The difficult art of giving

摘要

The board of John D. Rockefeller's eponymous foundation met for the first time 100 years ago this month, in May 1913. The size and mission of the Rockefeller Foundation were unprecedented. With its initial pot of US$100 million (equal to $2.3 billion today), it aimed to "promote the well-being of mankind throughout the world". Rockefeller focused his philanthropy on health, following the recommendation of his first adviser, Frederick T. Gates. "Disease," said Gates, "is the main source of almost all other human ills, poverty, crime, ignorance, vice, inefficiency, hereditary taint, and many other evils."