What happens when the biggest YouTuber in the world partners with one of America’s most prominent philanthropic organizations?
MrBeast is about to find out.
He and his 501(c)(3) Beast Philanthropy have snagged a rare partnership with the Rockefeller Foundation, which was founded by oil tycoon John D. Rockefeller in 1913. Their shared goal? To lean on each other’s strengths: MrBeast can engage hundreds of millions of viewers (especially young viewers) around the world, and the Foundation has 112 years of experience deploying billions of dollars to make tangible differences in areas like food insecurity, public health, climate change, and workers’ rights.
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“I’ve spent my entire life making YouTube videos. They’ve spent their entire lives helping people,” MrBeast (aka Jimmy Donaldson) told The Associated Press. “Obviously, they have a team who’s way more experienced than me in helping people, but being able to pull on their knowledge and wisdom is amazing.”
Meanwhile, Rockefeller Foundation President Dr. Rajiv Shah added that historically, philanthropic organizations have struggled to capture “the hearts and minds of millions of young people.”
But MrBeast is doing that on YouTube. He’s raised millions from viewers (and corporations) with major campaigns like #TeamTrees and #TeamSeas, and gets hundreds of millions of views on videos where he does things like pay for healthcare procedures and build wells and solar infrastructure.
Shah acknowledged those videos (as well as personally meeting Donaldson and his mother) pushed Rockefeller Foundation to work with Beast Philanthropy–a teamup that breaks the foundation’s longtime practice of not doing partnerships with outside organizations or companies. He also pointed to the interaction between Donaldson and his fans.
“What Jimmy’s already done is show that you can change [involvement in charity] dramatically,” Shah said. “If we can get people believing that they can make a difference through this collaboration, we will have achieved something really unique and really special.”
He praised Donaldson’s “personal commitment to philanthropy,” and said he expects that, plus the YouTuber’s notorious obsession with analytics, to pair well with the Rockefeller Foundation’s “results-oriented and science-based” approach to charity.
“We bring innovation, a sense of purpose and a deep commitment to measuring results to those efforts,” Shah said. “And, over time, it’s literally helped hundreds of millions of people escape poverty, hunger and disease. I just think Jimmy, and the enterprise he’s built and the perspective that he brings, is totally consistent with that.”
The Rockefeller Foundation currently distributes funds through hundreds of grants across numerous humanitarian needs. Where Beast Philanthropy will fit into this pipeline isn’t yet clear, but Shah noted to the AP that both the Rockefeller Foundation and Beast Philanthropy have worked on combating child hunger.
They did announce they plan to further Feastables’ fair-trade commitment to fighting child labor in the cacao industry. MrBeast’s chocolate company launched with the intention of using zero child labor and paying farmers a living wage, and with the Rockefeller Foundation, it plans to conduct a case study in Ghana in early 2026.
The orgs say they hope the study will help them “learn from one another’s work in development, community-led change, and global storytelling.”
From Shah’s comments, it’s clear the Rockefeller Foundation is expecting to get a lot out of this partnership, and is looking to Donaldson as its link to younger, more online generations who are outside the demographic (and outside the price range) for dinners, galas, and silent auctions.
