The National Trust for Historic Preservation

The National Trust for Historic Preservation (NTHP), chartered by Congress as a private organization in 1949, entered a new phase of public responsibility with the passage of the 1966 National Historical Preservation Act, which directed federal funding to it. At the same time, growing awareness of the value of historic places placed new demands on the NTHP, as did the mid-century boom in urban and suburban construction. To increase its programs, the organization needed to raise private funds. In 1968, the RBF made a $500,000 grant to the NTHP, the largest received for general purposes by the Trust since its 1949 inception. The grant enabled the Trust to expand its professional staff and increase its consultative services to local preservation groups. In the 1990s, the Trust partnered with the Fund to open the Pocantico Historic Area at the Rockefeller Estate in Westchester County, New York for publicly beneficial purposes.