To mark the 100th anniversary of the Carnegie Corporation, we assembled a symposium of philanthropic leaders. See what this panel of experts has to say about the last century of giving and the next as they answer our two questions. What was the single most daring, audacious, and successful grant of the last 100 years? What grant will people be talking about 100 years from now? Click here to read the full symposium from the Winter 2011 issue.
Don Fisher’s investment in KIPP; John Walton and Ted Forstmann’s generous seeding of the Children’s Scholarship Fund; and the Gates Foundation’s support for development of “common core” academic standards for American schools. The first proved both that schools can succeed dramatically with disadvantaged students—and that such schools can be replicated. The second showed the appetite for, and success of, vouchers in meeting the educational needs of low-income youngsters. And the third is gradually moving the U.S. into the 21st century by establishing shared—and ambitious—academic expectations for schools across the land.
—Chester E. Finn Jr.
President and CEO, Thomas B. Fordham Foundation