Commonwealth Fund.

The Commonwealth Fund was established in 1918 with an endowment of ten million dollars from Mrs. Stephen V. Harkness (nee Anna M. Richardson).Its charter was broad: "to do something for the welfare of mankind." TheFund's earliest activities were directed towards supporting the American Relief Administration in its post-war program of civilian relief in Austria and Eastern Europe. Edward Harkness, who led the Fund from 1918 to 1940, encouraged the development of programs in child welfare, child guidance (a term coined by the Fund), and public health. These included the Program for the Prevention of Juvenile Delinquency (1921-27); child health programs in rural communities; and the Rural Hospitals program (1926-49).During the 1930s, the Fund turned its attention to the support of medicalresearch and medical education, instituting the Commonwealth Fund Fellowsin Medicine program (1938). Medical education remained the focus of Fundgiving during and after World War II and came to embrace support for minority physicians. Experimental projects during the 1960s and 1970s included the Harvard Community Health Plan and hospice care in New Haven, Connecticut. Today, the Fund's programs support projects in five areas: the elderly; health care services; youth; minority health; and healthy lifestyles. Presidents of the Commonwealth Fund since 1918 have been: Edward Harkness (1918-40); Malcolm P. Aldrich (1940-50); J. Quigg Newton, Jr. (1963-75); Carleton B. Chapman (1975-80); and Margaret E. Mahoney (1980- ).