Two unusually large donations were announced in recent days, bringing the total in this week’s Chronicle roundup of notable gifts to nearly $2 billion:
Michael & Susan Dell Foundation
Technology mogul Michael Dell and his wife, Susan, gave $1 billion to their charitable fund, which primarily supports economic mobility, health, and urban education and has given several large grants in recent years to the University of Texas at Austin.
Mr. Dell founded what would become Dell Technologies in the 1980s, building a multibillion-dollar fortune in personal computers and other information technology.
Along with announcing the commitment, the couple released a paper titled “A Philanthropist’s Guide to the Future,” a guide to how the foundation will use the new infusion of money.
Hillman Family Foundations
The Pittsburgh financier Henry Hillman left more than $800 million to his family’s network of 18 philanthropies, bringing the total combined value of the foundations to more than $1.2 billion.
Mr. Hillman died in April at age 98. He was chairman of the Hillman Company, a holding company founded in the late 1800s as a coal and coke business by his grandfather, Hartwell Hillman Sr.
Of the total bequest, $700 million will go to the Henry L. Hillman Foundation. The remainder will be directed to funds Mr. Hillman created in the names of his four children and nine grandchildren. More than 90 percent of the foundations’ grant making will benefit the Pittsburgh area.
Maryville College
Dan and Elaine McGill bequeathed roughly $15 million, mostly for financial aid. The couple directed $14 million of the bequest to endow scholarships and $1 million to support the Tennessee campus’s historic Anderson Hall.
Ms. McGill died last year. Mr. McGill, who died in 2013, graduated from Maryville in 1940 with an economic degree and became an expert in the pension industry. He was the Frederick Eckert Professor of Life Insurance at the University of Pennsylvania, chaired the Wharton School’s Insurance Department for 24 years, and served as a consultant to the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve for nearly two decades.
New York Public Library
Katharine Rayner, an heir to the Cox media and communications fortune, gave $15 million to endow and expand the library’s research collections.
The donation establishes the Katharine J. Rayner Fund for Special Collections and will be used to acquire archives, manuscripts, rare books, and maps.
Ms. Rayner is a longtime donor to the library and serves on its Board of Trustees. She has previously made gifts to support its acquisition of Tom Wolfe’s archive and the James Baldwin papers.
Clark University
Businessman Ronald Shaich donated $5 million for scholarships, academic programs, research, and other efforts.
Mr. Shaich founded the Au Bon Pain and Panera Bread chain of bakery-cafés. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Clark in 1976.
Arizona State University
Craig and Barbara Barrett gave $2 million to support travel-abroad programs at Barrett, the Honors College at Arizona State, which the couple endowed in 2000.
The gift will also expand the Barrett Global Fellow program to bring international leaders to the university.
Ms. Barrett is a businesswoman who served as U.S. ambassador to Finland in 2008 and 2009. She also trained as an astronaut, and currently chairs the board of the Aerospace Corporation. She earned bachelor’s, master’s, and law degrees from Arizona State.
Mr. Barrett is a retired CEO of the Intel Corporation, and together the couple own Triple Creek Ranch, a Montana luxury resort.
To learn about other big donations, see our database of gifts of $1 million or more, which is updated throughout the week.
