True breakthroughs don’t happen in isolation. The solutions that alter the course of things, transform the way we approach long-standing challenges, and reshape what is possible begin by bringing people together. When people, united by a common purpose, share their diverse perspectives, forge joint solutions, and combine their resources, the world can change.
Convening is at the heart of The Rockefeller Foundation’s work. For more than 60 years, leaders and innovators have gathered at The Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Center to spark dialogue, action, and transformative change. By bringing together diverse voices and perspectives, convenings at the Bellagio Center have forged critical partnerships, built world-changing strategies, and inspired the development of new solutions to the planet’s most pressing challenges.
In this issue, we share perspectives on four Bellagio Center convenings that led to transformative change in health, food, financing, and power systems, creating impact that reverberates to this day. A pioneering collaboration that has led to the vaccination of more than a billion people. A gathering of scientists, governments, and philanthropy that reshaped global agriculture and supported safe, sustainable, and healthy food all over the world. A gathering of foundations, investors, and nonprofits that helped spark the $1.6 trillion+ impact investing movement. And a convening that launched an innovative coalition working to end energy poverty and bring clean, green power to a billion people across the globe.
Covering different issues and time periods, each convening represents a vital breakthrough, one that could only be accomplished by uniting the efforts of engaged stakeholders under a banner of collective action. To Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN) founder Antony Bugg-Levine, these types of convenings are a form of transformation, “People discover their affinity and alignment, galvanizing them into a movement.”
