(Note: The list actually runs to 65. The last eight contributors are tied at $15 million.)
1. JAMES E. JR. and VIRGINIA STOWERS–$327 million to create the INSTITUTE FOR MEDICAL RESEARCH in Kansas City, Mo. James Stowers built the American Century Cos. into one of the nation’s largest families of no-load mutual funds. The Stowers, both cancer survivors, plan to bequeath most of their other assets to the institute. Having pursued an aggressive investment strategy through holdings in American Century, they expect the endowment to eventually grow to many billions of dollars, they told the New York Times. The institute is scheduled to open in January 2000 in a former hospital now being converted into a state-of-the-art research facility. “We’re trying to get the best scientists,” said James Stowers. “We have to convince them we mean business.”
2. MARTHA R. INGRAM–$300 million worth of Ingram Micro stock to VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY (Tenn.) to support athletics, health care, public service, research, and teaching. Ingram succeeded her late husband as chairman of Ingram Industries and is a director of California-based Ingram Micro, the world’s largest wholesale distributor of technology products and services. The Ingram Charitable Fund’s charter dedicates at least 40 percent of its income and assets–valued at more than $300 million at the stock’s current market price–to Vanderbilt. “This gift … is unprecedented in size and stands alongside Cornelius Vanderbilt’s founding gift 125 years ago as a singular landmark in the history of this university,” said Vanderbilt Chancellor Joe B. Wyatt. “Like the founding gift, it is made possible by remarkable vision, creativity, success in American industry, and personal generosity.” The Ingram family has a 50 year association with Vanderbilt University. Ingram’s late husband was a Vanderbilt alumnus, and three of the couple’s four children graduated from the school.
3. DAVID and CHERYL DUFFIELD– a $200 million pledge toward finding a home for every stray or abandoned dog and cat in America. The donation was inspired by the Duffields’ affection for their longtime pet, a miniature schnauzer named Maddie. David Duffield is a co-founder of human resources software maker PeopleSoft. The gift, believed to be the largest ever made to help companion animals, is intended to end the euthanasia of millions of homeless dogs and cats and in the process create a “no-kill nation.” The funding will be disbursed through the recently established Duffield Family Foundation to humane societies and animal shelters across the United States. According to the Chicago Tribune, agencies that within four years reduce to zero the number of adoptable animals that are killed will receive a $1 million bonus. Although officials at humane societies praised the Duffields’ good intentions, some animal welfare experts objected to the project’s reliance on vaguely defined terms like “adoptable” and “no-kill.”
3. KIRK KERKORIAN– a $200 million pledge to benefit the PEOPLE OF ARMENIA from this 81-year-old son of Armenian émigrés. Half the money will be used for an interest-free lending program to benefit entrepreneurs in Armenia and to spur economic development there. The rest will be used primarily for road construction and to rebuild areas harmed by the 1988 earthquake. Most of the money for this gift will come from the Lincy Foundation, Kerkorian’s family foundation (named after his daughters, Linda and Tracy). At a recent dinner, Kerkorian, the billionaire financier and majority owner of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc., was made an honorary Armenian citizen.
3. ALFRED MANN–a total of $200 million: $100 million to the UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA for a bioengineering institute to turn scientific discoveries into useful products and $100 million to the UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT LOS ANGELES to establish a similar institute. Mann is chairman of MiniMed Inc.
6. BILL and MELINDA GATES–a total of $189.57 million: This includes gifts previously listed totaling $57.3 million, plus new gifts of $100 million to the PROGRAM FOR APPROPRIATE TECHNOLOGY IN HEALTH to immunize poor children in developing countries; $20 million to the SEATTLE PUBLIC LIBRARY SYSTEM to expand neighborhood libraries, and to support literacy, English as a second language, and other programs; $2 million to the WOODLAND PARK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY in Seattle for the capital campaign; $1.8 million to the SAVE THE CHILDREN FEDERATION for adolescent reproductive health information and services in Nepal, Bhutan, Malawi, and Vietnam; $1 million to HELEN KELLER INTERNATIONAL to eliminate trachoma-related blindness in Morocco, Tanzania, Ghana, Mali, and Vietnam; approximately $1.7 million to the CENTER FOR DEVELOPMENT AND POPULATION ACTIVITIES in Washington to provide oversight and technical assistance to a Haitian foundation program to provide “women-friendly” reproductive health services; $1.3 million to the INTERNATIONAL PLANNED PARENTHOOD FEDERATION for the FOSREF project to expand the current youth program and to provide reproductive health information, education, and services to young people in five Haitian cities and surrounding areas; and $4.47 million in other grants and gifts.
7. JAMES E. ROGERS–a total of $178.5 million: $130 million to the UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA, $15 million of it for the university and $115 million for the college of law to expand facilities, provide scholarships, add new faculty, strengthen programs, and improve the library. The school has been renamed for Rogers, who received his law degree there in 1962. Also, $20 million to IDAHO STATE UNIVERSITY in Pocatello for unrestricted use, and $28.5 million to the UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA AT LAS VEGAS. Rogers also made smaller gifts this past year to Carroll College, in Helena, Mont., and to the University of Nevada at Reno. He is the owner of Sunbelt Communications, which operates TV stations in five Western states.
8. THE KATHRYN and JOE ALBERTSON FAMILY–a three year pledge of $110 million to PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN IDAHO through the family foundation. Spread evenly over Idaho’s 626 public schools, it would amount to approximately $176,000 per school. The Albertson Foundation, based in Boise, became one of the nation’s top 35 foundations in 1997, when Kathryn Albertson, the widow of the grocery entrepreneur Joe Albertson, donated $660 million in company stock to it. Joe Albertson, who built a grocery chain with stores in 21 states, opened his first Albertson’s store in Boise in the 1930s.
9. JOAN KROC–a total of $105 million: $80 million to San Diego’s SALVATION ARMY, the largest gift received by the organization, to build and operate a community center in east San Diego. The Salvation Army Ray and Joan Kroc Community Center will include softball and soccer fields, an Olympic-size swimming pool, a skating rink, basketball courts, fitness training for every age group, a state-of-the-art computer research library, and a performing and visual arts building including music lesson rooms and rehearsal space. There will also be a 500 seat auditorium, plus banquet facilities. Kroc said she came up with the idea after touring the depressed eastern and southern area of the city with a friend, former San Diego Mayor Maureen O’Connor. She chose the Salvation Army to receive the donation in memory of her late husband, Ray: “I can remember with such personal delight watching Ray in his Santa Claus hat, ringing the Salvation Army’s bell at Christmastime in downtown San Diego. Right now, I’ll bet there’s a lot of bell ringing going on [in heaven], with Ray leading the chorus.” Also, $25 million to the UNIVERSITY OF SAN DIEGO to establish an institute for peace and justice, which will focus on “San Diego’s strategic importance to the Pacific Rim and Latin America.”
Photographs of: Martha R. Ingram courtesy of the Strategy Group; David Duffield © 1997 Lonnie Duka courtesy of PeopleSoft; Kirk Kerkorian by Lee Zaichick/Reuters.
