PHILANTHROPIC ENDOWMENTS The accumulation of great fortunes in the United States and the peculiar appropriateness of benevolence in a democracy have been accompanied by an exceptional development of endowed philanthropies.
Benjamin Franklin (1706-9o) wrote in his will : "Having my self been . . . assisted to set up my business . . . by kind loan of Money . . . which was the foundation of my Fortune, and of all the utility in life that may be ascribed to me, I wish to be useful even after my Death, if possible, in forming and advancing other young men that may be serviceable to their Country." To that end he left ii,000 to the town of Boston and an equal amount to the city of Philadelphia, to be lent at interest to young, married artificers of good character. Estimating that each of these gifts would have increased to £131,000 after ioo years, Franklin re quested the expenditure at that time of L ioo,000 in public works of useful, convenient and agreeable character, and the accumula tion of the remainder for another century, when the whole was to be distributed—one-fourth by the city and three-fourths by the State. In 1891, largely because there had been few borrowers, the Philadelphia accumulation amounted only to $9o,000. Of this, $20,000 was left to accumulate for another century; the remainder, accumulated to $133,000 in 1908, was then added to the endowment of the Franklin Institute, which had been founded in 1824, for the promotion of science and the useful arts. Of the Boston accumulation of $391,000 in 1891, $62,000 was left to accumulate for another century; the remainder, accumulated to $408,000 in 1904, was then used to build the Franklin Union, an industrial school, an equal sum being given for its endowment by Andrew Carnegie.
George Peabody (1795-1869), a merchant and banker, of Danvers, now Peabody, Mass., and later of London, established, among many benevolences, an institute, with a library, art museum and conservatory of music, in Baltimore, Md., in 1859; a Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard college in 1866; an Academy of Science at Salem, Mass., in 1867; and gave 1500,000 for the erection of workmen's dwellings in London in 1864, and $3,000,000 to the Peabody Education Fund in 1867, for "intellectual, moral or industrial education among . . . the Southern and Southwestern states." The fund established and developed public schools until they were taken over by towns and cities ; encouraged rural schools and the development of State systems of public education; and promoted the training of teachers by scholarships, and by founding at Nashville, Tenn., in 1875, the Peabody Normal college, which became in 1913 the George Peabody College for Teachers and received the remaining resources of the Peabody Education Fund at its conclusion in 1914.
Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919) carried out his "Gospel of Wealth" by distributing nine-tenths of his fortune in countless gifts—for 8,000 church organs, 3,000 libraries and Soo universities and colleges. Two-thirds of his total distribution of $350,000,000
went toward the establishment and endowment of eight large, permanent foundations. (For full particulars of these foundations see CARNEGIE TRUSTS.) John D. Rockefeller (1839– ) and John D. Rockefeller, Jr.
(1874– ) have given for philanthropic and charitable purposes more than $550,000,000, together with $45,000,000 to the Uni versity of Chicago. The larger portion of this was given for the establishment and endowment of four large foundations. (For full particulars of these foundations see ROCKEFELLER BENEFAC TIONS.) Other large foundations are: (I) the Milbank Memorial Fund, incorporated in 1905, by Elizabeth Milbank Anderson, with $10,000,000, especially for studies and demonstrations of child welfare, mental hygiene and individual and community health; (2) the Russell Sage Foundation, established in 1907 by Mrs. Russell Sage, with $10,000,000, later increased by $5,000,000, for the improvement of social and living conditions in the United States, especially through the organization of charity, education, recreation, remedial loans, social legislation, and through libraries, research, surveys, statistics, exhibits and publications; (3) the Commonwealth Fund, established in 1918 by Mrs. Stephen V. Harkness, with $38,000,000, "for the welfare of mankind," especially through clinics and demonstrations of child health, guidance and mental hygiene; the training of social workers; rural hospitals; and educational fellowships, research and publica tions; (4) the Juilliard Musical Foundation, of New York, estab lished in 1919 by a bequest of $20,000,000 from Augustus D. Juilliard, for the musical education of gifted students and of the public ; (5) the Duke Endowment, established in 1924, by James B. Duke, with $40,000,000, increased by bequest in 1925, for Duke university, other universities and colleges, hospitals, the building and maintenance of churches, pensions for clergymen, and the care of orphans in North and South Carolina ; (6) the Julius Rosenwald Fund, established in 1912 and amounting in 1928 to $20,000,000, for the health and education of negroes, other backward races and persons of small means, with the proviso that both the principal and interest be expended within 25 years after the death of the donor. Mr. Rosenwald has in addition made large contributions of time and money to other civic, philanthropical educational enterprises, including Y.M.C.A.'s and Y.W.C.A.'s for negroes. More recent endowments for edu cational and other philanthropic foundations have been made by Frank Munsey, Payne Whitney, Milton Hershey and Henry E. Huntington.