- Lifestyle
Beast Philanthropy and the Rockefeller Foundation are announcing a strategic partnership to help vulnerable young people around the world
James PollardMonday 24 November 2025 16:31 GMT
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One of America’s most established philanthropic organisations is joining forces with the internet’s biggest content creator in a strategic partnership aimed at inspiring young people to address the world’s most vulnerable populations.
Beast Philanthropy, the charitable arm founded by YouTube sensation Jimmy Donaldson, known as MrBeast, and the Rockefeller Foundation announced their collaboration on Monday.
The initiative seeks to combine Donaldson’s unparalleled ability to capture the attention of young audiences with the Foundation’s 112-year legacy of deploying resources and technology to tackle global challenges.
Speaking ahead of a video shoot at MrBeast’s Greenville, North Carolina, studio, both parties expressed enthusiasm for the complementary strengths they hope to exchange. Donaldson highlighted the Foundation’s extensive experience, stating: "I’ve spent my entire life making YouTube videos. They’ve spent their entire lives helping people. 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."
He added, "I just want to download their brains into our team’s brains."
Dr Rajiv Shah, president of the Rockefeller Foundation, acknowledged that the philanthropic sector has historically struggled to capture "the hearts and minds of hundreds of millions of young people."
open image in galleryJimmy Donaldson, who goes by the online alias MrBeast, arrives at the 11th Breakthrough Prize Ceremony on Saturday, April 5, 2025, in Los Angeles (2025 Invision)He believes MrBeast can be instrumental in engaging this demographic, fostering hope, and making their work more accessible. Shah noted that while most people inherently wish to help, they often perceive global problems as "too big and too complicated" to solve.
He cited MrBeast’s video in Zambia, which showcased the provision of solar-powered electricity and clean water wells to a village, as evidence that "you can change that dramatically."
Shah concluded: "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."
The alliance represents a notable evolution for Donaldson’s sprawling enterprise, which encompasses an entertainment studio, food brands, a book deal, and a recent limited-time theme park in Saudi Arabia.
It is an unexpected pairing for some, contrasting the Rockefeller Foundation’s origins in 19th-century oil wealth with Donaldson’s embodiment of the 21st-century "influencer" economy, where media empires can emerge from viral stunts and online buzz.
Dr Shah admitted that the Rockefeller Foundation rarely engages in corporate partnerships. However, he explained that spending time with Donaldson and his mother, alongside observing his philanthropically-minded videos, convinced him of the YouTube megastar’s "personal commitment to philanthropy" and the "sense of enthusiasm one can experience when you help others."
open image in galleryDr Shah of the Rockefeller Foundation (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)Shah also identified a natural synergy in the MrBeast team’s data-driven approach, which aligns with Rockefeller’s desire for "results-oriented and science-based" philanthropy.
While specific joint grantmaking initiatives are still being finalised, Dr Shah mentioned the Rockefeller Foundation’s long history of combating child hunger, noting Beast Philanthropy’s video on a school meal programme.
Already, the organisations have begun efforts to combat child labour in the cocoa industry. Donaldson’s snack company, Feastables, aims to demonstrate that chocolate production can be profitable without relying on child labour, by ensuring living incomes for farmers and promoting fair-trade practices through his YouTube platform.
The Rockefeller Foundation has consulted MrBeast on "how they should go about the case study," according to Donaldson.
To further this, both organisations plan to visit Ghana early next year to "learn from one another’s work in development, community-led change, and global storytelling."
Donaldson hopes to leverage his influence to inspire youth to "do good and volunteer and donate and care about these projects," while relying on the Rockefeller Foundation to help him achieve greater efficiency and make "real, lasting change," avoiding past mistakes.
