The Harkness Family
In 1918, Anna Harkness founded The Commonwealth Fund with the mandate that it should "do something for the welfare of mankind." Among the first women to establish a foundation, Anna initially endowed her new philanthropic enterprise with a gift of nearly $10 million. Anna Harkness was the widow of Stephen V. Harkness, one of the three founders of the Standard Oil Company. Through additional gifts and bequests by Edward S. Harkness (son of Anna and Stephen) and his wife Mary Stillman Harkness between 1918 and 1959, the Harkness family's total contribution to the Fund's endowment amounted to more than $53 million. At the time of the addition of the final Harkness bequest to the endowment in 1959, its market value was $120 million, or $882 million in 2008 dollars. Edward Harkness was president of the Fund from its founding until his death in 1940 and established the foundation's operating model as a value-added grantmaking and research-based organization using a professional staff to improve the performance of the U.S. health care system.
Jean and Harvey Picker
In 1986, Jean and Harvey Picker joined the $15 million assets of the James Picker Foundation with The Commonwealth Fund 's $217 million endowment . James Picker, a prime contributor to the development of the American radiologic profession, had founded the Picker X-ray Corporation, an industry leader in its field. Recognizing the challenges faced by a small foundation, the Pickers chose the Fund as an institution with a common interest in improving health care and a record of effective grantmaking, management, and leadership. The Commonwealth Fund strives to do justice to the philosophy and standards of the Picker family by shaping programs that further the cause of good care and healthy lives for all Americans. (A video tribute to Harvey Picker, produced by the Picker Foundation, is available on the Fund Web site.)
Health Services Improvement Fund
In April 1996, the Fund received a $1.7 million contribution from the Health Services Improvement Fund with a commitment to use these funds to improve health care coverage, access, and quality in the New York City greater metropolitan region.
Frances Cooke Macgregor
Frances Cooke Macgregor began giving small gifts to the Fund in 1999 to support work on iatrogenic medicine issues. In her 2002 bequest to the Fund, she added $3.1 million to the endowment to help support projects that aim to reduce medical errors and improve patient safety.
A pioneer in the fields of medical sociology and medical anthropology, Ms. Macgregor was an expert on the psychological and sociological effects of facial disfigurement. She became interested in this issue during the 1940s, when she encountered patients disfigured by cancer and pilots whose faces had been shattered or burned during World War II.
Floriana Hogan
In March 2009, The Commonwealth Fund received an unanticipated bequest of $100,000 from the estate of Ms. Floriana Hogan of Boca Raton, Florida. Ms. Hogan was an educator and her husband was a physician. They resided in Massachusetts prior to their retirement and admired the Fund's work to advance a high performance U.S. health system. The funds will be added to the foundation's endowment.
Other Donors
While The Commonwealth Fund does not solicit funds, it has received periodic smaller gifts from individuals over the years, including shares of royalties received from books published by former grantees.