Rockefeller Passes Torch to Gates on Green Revolution

Joint venture between the two foundations on African agriculture may be part of a broader downsizing at Rockefeller Foundation.

The two great monopoly fortunes of the twentieth century are coming together to address the problems of agriculture in Africa.  The mainstream press reports that the Rockefeller Foundation (EIN 13-1659629 Form 990) and The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (EIN 91-1663695 Form 990*) are contributing $150 million (two-thirds from the Gates) to promote a green revolution in Africa.

*Why isn't the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation Form 990 available on Guidestar?  It turns out that it is available on the foundation's financial reports web page.  But hold on to your bandwidth, the complete PDF file is 98Mb.  The file has been broken down into four slightly more manageable chunks. Even at that, the listing of investment holdings is 81Mb.

Some useful background on this story comes from the Chronicle of Philanthropy, with a (free) feature story on the restructuring of the Rockefeller Foundation under Judith Rodin, who formerly was the head of the University of Pennsylvania (EIN 23-1352685 Form 990).  Under Ms. Rodin, 47 staff out of 176 have left the organization through staff buy-outs and other means, with 35 new staff hired.  Ventures in cultural areas have been cut.  The organization is trimming itself in accordance with its lesser role in the philanthropic scene, no longer among the top 10 foundations.  (For perspective, the University of Pennsylvania has an annual revenue of $3.2 billion, which is the amount of the entire endowment of the Rockefeller Foundation.) 

The Washington Post coverage was mostly press release grade comments.  The Seattle Times provided additional details, such as the fact that the effort will be based in Nairobi and that $26 million is earmarked for evaluation and measurement of results.  The Seattle Post-Intelligencer provides complete details:

• $43 million into research for developing higher-yield seed varieties
• $24 million to efforts aimed at improving crop-to-market infrastructure
• $20 million to train African agricultural scientists
• $37 million to help develop a network of African agro-dealers, and
• $26 million to create an organization that evaluates and manages the overall project.

The P-I story goes deeply into the background of the Green Revolution and its origins at Washington State University.  But the Seattle Times actually ferreted out a critical comment from the tiny organization Food First/Institute for Food Development Policy (EIN 13-2838167 Form 990) in Oakland, California.

Comments

[ML Hudson]

Very commendable. Thank you!
I wonder if this act of kindness could be implemented in the US or other countries to stimulate economic growth?