Buffalo, New York
A Message
from Rajiv J. Shah
Disruption changes how we work, but not who we work for.
Since our founding, we have believed that humanity's greatest challenges are solvable with bold, committed action. That belief has never mattered more than it does right now. Over the past year, we’ve all watched with deep concern as governments in Washington and other capitals made the decision to pull back from humanitarian work — decisions that are already causing real harm to real people, and it will only get worse.
Our Fundingacross the Globe
Select to explore funds awarded in 2025 by benefitting region:
- Africa: $133,166,945 — across 66 funded opportunities.
- Asia and Oceania: $93,765,496 — across 65 funded opportunities.
- Europe: $5,617,043 — across 19 funded opportunities.
- Global: $9,420,992 — across 15 funded opportunities.
- Latin America and the Caribbean: $59,623,869 — across 61 funded opportunities.
- North America: $48,895,290 — across 102 funded opportunities.
By the Numbers
Impact unlocked by Rockefeller and its Partners through 2025. See methodology section for more details.
People
5.5M
Enablers Engaged
People engaged by Foundation grantees or partners to spur downstream impacts for end-users
731M
End-users Reached
People from target communities accessing or using a product or service
3M
People Impacted
People experiencing a clear, measurable outcome or impact from an intervention
By the Numbers
Planet
23M
Hectares Covered
Area of land and water affected by biodiversity conservation, protection, and/or restoration
84M
Tonnes of Emissions Reduced
Carbon dioxide equivalent avoided, reduced, or sequestered
By the Numbers
Capital
$3B
Direct Mobilization
USD resources mobilized into Foundation-created or Foundation-supported organizations, funds, or solutions
$29B
Indirect Mobilization
USD resources mobilized into a concept or model that the Foundation piloted, demonstrated, and/or helped to scale
What We Are Learning
We see our job as helping bridge the gaps — between innovation and adoption, supply and demand, data and decisions — to build long-lasting impact.
01
Reimagine before you reinvent.
Getting results with frontier technology doesn't always require a breakthrough. Sometimes it just requires a new way of thinking about the tools we already have.
02
Broker new connections, not new AI technology.
AI is already working. Our job is to make sure it works for those who need it most.
Chapter 1
Frontier Tech
We believe modern technology should put people first and support the way they want to work, learn, and thrive.
That is why we’re making a Big Bet on bringing power to the 730 million people still living without access to electricity. Using the latest renewable energy technology — and finding creative ways to use older tech — The Rockefeller Foundation and our partners are helping expand energy access to places where power has so far remained out of reach, providing new opportunities to create income, get an education, or receive healthcare.
That’s not the only way we’re helping the benefits of frontier technology reach everyone, not just the fortunate few. We are taking a similar approach in our support for emerging AI tools, which are already helping farmers adapt to unpredictable climate threats, local governments increase civic participation, and health workers prevent deadly dengue outbreaks.
- Clean Energy Access — New Delhi, India
- Energy Resilience — Anse Rouge, Haiti
- Climate-Smart Farming — Varanasi, India
- Pandemic Preparedness — Cali, Colombia
- Civic Participation — Cape Town, South Africa
Universal Energy Abundance
Bringing Energy Access to Every Corner of the Planet
Today, 730 million people still live without access to electricity. Alongside our partners at Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet and our Mission 300 initiative, we’re investing in key technology solutions to expand power and opportunity to millions — from battery storage systems to solar mesh grids to the fellows helping to make universal energy abundance a reality.
Explore Our Frontier Tech
Chapter 2
Community-Driven Models
Investing in communities is not only a fast route to results, it’s also a way to make sure our big bets will stand the test of time.
Our Big Bet on Regenerative School Meals is working to reach 100 million more children with nutritious meals that are locally grown, creating jobs and strengthening communities even as they help children grow and learn. In Kenya, Rwanda, and Indonesia, we are helping governments deliver school feeding programs anchored in local food systems — where a child's lunch also supports a nearby farmer, and where good nutrition and economic resilience grow together.
Finding new ways of working with communities runs through each of this chapter's stories: from Indigenous People-led conservation in the Brazilian Amazon to resilience projects helping Americans across the United States weather the growing threat of extreme heat and wildfires. Here, we share some of the solutions we are seeing taking root — those driven by communities themselves, and built to grow alongside the people they serve.
- School Meals — Makueni, Kenya
- Reforestation — Maranhão, Brazil
- Expanding Opportunity — Washington, DC
- Community Resilience — Compton, California
Regenerative School Meals
School Meals Feed Children and Nourish the Planet
School meal programs are the world's largest social safety net. That’s why we partnered with the World Food Programme in Benin, Burundi, Ghana, Honduras, India, and Rwanda to improve how we feed children so that every plate of food creates ripple effects for people, communities, and the planet. We’re also investing in local programs, like Lattice Aquaculture, which is introducing omena fish to Kenyan schools to support both student nutrition and the local supply chain.
Explore Our Community-Driven Models
Chapter 3
Decisive Data
The difference between success and failure often comes down to whether decisions are backed by solid evidence.
Our Big Bet on Food is Medicine shows why. While chronic diseases like diabetes, obesity, and heart disease affect 133 million Americans and cost over $1.1 trillion in healthcare spending each year, the data we're collecting shows that food can be more than part of the problem — it can be part of the cure. Now, health systems, insurers, and policymakers across the country are recognizing the power of healthy food as medicine, thanks to our work with partners to build evidence and move from policy to practice.
Last year we saw how, in a world where competing opinions can drown out facts, good evidence has a unique power — it reveals what's actually working, brings partners to the table, and sometimes points toward new solutions nobody anticipated.
- Local Food Ecosystem — Boston, Massachusetts
- Food is Medicine — Austin, Texas
- Food is Medicine — Tallahassee, Florida
- Disease Prevention — Bissau, Guinea-Bissau
- Early Health Alerts — Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- Food is Medicine — Buffalo, New York
- Food is Medicine — New Orleans, Louisiana
- Food is Medicine — San Francisco, California
- Food is Medicine — Columbus, Ohio
- Food is Medicine — Poplar Bluff, Missouri
Food is Medicine
How Data is Making the Case for Food in Healthcare
Food is Medicine programs provide medically tailored meals and groceries, as well as produce prescriptions to patients with chronic diseases. They not only benefit patients and health systems, but if locally-sourced food is prioritized, the Food is Medicine market could create $45 billion in economic activity nationwide, create over 300,000 new jobs, and support local farmers. We’re partnering with the American Heart Association and local providers like Community Servings to make Food is Medicine programs more widely accessible as part of our $100 million Big Bet.
Explore Our Decisive Data
Methodology
How We Measure Our Impact
The Rockefeller Foundation is committed to measuring our impact, learning from our and our partners’ successes and challenges, and transparently sharing insights that inform action. In 2025, the Foundation partnered with more than 35 grantees and program-related investees — far too many to recognize fully in a single report. Our intent here is to capture as concisely as possible the essence of our impact that year — spotlighting projects with meaningful achievements, concrete evidence, and valuable lessons.
Curate Your Journey:
Good Food
Everyone deserves healthy, nutritious food grown sustainably. Our grantees are helping make that a reality. Together, we're working toward two Big Bets: providing Americans with Food is Medicine to improve their health, and bringing Regenerative School Meals to children worldwide — both aim to nourish under-served communities, strengthen local economies, and ensure our planet can thrive.
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Download Snapshot
Check out our executive summary to explore the stories, data, and impact behind this year's report.
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