Judith Rodin Quotations

This was the invention of modern American philanthropy as we know it. The idea of systematizing giving to achieve human progress was the true innovation of John D. Rockefeller, and ultimately the Rockefeller Foundation's legacy.

There's a lot of work being done through the innovation arm of the World Bank, at the World Bank Institute. There's a lot of work that we at the Rockefeller Foundation are doing and funding towards that end, and increasingly, the U.S. government is getting engaged.

I think all philanthropy invests in product innovation, whether in a vaccine or a new kind of product of one sort or another, and I think we'll all continue to do that.

Impact investing can be a powerful instrument of change.

Expectations have a way of being fulfilled.

Never...stop at the boundaries of what you think your knowledge or training would suggest. If a problem grabs you, run with it and try to understand it from beginning to end, even if that means learning new techniques or developing them yourself.

The key to economic security - to food security in Africa is empowering the women.

Without impact, innovation is just an idea with promise.

Close observation of children at play suggests that they find out about the world in the same way as scientists find out about new phenonoma and test new ideas...during this exploration, all the senses are used to observe and draw conclusions about objects and events through simple, if crude, scientific investigations.

A social impact bond is a new way of bringing financing into social and environmental support issues.

The extraordinary genius of John D. Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie 100 years ago was their recognition that the great wealth they had amassed could be put to public good and used to solve the complex problems for which there were no other sources of capital.

I have been honored and privileged to have led The Rockefeller Foundation for the last seven years, and I am excited to be leading the Foundation as we enter our centennial year.

We must do more and with more urgency to empower women.

It’s necessary but not sufficient to learn and then work. You must learn from the work and learn while you work.

Philanthropy can take the risks that others cannot or will not.