He established the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and funded the building of the Hague Palace of Peace, which houses the World Court, in the Netherlands. By 1911, Carnegie had given away a huge amount of money -- 90 percent of his fortune.
He became a leading philanthropist in the United States and in the British Empire. During the last 18 years of his life, he gave away around $350 million (roughly $5.2 billion in 2020), almost 90 percent of his fortune, to charities, foundations and universities.
Andrew Carnegie formed the Carnegie Corporation of New York in 1911 to give away the $150 million that remained of his fortune. Since then, it has given large grants to the other Carnegie trusts as well as universities, colleges, schools, and educational entities.
$350 millionBy the time of his death, Andrew Carnegie, despite his best efforts, had not been able to give away his entire fortune. He had distributed $350 million, but had $30 million left, which went into the Corporation's endowment. Toward the end of his life, Carnegie, a pacifist, had a single goal: achieving world peace.
He believed in the "Gospel of Wealth," which meant that wealthy people were morally obligated to give their money back to others in society. Carnegie had made some charitable donations before 1901, but after that time, giving his money away became his new occupation.
$480 millionIn 1901, he sold the Carnegie Steel Company to banker John Pierpont Morgan for $480 million.Feb 9, 2021
Barely anything is left of Andrew's fortune, which was once valued on par with the oil tycoon Rockefellers and the banking Morgan family. The 13 fourth-generation members of Andrew Carnegie's lineage now have the self-made wealth of white collar professionals.Jul 8, 2014
From 1901 until his death in 1919, Carnegie distributed $350 million to schools, libraries, colleges and other public works, primarily across the English-speaking world. He believed that the best way to spend what he called "excess wealth" was to put it to long-lasting causes for world peace, art and education.Aug 14, 2018