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Spelman Fund of New York (1928–1949)

Total Assets (endowment): $10,000,000[1]

Prominent Grants: Provided grants to numerous agencies concerned with public administration, the most important being the Public Administration Clearing House at the University of Chicago and the Public Administration Service also at Chicago[2].

Summary: The Spelman Fund of New York was created in 1929 when the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial was consolidated with the Rockefeller Foundation. The Memorial made a final grant of $10,000,000 to establish the Spelman Fund of New York. The Spelman Fund, an independently incorporated board, administered appropriations in child study, parent education, and interracial education. The Fund’s mission was for “charitable, scientific and educational purposes, including the advancement and diffusion of knowledge concerning child life, the improvement of inter-racial relations, and cooperation with public agencies.”

The Fund continued to support some agencies previously supported by the Memorial for the duration of the particular grant, but the Fund’s main program was in public administration and intergovernmental relations. Programs were designed to improve technical knowledge, promote exchange of knowledge and experiance, and discover improved methods of organization. Receiving periodic grants from the Rockefeller Foundation, the Spelman Fund built on the Memorial’s public administration program until 1949, when it was dissolved.