8 | PENTA | December 2020
A
n “overarching theme” for
descendants of John D.
Rockefeller Sr. is that “it’s
your responsibility to do
philanthropy,” says Valerie
Rockefeller, a member of the family’s
fifth generation.
For Valerie, 49, and her brother
Justin, 41, that’s meant philanthropy is
entwined with how they approach just
about everything.
Growing up as two of the four chil-
dren of John D. “Jay” Rockefeller IV, a
former Democratic governor of West
Virginia and a five-term U.S. senator,
“we didn’t see these artificial distinctions
between ‘this is philanthropy and this is
your job,’” Valerie says, noting that her
parents continue to be involved in public
service. Sharon Percy Rockefeller, their
mother, has been CEO of WETA-TV, a
public radio station in Washington, D.C.,
since 1989.
Justin has applied this philanthropic
lens most clearly to capitalism, noting
his work as an impact investor sits at the
intersection of these disciplines, and is
“very much rooted in the work of some
of our ancestors, who frankly had pretty
outsized accomplishments in both.”
Today, Valerie, who was a middle
school special education teacher, serves
as chair of the Rockefeller Brothers
Fund (RBF) and is on the board of
Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors. She
also serves on the boards of Teachers
College, Columbia University (which she
attended), the Gilder Lehrman Institute
of American History, and a couple of
charter school networks. “I spend half
my time in education, although no longer
in the classroom,” she says.
Justin serves on RBF’s investment
committee and on its board. He also chairs
The children of former West Virginia
Sen. Jay Rockefeller on aligning work, investing,
and philanthropy with their values
Valerie and Justin Rockefeller:
Tapping Philanthropy and
Capitalism to Create Change
the board of The ImPact, a 4-year-old
membership organization of families
“who are committed to aligning values
and investments,” Justin says.
In sync with the Giving Pledge—
which was created by Bill and Melinda
Gates and Warren Buffett to encourage
the ultrarich to give most of their wealth
to charity—The ImPact encourages
members to use their investible assets
“to create positive social and environ-
mental change before they pass away,”
he says. The advantage of a group, he
adds, is that “collectively, we can effect
more change.”
Professionally, Justin is global direc-
tor of family offices and foundations at
Addepar, a wealth management tech
platform, that offers tools and resources
for impact investors among its services.
These three aspects of Justin’s life
come together, as the RBF endowment
(which has divested itself of fossil fuels,
and is aligning more of its investments
with its mission) tracks its holdings on
The ImPact’s data platform, which is
powered by Addepar.
“What’s endlessly fascinating about
change-making is trying to pay attention
to what are the most important, intracta-
ble, and neglected problems that are out
there and then thinking about what
levers to pull across philanthropy, capi-
talism, and politics to address those
challenges,” Justin says.
The Rockefeller siblings have drawn
inspiration from their immediate family
and their ancestors, but they have also
benefited from communicating and
collaborating with members of their
extended family, which numbers about
300 in all, “even if we don’t agree on
every detail,” Justin says.
As an example of where they do
agree, and collaborate, Valerie and her
cousins Daniel Growald and Peter Gill
Case, both fifth-generation Rockefellers
as well, are co-chairing BankFWD, an
organization recently formed to push for
responsible climate finance.
While philanthropy itself is ingrained,
a motivating factor for Valerie in fossil
fuel divestment at RBF—and in investing
personally in companies like Solar
Holler, in Shepherdstown, W.Va.—is a
“certain moral heaviness or guilt around
how the money was made,” referring
to her great-great-grandfather’s role in
creating the oil business.
“There are moral consequences to the
ways people earn money, spend money,
donate money, and invest money,” Justin
says. “The more proactively we can
think about how those consequences
align with our values, the more likely we
are to act in a way that reflects our val-
ues, and makes it more likely for people
now and in the future to flourish.”
“ Collectively,
we can
effect more
c h a n g e.”
Justin
Rockefeller
Above: Siblings
Valerie
and Justin
Rockefeller,
descendants
of John D.
Rockefeller Sr. From top: Courtesy of Valerie Rockefeller; Courtesy of Justin Rockefeller
By ABBY SCHULTZ