Topic: Issues in Philanthropy
Featured
“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.
A “Constructive and Important Failure”: A Foundation Funds Job Training in the 1970s and 1980s
Prompted by Reagan-era budget cuts, a new program serving low-income single parents receiving public aid failed to meet its constituents’ needs.
From Populist Crusade to Comprehensive Regulation: the Tax Reform Act of 1969
Is private wealth an obstacle to democracy? Fifty years ago, Congress thought so.
Photo Essay: The Rockefellers, National Parks, and Public Lands
The nation’s parks, perhaps our most remarkable public resource, have a history of development through private giving.
Margaret Mead’s Call for Less “Orthodox” Grantmaking
How a famous anthropologist challenged her own funder to take more risks.
Profiles of Women in Philanthropy
In honor of Women’s History Month, we highlight thirteen individuals from our collections to show the range of contributions women have made in the field of philanthropy and in the world at large.
Timeline: A Century of American Philanthropy’s Engagement with Race and Racism
Delving into a century of philanthropic engagement with race, from Reconstruction to the Civil Rights era.
“Highest Standards”: Elite Philanthropy and Literary Black Voices during the Civil Rights Era
Against a backdrop of white, establishment concepts of literary excellence, one foundation struggled to appreciate Black voices.
Photo Essay: Radburn, New Jersey – the Town for the Motor Age
Philanthropy helped architects and planners create a new kind of suburban community in the 1920s.
Timeline: American Foundations and the History of Public Health
Key points in the history of American foundations’ engagement with public health.
Funding a Social Movement: The Ford Foundation and Civil Rights, 1965-1970
A story recounting many accusations, from rigged elections to the meddling of big private money in grassroots organizing.
Early Experiments in Public Broadcasting
The American public broadcast system as it exists today came out of years of work by organized philanthropy.
