Working in Perpetuity

In Andrew Carnegie’s Letter of Gift, dated November 10, 1911, with which he created Carnegie Corporation, Mr. Carnegie twice stated his intention for his philanthropy to continue in perpetuity through Corporation grantmaking. First, he wrote—using his personal shorthand spelling—“My desire is that the work which I hav been carrying on…shall continue during this and future generations.” Later, in the final paragraph of this brief letter, he expressed his feeling that “My chief happiness as I wrote these lines lies in the thot that even after I pass away, the welth that came to me to administer as a sacred trust for the good of my fellowmen is to continue to benefit humanity for generations untold….” Over the course of a century, the Corporation staff and Trustees have honored Mr. Carnegie’s wishes by building his original endowment of $135 million (the equivalent of just over $3 billion in today’s dollars) in order to support grantees working to advance the foundation’s mission of promoting the advancement and diffusion of knowledge and understanding. As a result of this commitment, during its 100-year history, the Corporation has made grants of more than $2 billion. In the last decade alone, our grants have totaled almost $1 billion.  As of the end of our last fiscal year, September 30, 2010, our endowment was $2.5 billion. Today, the Corporation makes nearly $100 million in grants every year.