Rockefeller Donates His Fortune to Charity
History Daily
History Daily
4.4 • 2.5K Ratings
🗓️ 3 March 2025
⏱️ 22 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
March 3, 1910. John D. Rockefeller commits to donating the bulk of his fortune to charitable causes, which leads to the establishment of the Rockefeller Foundation and makes John one of the biggest philanthropists in American history. This episode originally aired in 2023.
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Transcript
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| 0:30.6 | It's a cold fall morning in 1854 at the Erie Street Baptist Mission Church in Cleveland, Ohio. |
| 0:37.1 | A 15-year-old boy strikes a match and lights several candles sitting in sconces hanging on the wall. Then he grabs a fire |
| 0:39.5 | poker and shifts the wood burning in the small fireplace at the front of the church. The boy and his |
| 0:44.8 | family haven't been in Cleveland long, but already he's found a home at this small Baptist church |
| 0:49.7 | where he serves as a volunteer. This morning, the boy's getting the chapel ready for his |
| 0:54.1 | favorite weekly event, the Sunday service.. This morning, the boy is getting the chapel ready for his favorite weekly event, |
| 0:55.5 | the Sunday service. |
| 0:57.1 | Excitedly, the boy walks to the front door, |
| 1:01.5 | pushes it open, and steps outside where members of the church are gathered. |
| 1:05.4 | Then he rings the small bell hanging above the entrance. |
| 1:09.0 | The congregants begin to file inside, greeting the boy as they |
| 1:12.0 | pass. Once everyone is settled, the boy finds a spot in one of the front pews eager for the service |
| 1:18.5 | to begin. But as the pastor takes the altar, the boy's excitement turns to despair. The pastor |
| 1:25.7 | announces that the church is in dire financial straits. |
| 1:29.3 | He says that if they can't come up with $2,000 soon, he'll be forced to close its doors. |
| 1:35.4 | So getting to his feet, he reaches into his jacket pocket and pulls out a pen and paper. |
| 1:40.0 | He moves to the back of the church, slipping through the congregation before they leave. |
| 1:44.8 | Then as the churchgoers do begin to file out, he announces that he's coordinating a fundraising |
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