Rockefeller Foundation

The Rockefeller Foundation is a prominent philanthropic organization and private foundation based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The preeminent institution established by the six-generation Rockefeller family, it was founded by John D. Rockefeller ("Senior"), along with his son John D. Rockefeller, Jr. ("Junior"), and Senior's principal business and philanthropic advisor, Frederick Taylor Gates, in New York State May 14, 1913, when its charter was formally accepted by the New York State Legislature. Its central historical mission is "to promote the well-being of mankind throughout the world."

Some of its objectives and achievements include:

• Financially supported education in the United States "without distinction of race, sex or creed"
• Helped establish the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in the United Kingdom;
• Established the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health and Harvard School of Public Health, two of the first such institutions in the United States;
• Developed the vaccine to prevent yellow fever;
• Developed and funded various German eugenics programs, including the one that Josef Mengele worked in before he went to Auschwitz.
• Funded the work of dozens of Nobel Laureates
• Helped found The New School
• Supported the establishment of a large range of American and international cultural institutions;
• Funded agricultural development to expand food supplies around the world.

Although it is no longer the largest foundation by assets, the Rockefeller Foundation's pre-eminent legacy ranks it among the most influential NGOs in the world. By year-end 2008 assets were tallied at $3.1 billion from $4.6 billion in 2007, with annual grants of $137 million.