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Rachel Wimpee

Rachel Wimpee is Associate Director for Research & Engagement at the Rockefeller Archive Center. She holds an interdisciplinary PhD in French literature and French studies, with research interests in gender, cultural representation, and the role private giving plays in social change.

Related Articles

1940s 1950s

Funding a Sexual Revolution: The Kinsey Reports

The inside story of the study that first questioned binary sexuality and spurred outcry and controversy.

1910s 20th Century

“Investment Philanthropy” Investing for Social Good, a Century Ago

An early twentieth-century foundation tried using its endowment to support for-profit projects that also would achieve a social goal.

1960s 1970s

Photo Essay: Supporting Minority Enterprise in the late 1960s

In 1968, the Ford Foundation began to make social investments using a new tool borrowed from the for-profit world, the Program-Related Investment.

1980s

In Brief: The West Africa Museums Programme

The staying power of a massive preservation project thanks to a focus on museum staff and museums’ communities.

Nine students listen to a lecture in a lecture hall. A female student raises her hand.
1950s 1960s

The Birth of the Modern MBA

Why would an American foundation transform the field of business education?

1970s

Ping-Pong Diplomacy: NGOs and International Relations

When a friendly interaction unexpectedly emerged between American and Chinese table tennis players, one nonprofit seized the opportunity to support broader cultural diplomacy.

Elementary children of diverse ethnic backgrounds get ready to go inside their school, two hold hands
1950s 1960s

Can Data Drive Social Change? Tackling School Segregation with Numbers

In the years before Brown v. Board, a philanthropic fund hoped research and data would turn the tide on attitudes toward segregation.

1910s

Timeline: Philanthropy and World War I

The onset of World War I created new demands on American foundations and donors.

Black and white image of local residents sitting around a large table discussing the start-up capital for Progress Plaza.
1960s 20th Century

Supporting Economic Justice? The Ford Foundation’s 1968 Experiment in Program Related Investments

How the largest US foundation began supporting market-based projects in the late 1960s.