BYU Center for Animation
Ira Fulton’s mother taught him to give generously from the time he was a child in Arizona. Her hamburger stand never turned anyone away, even if customers couldn’t pay. “They’re Read more…
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Doris Duke Foundation Invests in New Artists
The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation has been a groundbreaker in the growing field of direct philanthropic support to artists—ranging from open-ended gifts to commissioning of specific works. Founded in 1996 Read more…
Ruth Lilly, Patroness of Poetry
Ruth Lilly was a poet herself. She had grown up wealthy, but that wasn’t an advantage as she tried to express herself through verse. For years she sent samples to Read more…
An Art Donation Cubed
Leonard Lauder, for many years CEO of the cosmetics firm Estée Lauder that was founded by his parents, became a disciplined and tightly focused collector of art as his wealth Read more…
New Institutes for Brain Science
In recent years, brain research has been a rising interest among philanthropists. For instance, Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen donated $200 million in 2003 to establish a Seattle-based nonprofit aimed at Read more…
$350 Million for a City Park in Tulsa
Tulsa, Oklahoma, offers a good example of how local philanthropy enriches American lives. This small city has generous individual donors and independent foundations along with a community foundation endowed with Read more…
Archimedes Palimpsest
In 1998, an anonymous billionaire purchased a horribly preserved medieval prayer book at a Christie’s auction for $2 million. The reason for the gaudy price? The battered volume also contained Read more…
Space for Arts Education
The John F. Kennedy Center in Washington, D. C., is the nation’s busiest single performing arts venue, hosting some 2,000 performances annually. For years it has been cramped by its Read more…
Classical Music Popularized in San Francisco
The San Francisco Symphony was the first orchestra to feature radio broadcasts—in 1926, funded by local philanthropists. Almost 80 years later, in 2005, another generation of philanthropists (Evelyn and Walter Read more…
West by Northeast to the Frederic Remington Art Museum
The beloved painter, sculptor, and illustrator Frederic Remington was the progenitor of America’s famed school of cowboy art. Remington was not a westerner, however, but an upstate New Yorker, born Read more…
Columbus Discovers Modern Architecture
Columbus, Indiana, a town of 44,000 people about an hour south of Indianapolis, is one of the world’s greatest troves of contemporary architecture. It is ranked by the American Institute Read more…
Revival of New Orleans Jazz
Art and music lovers Allan and Sandra Jaffe were driving back home to Philadelphia from a Mexico City honeymoon when they decided to make a stop in New Orleans to Read more…
Creating, and Re-creating, Lincoln Center
Lincoln Square in Manhattan was badly blighted in 1955. An informal committee that met to discuss what to do with it quickly elected John Rockefeller III as chairman. Rockefeller and Read more…
Van Cliburn International Piano Competition
Harvey Lavan Cliburn, better known simply as Van Cliburn, shocked the world in 1958 when he traveled to the Soviet Union and won the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow at Read more…
Saving Frank Lloyd Wright Masterpieces
Architectural legend Frank Lloyd Wright designed the house known as Fallingwater for the Edgar Kaufmann family in 1936. The Kaufmanns owned a department store in Pittsburgh. The challenge they gave Read more…
Preservation of Olana
When renowned Hudson River School painter Frederic Church bought his Olana property in 1860, he originally lived there in a small cottage. Following extensive travels in Europe and the Middle Read more…
Ima Hogg and the Houston Arts Scene
Unlike some philanthropists, Ima Hogg’s first challenge wasn’t getting rich—it was getting around her comical name. The daughter of the governor of Texas was part of a high-powered family, and Read more…
A Delicious Collection Donated by Campbell
John Dorrance and William Murphy, chairman and president of Campbell Soup Company, had soup in their blood. Dorrance was the son of the founder of Campbell’s, and Murphy had worked Read more…
Avery Brundage Brings Asian Art to the U.S.
Avery Brundage is perhaps best known for his involvement with the Olympic movement—he was a track-and-field competitor at the 1912 Stockholm games, and led the International Olympic Committee from 1952 Read more…
Carnegie and Public Broadcasting
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…