February 21, 2011 | AUTHOR: Andrew Hastings
Carnegie Corporation turns 100
In 1911, Andrew Carnegie started the Carnegie Corporation of New York – for “the advancement and diffusion of knowledge and understanding,” with an endowment of $135 million (that amount represented almost a fifth of the federal government's annual budget). Among its accomplishments: the Corporation-funded Gunnar Mydal study of race relations cited in the Supreme Court's 1954 Brown vs. Board of Education decision; studies which led to the formation of both the Brookings Institution and Children's Television Workshop (now Sesame Workshop); the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education, whose work led to the formation of the Federal Pell Grants program; formation of TIAA (now TIAA-CREF) and the Educational Testing Service; and establishment of the Foundation Center, "helping grantseekers succeed, helping grantmakers make a difference.”