US: The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace was founded in 1910 with a gift of $10 million from Andrew Carnegie, the Scottish-born US philanthropist and former Pittsburgh steel magnate, then aged 75.
Carnegie's family moved to America when he was 13, at which time he started work in a cotton mill. By the time he was 30, Carnegie was running his own businesses, which he eventually sold when he was 65 to JP Morgan for $480 million.
A strong believer in education, the value of free public libraries - several in Ireland still bear his name - and world peace ("I am drawn more to this cause than to any," he wrote in 1907), Carnegie was also determined to give away his fortune. He believed that all personal wealth beyond that required to supply the needs of one's family should be regarded as a trust fund to be administered for the benefit of the community.
The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace describes itself as a private, non-profit organisation dedicated to advancing co-operation between nations and promoting active international engagement by the US.
"Through research, publishing, convening, and on occasion, creating new institutions and international networks, Endowment associates shape fresh policy approaches," says the organisation. Their interests span geographic regions and the relations among governments, business, international organisations and civil society, focusing on the economic, political, and technological forces driving global change.
The Endowment's first two presidents, Elihu Root and Nicholas Murray Butler, were separately awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace. The Endowment also published the prestigious Foreign Policy magazine. A full explanation of the Endowment, together with its publications, may be had at http://www.ceip.org/