New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, seen here in 1965, was made possible largely through the generosity of Brooke Astor. Credit: H. William Tetlow/Hulton Archive/Getty Images hide caption
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Credit: H. William Tetlow/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Brooke Astor. Her name even sounds rich. And she was. She donated nearly $200 million over a 38-year period, and it was that generosity, more than her social status among New York's elite, that earned her international headlines when she died recently at 105.
She liked to quote playwright Thorton Wilder, who wrote, "Money is like manure. It should be spread around." Her real estate mogul husband left her in charge of a new $60 million foundation "for the alleviation of human suffering" and told her, "You'll have fun, Pookie." And she did.
Her gifts helped build the beautiful Metropolitan Museum of Art and help the Coalition for the Homeless deal with ugly realities some people face.
But Mrs. Astor didn't just sign checks. It was her mission to visit any place she gifted. Her donation was considered a seal of approval for other big guns to open their wallets.
Here at the BPP we got to wondering, who could be the 21st century's Brooke Astor?
There are the obvious contenders: Bill and Melinda Gates (through their foundation) and Oprah Winfrey (through her Leadership Academy for girls).
But here are some lesser-known but equally as generous folks, according to 2006 giving tracked by Philanthropy.com:
- The founder of eBay, 39-year-old Pierre Omidyar, and his wife Pam, gave $66.7 million to HopeLab in California, which searches for technology to help chronically ill children.
- In Texas, 78-year-old oil man T. Boone Pickens, founder of Mesa Petroleum and BP Capital Management, put up $135 million last year to start a foundation to help health and medical research and to promote conservation and wildlife management.
- Ted and Vada Stanley have pledged $72 million for research of schizophrenia and bipolarity. The money will go to the Stanley Medical Research Institute in Chevy Chase, MD. Mr. Stanley founded a company called MBI that markets collectibles.
- Finally, the guy in charge of America's cash has some cash of his own. Henry Paulson, the current Secretary of the Treasury, used to run Goldman Sachs. He gave $100 million to the Goldman Sachs Philanthropy Fund and Bobolink, a foundation he started to
to make grants to educational, environmental, and conservation groups.
Feeling a little out of your league? Don't have enough "manure" to spread around your yard, let alone your hometown? Check back tomorrow for a much less expensive way to make the world a little bit better.
