Carnegie Corporation of New York
The Carnegie Corporation of New York is a philanthropic fund established by Andrew Carnegie in 1911 to support education programs across the United States, and later the world.[2]
"Carnegie Scholar" redirects here. For the Scottish scholarship, see Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland § Carnegie Scholarships.Formation
June 9, 1911
13-1628151
To promote the advancement and diffusion of knowledge and understanding
437 Madison Avenue, New York City, U.S.
Global
$602 million[1]
$186 million[1]
$4.1 billion[1]
Since its founding, the Carnegie Corporation has endowed or otherwise helped establish institutions including the United States National Research Council, Harvard University's Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies (formerly known as the Russian Research Center),[3] the Carnegie libraries, the University of Chicago Graduate Library School, and the Children's Television Workshop (now Sesame Workshop). It also has funded the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (CEIP), the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching (CFAT), and the Carnegie Institution for Science (CIS).
According to OECD, Carnegie Corporation of New York's financing for 2019 development increased by 27% to US$24 million.[4]
Carnegie Corporation of New York's president is Louise Richardson and the chairman of its board of trustees is Thomas Kean.
History[edit]
Founding and early years[edit]
By 1911, Andrew Carnegie had endowed five organizations in the United States and three in the United Kingdom, and given more than $43 million to build public libraries and given another almost $110 million elsewhere. But ten years after he sold the Carnegie Steel Company, more than $150 million remained in his accounts and at 76, he wearied of philanthropic choices. Long-time friend Elihu Root suggested he establish a trust. Carnegie transferred most of his remaining fortune into it, and made the trust responsible for distributing his wealth after he died. Carnegie's previous charitable giving had used conventional organizational structures, but he chose a corporation as the structure for his last and largest trust. Chartered by the State of New York as the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the corporation's capital fund, originally worth about $135 million, had a market value of $1.55 billion on March 31, 1999.
In 1911–1912, Carnegie gave the corporation $125 million. At that time the corporation was the largest single philanthropic charitable trust ever established. He also made it a residual legatee under his will so it therefore received an additional $10 million, the remainder of his estate after had paid his other bequests. Carnegie reserved a portion of the corporation's assets for philanthropy in Canada and the then-British Colonies, an allocation first referred to as the Special Fund, then the British Dominions and Colonies Fund, and later the Commonwealth Program. Charter amendments have allowed the corporation to use 7.4 percent of its income in countries that are or once were members of the British Commonwealth.[5]
In its early years, Carnegie served as both president and trustee. His private secretary James Bertram and his financial agent, Robert A. Franks, acted as trustees as well and, respectively, corporation secretary and treasurer. This first executive committee made most of the funding decisions. Other seats on the board were held ex officio by presidents of five previously established US Carnegie organizations: