Which company's wealth from oil helped establish the Rockefeller Foundation?

Standard Oil’s wealth helped establish the Rockefeller Foundation. John D. Rockefeller built his fortune through Standard Oil, the oil company he co-founded in 1870 and later controlled as it became one of America’s most powerful industrial enterprises.

The foundation was chartered in New York on May 14, 1913, by Rockefeller, his son John D. Rockefeller Jr., and adviser Frederick Taylor Gates. It was created to support large-scale work in public health, medical research, education, and the arts rather than simply make individual charitable gifts.

A common mix-up is confusing Standard Oil with later oil companies such as ExxonMobil or Chevron. Standard Oil was broken up after a 1911 U.S. Supreme Court antitrust ruling; several successor companies eventually became part of today’s major oil industry. The Rockefeller Foundation itself was a philanthropic institution funded by the family’s immense Standard Oil fortune.