Rockefeller
The Rockefeller Foundation is a knowledge-based global foundation with a commitment to
enrich and sustain the lives and livelihoods of poor and excluded people throughout the world.
In order to maximize its resources and leverage the Foundations strengths, grantmaking is
organized around four thematic lines of work: Creativity & Culture, Food Security, Health
Equity and Working Communities.
John Davison Rockefeller (July 8, 1839 – May 23, 1937) was the guiding force behind the
creation and development of the Standard Oil Company, which grew to dominate the oil industry
and became one of the first big trusts in the United States,
Rockefeller also was one of the first major philanthropists in the U.S., establishing several
important foundations and donating a total of $540 million to charitable purposes.
In 1859, with $1,000 he had saved and another $1,000 borrowed from his father, Rockefeller
formed a partnership in the commission business with another young man, Maurice B. Clark. In
that same year the first oil well was drilled at Titusville in western Pennsylvania, giving rise to
the petroleum industry. Cleveland soon became a major refining center of the booming new
industry, and in 1863 Rockefeller and
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