Support for Teachers
In 1905, Andrew Carnegie established the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. His foremost aim, initially, was to improve the financial security of instructors. In 1907, he prodded the Read more…
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Professionalization of College Management
John Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie were not direct competitors in industry, but in a sense they were in their philanthropy. In many areas, however, they were in close agreement and Read more…
General Education Board
John Rockefeller’s philanthropy long predates his wealth. By the time he made millions he already had years of giving under his belt, mostly to religious and educational causes. Baptist colleges Read more…
Opening Medical Education to Women, and Higher Standards
Born to the president of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, Mary Garrett inherited both wealth and a zeal for philanthropy from her father. He had been a trustee of Johns Read more…
University of Chicago
For decades a faithful Baptist, oilman John Rockefeller Sr. aspired to found a distinguished Baptist university. In 1890 he made his first contribution ($600,000) to establish the University of Chicago Read more…
Toward Collegiality on Campus
The success of Standard Oil produced many fortunes and several great philanthropists—including Stephen Harkness. One of the company’s first investors, he ultimately put much of his wealth toward charitable causes. Read more…
Williamson Free School for Mechanical Trades
Philadelphia merchant Isaiah Williamson was frugal and hardworking, and by the 1880s he was one of the wealthiest men in the commonwealth, with an estimated fortune of $20 million (about Read more…
Gifts to Public Universities
Given the innumerable private colleges created, transformed, or sustained by private giving, it is easy to overlook the role philanthropy has played in the country’s public universities. A large private Read more…
Kamehameha Schools
Bernice Pauahi Bishop, a daughter of Hawaiian royalty, was offered the throne of her Pacific land in 1872 but refused it, preferring to pursue good works through her private means Read more…
Stanford University
Within the circle of elite American schools to which it belongs, Stanford University is unique for being situated in the West. While that may not raise eyebrows today, there was Read more…
Catholic Schooling
The first Catholic school in America was opened in St. Augustine, Florida, in 1606. In New Orleans, the Ursuline Academy opened in 1727 and is still operating today as the Read more…
Sponsoring Low-income Children in Catholic Schools
When Catholic schools serving poor children in New York City were in danger of shutting down for lack of tuition-paying capacity on the part of parents, banker and longtime donor Read more…
Bradley Foundation Puts School Choice on the Map
Education policy doesn’t change overnight; it must be nurtured until its moment arrives. The organization that did most to incubate America’s expanded interest in school choice was the Lynde and Read more…
Hillsdale College Shifts to Private Funding
Founded in Michigan in 1844, Hillsdale College was built up in the early 1850s by hundreds of small private donations after professor and preacher Ransom Dunn rode more than 6,000 Read more…
Educational Excellence Network
In 1982, a dozen or so education scholars devoted to high standards, choices for families, and accountability for schools and teachers met at Columbia Teachers College and resolved to assemble Read more…
Keeping Phonics in the Reading Mix
For reasons that are hard to fathom, phonics (teaching children to understand the relationship between word sounds and various letters or groups of letters) became controversial with “progressives” at many Read more…
“I Have a Dream” Scholarships
Eugene Lang attended the East Harlem elementary school P.S. 121 back in the 1930s. He went on to Swarthmore College on a scholarship, and then Columbia and Brooklyn Polytechnic for Read more…
Olin Brings Law and Economics to Campus
Among the most significant intellectual revolutions of America’s twentieth century is the so-called Law and Economics movement. Pioneered at the University of Chicago, this school of thought has injected market Read more…
Children’s Television Workshop
By the time he endowed the Carnegie Corporation of New York in 1911, Andrew Carnegie had already given away some $43 million and started five charitable organizations. But he was Read more…
Carnegie Seminar on the Coleman Report
In 1966, the federal government published a major investigation into the effectiveness of schools (and how that intersects with race) which came to be known as the Coleman Report. As Read more…