Established in 1978 in VT.

In 1919 Mansfield Freeman, with his wife Mary, took a teaching position at Tsinghua University in Beijing, CN. After four years, Mansfield left the Tsinghua faculty to help found the company that would later be known as American International Group (AIG). In 1978, retired from his career at AIG, Mansfield placed a significant portion of his assets in a trust that was to fund a philanthropic foundation upon his death. Its primary mission, he wrote, would be “to strengthen the bonds of friendship between this country and those of the Far East; to develop a greater appreciation of Oriental cultures in this country and a better understanding of American institutions in and purposes on the part of the peoples of East Asia, and to stimulate an exchange of ideas in economic and cultural fields which will help create mutual understanding and thus lessen the danger of such frictions and disagreements as lead to war.” Furthermore, as a child, Mansfield had spent many summers in Vermont where his family had established deep roots, and later made his home there. The mission he set forth for his foundation had a second thrust — the preservation and protection of Vermont’s forests, farmlands, waterways, and natural resources. In 1993, a year after Mansfield’s death, his family carried out his wishes, and the Freeman Foundation was established, with offices in Stowe, Vermont, and New York City. Later Honolulu was added.

At the close of 2008, the market value of the foundation’s assets totaled $276.3 million, 73 percent decrease from the 2007 value ($1 billion).