Value of David Rockefeller Bequest to Family Foundation Hits $250 Million

A $250 million gift from the estate of David Rockefeller, who died in March 2017, has vaulted the endowment of the philanthropy he started with his four older brothers above the $1 billion mark.

Rockefeller announced the bequest to the Rockefeller Brothers Fund 10 years before his death. At that time, it was estimated that his gift would total about $225 million. His wealth included expansive art and real-estate holdings as well as stock, making the total value difficult to predict when it was announced.

In addition to the fund he started with his siblings in 1940, David Rockefeller, the former head of Chase Manhattan Bank and the grandson of oil baron John D. Rockefeller Sr., planned to give major bequests to the Museum of Modern Art, Rockefeller University, and the Council on Foreign Relations.

With the gift, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund has grown to $1.2 billion. Beginning in 2017, the foundation increased its grant making and pledged to increase its program spending by 12 percent. The acceleration was made in response to the Trump administration’s policies of nationalism and retreat from multilateral international trade deals.

At the time, the foundation stressed that the increased payout was not permanent and that it would revert to traditional spending levels to maintain the longevity of the organization.

More Spending to Come

The windfall from the David Rockefeller estate should allow it to distribute more grant money, the foundation said in a release. The grant maker plans to continue its work supporting sustainable international development, peace building, and efforts to spread and strengthen democracy in the United States and internationally.

With the healthier endowment, it should be easier to make good on a pledge to spend $75 million over the next five years to combat climate change. More details on its spending plans will be announced this winter, the foundation said.

Over the past several years the foundation, which owes its existence to accumulated wealth from the Rockefeller scion’s Standard Oil conglomerate, has reduced investments from its endowment in fossil-fuel concerns. Currently, the foundation said, 1.1 percent of its portfolio is placed in fossil-fuel investments.

The foundation would like to invest 20 percent of its endowment in efforts that advance the mission of its programmatic grants. As of last month, the foundation said 13 percent of its endowment was in impact investments.

Correction: A previous version of this article mistakenly said the Rockefeller Brothers Fund increased its spending to 12 percent of its assets instead of by 12 percent.