Elizabeth Urbanczyk

In 1970, Governor Nelson Rockefeller and the Museum of Primitive Art found themselves at the center of a delicate diplomatic negotiation over an allegedly stolen piece of Mayan art.

Nelson Rockefeller’s personal collection of indigenous art – and the museum he founded to share it – would eventually become a vital addition to the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s “encyclopedic” collection.

In the late 20th century, the Ford Foundation’s attempt to translate microlending methods from Bangladesh to the United States revealed false assumptions about poverty, social context, and individual entrepreneurial spirit that undergirded microlending experiments.

From demonstration farms launched when farming was still unmechanized to confronting climate change in the twenty-first century, American philanthropy has played a key role in shaping and supporting efforts to lift rural communities out of poverty through agriculture.