Back in the good old days, America’s robber barons — or captains of industry, if you prefer — left their millions to private foundations that did, well, anything they wanted, the 600-pound gorillas of giving. Steel magnate Andrew Carnegie in 1911 empowered his foundation to focus on education and strive for “real and permanent good.” A few years later, oil baron John D. Rockefeller started by giving money to the Red Cross, then began supporting the sciences, public health and medical education. The Ford Foundation, which got going in 1936, decided to advance human welfare. All colossal, but less than definitive, charitable concepts.
Fast-forward to 2015, and change fever is hitting old money. Call it Gates Foundation envy. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation set big but focused public-health goals, such as developing vaccines for HIV or malaria, and designed programs to achieve them. That approach has infected much of the philanthropic sector. After years of listening to critics, some of the oldest and biggest U.S. philanthropic organizations are paring programs, narrowing their focus and changing the way they give away money. “These are big-deal reorganizations,” says Aaron Dorfman, executive director of the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy, a nonprofit that tries to increase the effectiveness of giving.
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