Big Oil's Foundation/PBS Links

by bob feldman
9 December 2002

Some of the profits that San Francisco-based Chevron Texaco has made during the last ten years has gone to PBS's Washington, D.C. outlet, WETA-TV. In 1992, for instance, a foundation grant of over $2.4 million was given to WETA-TV by Chevron to fund PBSıs National Geographic Specials. That same year Chevronıs foundation also gave money to the following other ³non-profit² organizations:

  • Stanford University was given 3 grants, totaling $455,000, by Chevron
  • University of California-Berkeley was given 2 grants, totaling $217,000 by Chevron
  • The American Enterprise Institute For Public Policy Research in Washington, D.C. was given a $70,000 grant by Chevron
  • The Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C. was given a $60,000 grant by Chevron
  • The National Council of La Raza in Washington, D.C. was given a $65,000 grant by Chevron
  • The NAACP in New York City was given a $55,000 grant by Chevron

Among the ³non-profit² organizations who received foundation grants from Chevron two years later, in 1994, were the following:

  • San Franciscoıs KQED/Channel 2, which was given a $152,000 grant by Chevronıs foundation
  • The San Francisco Opera Association, which was given an $86,000 grant by Chevronıs foundation
  • The African American Institute in New York City, which was given a $90,000 grant by Chevronıs foundation
  • The American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, which was given another $70,000 grant by Chevronıs foundation
  • Stanford University, which given 4 grants, totalling $495,000, by Chevronı s foundation
  • University of California at Berkeley, which was given a $342,000 grant by Chevronıs foundation
  • The Hoover Institute On War, Peace and Revolution in Stanford, California, which was given a $120,000 grant by Chevronıs foundation
  • The Center for Strategic and International Studies in D.C., which was given another $100,000 in tax-exempt money by Chevronıs foundation

Although the assets of Chevronıs foundation exceeded $34.3 million in 1995, it only gave $21.7 million away during that same year‹despite the fact that Chevron made a $930 million profit.

ChevronTexacoıs foundation is not the only foundation that gets its grant distribution money from a business involvement in the oil industry. The MacArthur Foundationıs $2 billion-plus corporate stock portfolio included at least $31 million in oil company stock a few years ago. The Sister Fundıs assets are derived from Hunt Oil, a firm which sometimes competes with Chevron in the marketing of Middle East and African oil. And, as long ago as 1973, The American Oil Industry: A Failure of Anti-Trust Policy pointed out the following about the relation between large U.S. foundations and the oil industry:

³Some of the largest foundations in the country have been established with oil money. A foundation can be both a means of retaining control and seeking favorable tax treatment.

³Of the first 30 largest foundations in the United States in asset rank, seven have major holdings in oil company stocks and are associated with oil company founders. The three largest in terms of the market value of assets are the Rockefeller Foundation with $831 million, the Mellon Foundation with some $668 million and the Pew Memorial Trust with $367 million in 1971.

³An examination of these foundation assets reveals a known truth‹that the Rockefeller and Mellon families are the sources of great wealth deriving from the oil industry. If the assets of the Rockefeller Foundation and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund are added together they total approximately $1 billion. Similarly, if the assets of the Andrew Mellon Foundation, the Richard King Mellon Foundation, and the Scaife (Sarah Mellon) Foundation are combined, they too total in the neighborhood of $1 billion.”

In 1972, when Chevron went under the name of Standard Oil of California, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund owned $8.9 million worth of stock in this company; and the Commonwealth Fund owned $11.1 million worth of Standard Oil of California/Chevron stock. The president and CEO of the WETA-TV station which received $2.4 million from Chevron in 1992 was PBS Director Sharon Rockefeller.

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