On this date in Black History: The Peabody Fund

February 6th 1867…

The Peabody Fund was established. The Peabody Fund provided monies for construction, endowments, scholarships, teacher and industrial education for newly freed slaves.

It is considered by scholars to be one of the first truly modern philanthropies because of the way it went about giving its capital. The Peabody trustees devised a system of self-help by which the Foundation would provide challenge grants to local communities. Thus, the relatively meager return on the Fund’s principal could be leveraged. Help would be targeted strategically. The Fund would seek locations where there were sufficient numbers of students and cooperative public officials who would combine the relatively small grant with tax money to build the school.

George Peabody is considered to be the father of modern philanthropy. His aims were to improve society, promote education, and provide the poor with the means to help themselves.

(Source–African American Registry)