September 18, 2008 | Read Time: 3 minutes
Eli and Edythe L. Broad have announced that they are pledging $400-million to endow the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, in Cambridge, Mass., a biomedical-research center that is jointly run by Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research.
The Broads, who have given more than $1.7-billion in their lifetimes, provided $100-million to start the institute in 2003. Its goal is to bring researchers together from a wide range of disciplines to fight disease and focus on other topics.
Mr. Broad, who made his fortune in the home-building industry, said he and his wife were so impressed with the work that was completed that first year that they decided in 2005 to give an additional $100-million to the institute.
The donation announced this month brings the total the couple has given to the institute to $600-million. That makes the Broad commitment one of the most-generous philanthropic gestures in higher-education history, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education’s list of big gifts.
Experimental Effort
The Broad Institute was established five years ago as an experiment in bringing together scientists from a range of disciplines to focus on research related to cancer, chemical biology, genome sequencing and analysis, infectious diseases, and medical and population genetics, in ways the researchers could not do working on their own.
Before the Broads endowed the institution permanently, the couple and the organizations involved in the fledgling institute wanted to find out if it could advance science in any tangible way.
Now, the Broads say, researchers at the institute have proven the value of the organization’s approach to stimulating collaboration.
In the last four years, scientists at the institute have cataloged genetic variations among individuals and large populations.
They have identified genetic risk factors in autism, bipolar disorder, cardiovascular disease, Crohn’s disease, schizophrenia, Type 2 diabetes, and some cancers. In addition, they have classified human cancers by their genomic alterations and identified the genetic controls that differentiate stem cells, among other successful findings.
“A week doesn’t go by when I don’t see a medical journal or a scientific journal reporting on the activities at the institute or on the work of its scientists,” said Mr. Broad in an interview.
Mr. Broad cautioned, however, that more work lies ahead and said the $400-million is only a fraction of what the Broad Institute will need to continue making strides in biomedical research. He said he is counting on other philanthropists and foundations to “step forward as partners in the next phase of this grand experiment.” He said he hopes the institute will eventually amass $1-billion.
Foundation Support
Some foundations have already answered Mr. Broad’s philanthropic call. The Stanley Medical Research Institute gave the Broad Institute $100-million last year, and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International, the Prostate Cancer Foundation, and the Starr Foundation have all contributed to the institute in recent years.
Mr. Broad said the couple planned to provide $100-million from their foundation right away to follow through on the commitment announced this month. The remaining $300-million will be paid out in coming years.
The Broads are one of the nation’s most philanthropic couples. They have appeared six times on The Chronicle of Philanthropy‘s list of the nation’s most-generous donors since 1998, always ranking in the top 10.
