Decade: 1960s
In Brief: James Baldwin’s Creative Writer’s Fellowship
How a foundation provided the final ingredient to an era-defining novel.
Ted Watkins and the Rockefeller Foundation: An Unlikely Partnership
How a charismatic community activist from Watts challenged a foundation’s civil rights strategy through a jobs training program.
Photo Essay: Mexico and the Launch of the Green Revolution
One foundation’s program in Mexico created the blueprint for ending hunger worldwide.
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.
The Origins of the Rockefeller Foundation Equal Opportunity Program
How a simple grant request seeded the launch of a full program addressing inequality.
The Rockefeller Brothers Fund Supports Modern Environmentalism
Environmental education was once an unusual idea. The Audubon Society changed that and became the household name it is today.
A Hand in Urban Design: Rockefeller Foundation Support for Renowned Urbanist Jane Jacobs and New York’s Lincoln Center
One small grant gave enduring voice to one of the most famous critiques of postwar urban renewal, while another huge grant went to an opposing cause.
The Rockefeller and Ford Foundations Navigate Civil War in Nigeria
What happened to a massive agricultural development program when war broke out?
The Birth of the Modern MBA
Why would an American foundation transform the field of business education?
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.