2025 Impact Report “Big Bets, Real Results” Highlights $32 Billion Mobilized for Solutions, Reaching Millions Across Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, Europe, the United States, and More
NEW YORKMay 20, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — The Rockefeller Foundation today released its 2025 Impact Report, “Big Bets, Real Results,” detailing a year of strategic investments aimed at helping the world’s most vulnerable populations tackle humanity’s most stubborn problems. The report details the Foundation’s work in 2025, including its big bets on Universal Energy Abundance, Food is Medicine, and Regenerative School Meals globally, to accelerate the adoption of frontier technologies, community-driven models, and critical data across its core focus areas. Against a backdrop of global turmoil and a historic decline in global aid, the 113-year-old philanthropic organization successfully disbursed over $350 million, directly leveraged $3 billion, and helped catalyze an additional $29 billion in indirect capital, reaching 731 million people worldwide.
RF_people_final
“Disruption changes how we work, but not who we work for. Last year, the global commitment to helping the poor contracted sharply, and the people who depend on that commitment paid the price. But it also revealed extraordinary courage among leaders in the United States, Africa, Asia, and Latin America who chose to raise their ambitions and go further. We are proud to stand with them and share this report, which proves that despite disruption, their lives getting worse, and our work getting harder, it is still possible to deliver results at scale for the vulnerable.” Rajiv J. Shah, President, The Rockefeller Foundation. Read his full statement here.
2025 Impact by the Numbers
In 2025, the Foundation disbursed over $350 million to 204 unique partners through 235 grants and program-related investments. The following metrics highlight the reach, capital leverage, and environmental outcomes of the 2025 portfolio:
- People Reached: 731 million people accessed or used a philanthropic product or service funded by the Foundation. Of these, 3 million people achieved a clear, measurable outcome through direct intervention.
- Investment Leveraged: The Foundation directly leveraged $3 billion and helped scale concepts, indirectly catalyzing an additional $29 billion in capital (totaling $32 billion) for philanthropic interventions through the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet and the work of other partners.
- Planet Protected: These efforts resulted in 84 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent — a metric measuring the global warming potential of all greenhouse gases — avoided, reduced, or sequestered, and 23 million hectares of land protected or restored, an area roughly the size of Utah, the United Kingdom, Ghana, Laos, or Guyana.
- Global Funding Reach: Philanthropic investments spanned every major region, including over $133 million in Africa; $93 million in Asia and Oceania; $59 million in Latin America and the Caribbean; and $49 million in the United States and North America. A detailed regional breakdown is available in the full 2025 financial overview.
“When the world pulls back, philanthropy must lean in,” said Elizabeth Yee, Executive Vice President, The Rockefeller Foundation. “From AI-powered disease alerts in Latin America to school meals in Kenya and clean energy in Haiti, 2025 showed that the right investments — with the right partners — can deliver results at scale, strengthen markets, and create healing impact for communities.”
Stories from the Field: Human Impact in Action
The 2025 report highlights the people at the heart of the Foundation’s work and its “Big Bets” across three strategic pillars:
- Frontier Technologies: Bridging the gap between public and private sectors to ensure the latest technological breakthroughs reach those who benefit most first.
- Community-Driven Models: Strengthening local systems and infrastructure to ensure lasting progress led by and for the communities they serve.
- Decisive Data: Leveraging unconventional data and evidence to enable the rapid decision-making needed to save lives and scale world-changing ideas.
To access the full list of stories, click here. The following snapshots illustrate this work in action:
- Universal Energy Abundance (India, Zambia, Haiti): With Foundation support, the Global Energy Alliance is helping scale India’s first standalone utility-scale battery storage system in New Delhi, which has already helped over 100,000 people access reliable power. In Zambia, households can now use clean, affordable solar power to operate oil presses — producing and selling cooking oil to their communities at a fraction of the cost. In Haiti, 21,000 people gained access to reliable electricity thanks to investments in modular solar mini-grids in the northwest. Together, these innovations provide the reliable power needed to stabilize grids and support livelihoods. Globally, the expected lifetime impact of all deployed and ready-to-deploy Alliance projects includes 91 million people gaining new or improved energy access, 3.1 million people with improved employment and livelihoods, and approximately 296 million tons of carbon emissions prevented.
- Regenerative School Meals (Global): In Makueni County, Kenya, introducing omena fish to school menus through Lattice Aquaculture is helping small-scale producers stabilize food supply chains and improve student nutrition. The Foundation’s partnership with the World Food Programme is helping improve how children eat in Benin, Burundi, Ghana, Honduras, India, and Rwanda, ensuring every plate creates a positive ripple effect, with results showing up where it matters most: in classrooms and communities.
- Food is Medicine (United States): Community Servings delivers over 1 million tailored, medically tailored, home-delivered meals annually to individuals with chronic and critical illnesses in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. As Food is Medicine programs need to be covered by public and private health insurance so eligible people across the U.S. can access them, the American Heart Association’s Food is Medicine initiative supported 28 studies nationwide, including in Alabama, California, Louisiana, New York, Ohio, and Texas, to generate evidence on which Food is Medicine programs are most effective.
- Climate-Smart Tech (Brazil, India, Kenya, United States): FarmerChat, an AI-powered app created by Digital Green, provides real-time, multilingual guidance tailored to a farmer’s specific location and weather conditions. Last year, 83% of women users reported feeling more confident in their farm investments through FarmerChat. With over 1.6 million downloads across six countries, including Brazil, India, and Kenya, FarmerChat has processed over 10 million queries. Across the United States, the Foundation supported investments in our future, advancing clean energy projects in 45 states, covering over 770 counties and 400 towns.
- In Northeast Brazil, Health in Harmony is supporting a women-led alliance of forest guardians to establish nurseries aimed at reversing rainforest deforestation and protecting biodiversity while creating sustainable economic opportunities. As a result, nearly 20,000 community members from nine Indigenous territories received support to protect 2 million hectares of rainforest.
- Innovative Early Health Alerts (Brazil and Colombia): Using innovative data modeling from the Dengue.AI platform, health officials in Cali, Colombia, were able to predict and prevent outbreaks with 93% accuracy, protecting 2.2 million people from mosquito-borne viruses. In Brazil, the Early Warning System for Outbreaks with Pandemic Potential (ÆSOP), developed in collaboration with local health authorities, helped prevent 86 outbreaks from becoming full-blown crises. These real-time interventions are protecting vulnerable populations from climate-sensitive health threats.
- AI for Civic Good (South Africa): The Foundation is investing in digital tools to enhance civic engagement. In Cape Town, South Africa, it is working with the city’s data analytics hub through Turn.io to build the country’s first AI-driven platform for residents to engage with local government in their own language and on their own terms, reaching approximately 100,000 people.
“As The Rockefeller Foundation marks the 60th anniversary of its Africa Regional Office, it reflects a broader shift in development. Against a backdrop of aid cuts, geopolitical tensions and conflict, climate impacts, and political change, progress is increasingly harder to sustain. In this context, there is a growing focus on strengthening Africa’s capacities in health, education, and energy, alongside African-led solutions and leadership, and the role of philanthropic capital. The Foundation’s latest impact report underscores how we are reimagining progress through mission-driven action and partnerships.” ― William Asiko, Senior Vice President and Head, Africa Regional Office, The Rockefeller Foundation
“In 2025, our work in Asia demonstrated that frontier technologies like battery storage and AI-powered farm tools are not just innovations; they are essential lifelines. By reaching nearly 94 million people across the region, we showed how decentralized energy and climate-smart data can secure livelihoods as the global climate becomes more unpredictable.” ― Deepali Khanna, Senior Vice President and Head, Asia Regional Office, The Rockefeller Foundation
“In our first full year of operations for the LAC Regional Office, we prioritized local partnerships and community-driven models to protect both the planet and people across Latin America and the Caribbean. From using AI to predict dengue outbreaks in Cali, Colombia, to reforestation efforts in Maranhão, Brazil, our $59 million investment in the region focused on building local resilience that can withstand global fluctuations.” — Lyana Latorre, Vice President and Head, Latin America and the Caribbean Regional Office, The Rockefeller Foundation
The full 2025 Impact Report is available for digital exploration and download at: impactreport.rockefellerfoundation.org.
About The Rockefeller Foundation
For over 113 years, The Rockefeller Foundation has invested $30 billion to advance human well-being, serving as a pioneering philanthropy built on unlikely partnerships and innovative solutions that deliver measurable results for people in the United States and around the world. We place big bets on energy, food, health, and finance by leveraging scientific breakthroughs, AI, and new technologies. To learn more, subscribe to our newsletter at www.rockefellerfoundation.org/subscribe and follow us on X @ RockefellerFdn, Instagram @ rockefellerfdn, YouTube @ RockefellerFdn, and LinkedIn @ the-rockefeller-foundation.
LessonsLearnedRoundedSquare