- Description
Two stories of philanthropy in the 1940s and 1950s show how the effects of funding can reverberate down the years.In writing for our online storytelling platform, RE:source, I use the archival records of foundations and not-for-profit organisations to bring to light stories that relate to current concerns. In the case of gender and economic inequality – major societal challenges that philanthropy is currently trying to mitigate – two seemingly disparate stories come to mind.The first is the story about a relatively small philanthropic investment in Alfred Kinsey's sexuality research in the 1940s and 1950s.The second, by contrast, is the story of how a staggeringly large amount of funds in the 1950s set out to revolutionise the private sector, professionalising business practice for the greater good.
Alliance Issue: Social movement philanthropy; June 2020, Volume 25, Number 2
