From my latest piece from The Free Press:

A lot of America’s most effective giving was done by the early “robber barons,” such as Carnegie, Mellon, and Rockefeller. Andrew Carnegie, for instance, helped to create what is now Carnegie-Mellon University, and Carnegie libraries to this day dot the country and encourage literacy and reading. The Mellon and Rockefeller art collections seeded some of America’s highest quality museums.

None of this was done with any kind of pledge. Those great 19th-century industrialists pursued high-quality philanthropic opportunities when they saw them, unencumbered by today’s massive foundation staffs. If a town wanted to set up a Carnegie library, they had to meet some standard criteria, and they started by sending a letter to Carnegie’s private secretary, James Bertram. The Carnegie Corporation, which in later years led much of the philanthropy, had mainly clerical staff and did not have a full-time salaried president until after Carnegie’s death. It remains to be seen whether today’s philanthropists, including the ones who signed the Giving Pledge, will do as well.

There is much more at the link.