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Is the level as well as the first giver--who the donor is--equally important, or not?
No, it's the level. If the first donor also happens to be prominent, really connected, clearly setting an example, that's all for the good.
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Today is March 13, 1987. This is Jessica Holland with Andrew Heiskell.
That's all to the good. Obviously in our case, Mrs. Astor was the person who would set the level for good, or for bad, i.e. if she ended up by giving two million, then everybody else would give proportionately and you could probably forget the thing. On the other hand if she gave eight, ten, or twelve then all the others would come up proportionately.
Well it was a long, arduous courtship. Not that she didn't want to give--on the contrary she did, and she knew she had to. But, her foundation had already given so much money away that if she made a very big gift, it would be the last sizable gift that she would make. So we would talk to her as sweetly as possible.
Who's we?
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