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Andrew Carnegie's Vision for Carnegie Corporation
 Andrew Carnegie founded Carnegie Corporation of New York in November 1911, establishing himself as the organization's first President.
At the very first board meeting of the Corporation, Mr. Carnegie read in its entirety his "Deed of Gift" to the new trustees, telling them of the $25 million with which he was endowing the brand new foundation and describing his vision of the purpose and future of the organization.
He envisioned the Corporation as:
An organization that would "promote the advancement and diffusion of knowledge and understanding."
A foundation that would continue to strive towards this mission in perpetuity, so that "even after I pass away the welth1 that came to me to administer as a sacred trust for the good of my fellow men is to continue to benefit humanity for generations untold, under your devoted and sympathetic guidance and that of your successors."
He envisioned the Corporation fulfilling its mission in its early years "by aiding technical schools, institutes of higher lerning (sic), libraries, scientific reserch (sic), hero funds" and "useful publications," but fully understood from this first letter and meeting that:
"Conditions upon the erth inevitably change; hence, no wise man will bind Trustees forever to certain paths, causes or institutions. I disclaim any intention of doing so. On the contrary, I giv my trustees full authority to change policies or causes hitherto aided, from time to time, when this, in their opinion, has become necessary or desirable. They shall best conform to my wishes by using their own judgment."
From the beginning, the Trustees of the Corporation took very seriously the challenge and opportunity with which Andrew Carnegie had presented them.
1 Andrew Carnegie favored a simplified, phonetic form of spelling "the King's English" and pushed unsuccessfully for the adoption of this form throughout the English-speaking world.
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