FOR MOST OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY philanthropic support was driven by private initiative and resulted in the creation of endowments at secondary schools and universities. And while most of this funding went into supporting individual students and professors, some private support was also extended for establishing endowed professorships and research institutes. The provision of funds for the creation of endowed chairs and the founding of entire research institutes picked up speed after 1890 and resulted in the establishment of forty-seven foundations, endowments, and research-supporting associations with a combined capital of 53,270,000 marks by 1914. Among these institutions was the Göttinger Vereinigung zur Förderung der angewandten Physik und Mathematik (Göttingen Association for Applied Physics and Mathematics). Founded in 1898, this association brought together businessmen and scholars. Of its forty-four members as of 1908, eighteen were professors (academic members) and twenty-six were industrialists (supporting members). The supporting members were expected to pay an entrance fee of 5,000 marks and annual fees of 500 marks. The association's endowment is estimated to have reached 1 million marks by 1920. The income from this endowment was used to finance the construction of buildings and to provide salary subsidies for professors and researchers. Another example was the Institut für Krebsforschung (Institute for Cancer Research) in Heidelberg, which was founded in 1903 by the director of the Surgical Hospital in Heidelberg, Vinzenz Czerny. This endeavor resulted, as in the Göttingen case, from the philanthropic activities of a multitude of individuals who contributed the endowment capital. The largest donations came from the editor of the Deutsche Revue in Wiesbaden, Richard Fleischer, who gave 150,000 marks; from the administrator at the University of Bonn, Gustav Ebbinghaus, who also gave 150,000 marks; and from the banker's widow Mathilde von Rothschild in Frankfurt am Main, who donated 100,000 marks. Altogether, 163 donors gave a total of 914,000 marks for this institute by 1912.

The Zeppelin-Stiftung (Zeppelin Foundation) is an exceptional case of private support for a public project because of the national scope of its fundraising efforts, its number of donors, and the socially inclusive nature of the donor roster.