In today's age of globalization, society is sometimes confronted with an image of the few wealthy against the many poor. However, philanthropy has never been a more popular pastime amongst the super-rich. Has it always been like this? Or have dynastic families taken it upon themselves to hoard their riches to preserve the status of generations to come?
Acts of individual philanthropy on a grand scale have shaped society and defined families throughout the ages. Dynastic families often fostered the idea that a lot of good could come out of people pooling their collective talents together to promote a common cause. In 1830, the French writer Alexis De Tocqueville talked of the American aptitude in forming coalitions in organized charity. He believed that whilst Americans wanted to better themselves, at the heart of this was also an unyielding desire to better the lives of those less fortunate.
John Davidson Rockefeller championed academiaJust one of the families that helped shape America's identity as a nation of givers included the Rockefellers. Top of the family tree was John Davidson Rockefeller. Born in 1839, he was at the forefront of the burgeoning oil empire of America. He built up his company, Standard Oil, later to become part of Exxon Mobil, over a forty year period to become one of the biggest forces in the industry. Some commentators suggested it was as much through bullish monopolistic practices rather than shrewd deal making.
However, one thing which is not disputed is that he spent his last forty years dedicated to philanthropic pursuits, giving away about half his wealth. He was dedicated to the cause of furthering the educational system in the US, starting in 1884 when he provided funding for a college in Atlanta for black women, which was to become known as Spelman college. This was followed by an $80 million grant to the University of Chicago, which morphed a once-small Baptist college into one of the world's most renowned centers of educational excellence.
He went on to help revolutionize the teaching of medicine in the United states when he funded the Rockefeller Institute For Medical Research, later to become the world-renowned Rockefeller University. He also started the Peking Union Medical College, which was instrumental in the war relief effort of 1914-16. Such was his giving capacity that it was suggested, after he had set up the Laura Spelman Foundation in 1918, that he gave away around $500 million in grants and to foundations.
His detractors argued that he purified his ill-gotten gains through these foundations, though one thing is certainly not taken for granted, and that is his legacy exists to this day in modern America.
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