Gifts Roundup: Sandra Bullock, John and Laura Arnold, and Michael and Susan Dell Give to Help Harvey Survivors
September 5, 2017 | Read Time: 3 minutes
A roundup of notable gifts compiled by The Chronicle:
President Trump pledged $1 million for hurricane relief but has not yet named the nonprofits that will receive the money, which is reportedly coming from his personal fortune. He plans to name the charity or charities that will receive the money later this week. His press secretary invited reporters to make suggestions about where the money should go.
Northwell Health
Donald and Barbara Zucker gave $61 million for the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell.
Of the total, $50 million will endow scholarships for students in the medical school, $10 million will endow a program for postdoctoral fellows, and $1 million will back scholarships for students at the Hofstra Northwell School of Graduate Nursing and Physician Assistant Studies.
Mr. Zucker founded the Donald Zucker Company, a New York real-estate developer.
Rebuild Texas Fund
Billionaires Michael and Susan Dell gave $36 million through their foundation to establish the fund to provide immediate aid to survivors of Hurricane Harvey and to raise money from other donors to support recovery efforts.
Mr. Dell founded Dell Technologies. He and his wife were born and raised in Texas and said in statement announcing the gift that the Houston street Mr. Dell grew up on is under water from the storm and that they hope to raise more than $100 million.
University of Notre Dame
Tripp Smith and his wife, Sheila, donated $15 million for the Smith Center for Recreational Sports, a facility in the new Duncan Student Center.
Mr. Smith co-founded of GSO Capital Partners and is a senior managing director of the Blackstone Group. GSO is the credit arm of Blackstone. He graduated from the university in 1987.
York College of Pennsylvania
Bob and Anne Kinsley pledged $5.5-million to establish the Kinsley School of Engineering, Science and Technology.
Mr. Kinsley founded Kinsley Construction, and is a managing partner at Kinsley Equities, a real-estate development firm.
Greater Houston Community Foundation
Houston billionaires John and Laura Arnold gave $5 million to back the organization’s efforts to help survivors of Hurricane Harvey.
Mr. Arnold is the retired founder of Centaurus Advisors, a hedge fund; and Ms. Arnold is a former corporate lawyer. The couple are prolific donors to charity and have appeared on The Chronicle’s annual Philanthropy 50 report every year since 2011. Together they lead the Laura and John Arnold Foundation, a 1.8 billion grant maker.
Ferrum College
Ethelyne Fulcher Daniel left $3.4 million to endow the Daniel Family Endowed Scholarship program and to help pay for the John W. and Ethelyne Fulcher Daniel Field in the W.B. Adams sports stadium.
Ms. Daniel, who died in 2014, graduated from the college in 1943 and was the widow of John Daniel, who founded the John W. Daniel & Company, a construction business.
Rand Corporation
Father and son businessmen Cyrus and Michael Tang donated $3 million through their Cyrus and Michael Tang Foundation to establish the Tang Chair in China Policy Studies.
Cyrus Tang founded Tang Industries, a company with interests in industrial metal, pharmaceuticals, and office furnishings. His son Michael is chief executive of National Material and vice chairman of Tang Industries.
Tuskegee University
Orlando Clark left nearly $1.6 million for endowment and the Dr. Orlando Lawrence Clark Endowed Memorial Scholarship Fund. The scholarship program will assist full-time students enrolled in degree programs leading to biomedical-related careers in biology, chemistry, physics, and psychology.
Dr. Clark earned an undergraduate degree from the university in 1943. He served in World War II and graduated from Howard University’s medical school in 1952. He retired as a commissioned officer of the U.S. Public Health Service and later served as medical director of San Francisco’s International Medical Center. He died in 2014.
American Red Cross
Actress Sandra Bullock gave $1 million to back the organization’s efforts to help survivors of the flooding across Texas and Louisiana after those states were hit last week by Hurricane and later Tropical Storm Harvey.
To learn about other big donations, see our database of gifts of $1 million or more, which is updated throughout the week.
Correction: A previous version of this article said that the $61 million gift from Donald and Barbara Zucker went to Hofstra University instead of the university’s Northwell Health center.