Major Gifts

Washington University in St. Louis announced on Friday two gifts totaling $25 million to support the construction of a pair of new business buildings.

The school received $15 million from Charles F. Knight and Joanne Knight and $10 million from George Bauer and Carol Bauer through the Bauer Foundation.

The school hopes to start work on the $90 million project next summer if enough additional funding is in place. The two buildings will give the Olin Business School another 166,000 square feet of space when completed in late 2013.

Last October, an emotional Andre Agassi publicly thanked gaming pioneer Kirk Kerkorian for putting food on his family's table decades ago.

Saturday night, the tennis superstar again paid tribute to Kerkorian at the Grand Slam for Children benefit, this time for contributing to Agassi's second family of sorts.

Kerkorian gave $18 million to support the Andre Agassi College Preparatory Academy for at-risk students, a record donation Agassi said will "outlive all of us" as the funds guarantee the Las Vegas charter school's future in perpetuity.

A top Atlantic Canada business leader, warning his region must be internationally competitive, has donated $15-million to Dalhousie University’s school of business.

The gift, the largest donation by a Nova Scotian to the university, comes from Ken Rowe, executive chairman of IMP International Group Inc.

Some of the funds, to be dispersed over the next 10 years, will pay for new entrance scholarships to attract top students and to provide students with financial support to compete in national and international case competitions.

Former steel industry executive, the late William S. Dietrich II, has made plans to award gifts valued at more than $18 million to The Pittsburgh Foundation from his estate. The major share – over $10 million – will be used for grantmaking that addresses critical community needs in the Pittsburgh region.

Dietrich, who passed away earlier this month, has established three funds at the Foundation to support charitable initiatives in the communities of Conneaut Lake, Pa., and Greenville, Pa., as well as the Pittsburgh area.

The Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University launched a free searchable database, the Million Dollar List, that captures 61,461 publicly announced charitable gifts of $1 million or more made since 2000.

The goal of the list is to give a picture of large gifts, including mega gifts of $50 million-plus. You can search by donor, recipient, location, and sector of giving to see trends, or use the advanced search feature. For each individual donor, there’s a list of his or her $1 million-plus gifts.

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum received a gift of $17.2 million from the estate of Eric F. Ross. It is the largest single gift to the institution. Eric and his late wife, Lore, both of whom were refugees from Nazi Germany, donated more than $12 million to the institution during their lifetimes. In total, they have contributed more than $30 million to the Museum.

The University of Pittsburgh announced that well-known and highly respected business leader, investor, author and philanthropist William S. Dietrich II plans to make a gift of a $125 million fund in support of the university. This is the largest individual gift to Pitt in its 225-year history and is one of the 10 largest gifts made by an individual to a public university in the United States. The fund will become operational upon Dietrich’s passing.

Ted Hart speaks with Tom Wilson, vice president and western regional manager of nonprofit consulting firm Campbell & Co., about winning major gifts.

Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) announced a $25 million philanthropic partnership with Bob and Charlee Moore — founders of Milwaukie, Ore.-based Bob's Red Mill Natural Foods — to confront what is widely considered to be the world's greatest contributor to the rise of chronic disease: poor nutrition.

The Moores' $25 million commitment will establish the Bob and Charlee Moore Institute for Nutrition and Wellness at OHSU. Its ambitious aim: to halt the rampant health problems caused by unhealthy eating and inadequate nutrition through cutting-edge research and community outreach.

The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania is pleased to announce a $12 million gift from Bruce Jacobs and Kenneth Levy, classes of 1986 and 1982. The gift will include $10 million to establish the Jacobs Levy Equity Management Center for Quantitative Financial Research and $2 million to fund the Wharton-Jacobs Levy Prize for Quantitative Financial Innovation.