October 8, 1998 | Read Time: 1 minute
Virginia McKnight Binger, a Minnesotan worth $450-million, was a “near miss” on the latest Forbes magazine list of the 400 wealthiest Americans (October 12). Mrs. Binger might have had an easier time making the list were she not so generous.
Mrs. Binger, whose father, a chief executive of 3M, set up the McKnight Foundation, makes gifts to about a hundred charities a year, the magazine says, and also regularly sends money to people throughout her home state. Recently, for instance, she sent $3,000 to the family of a 4-year-old who was maimed by a power lawn mower.
Mrs. Binger, 82, served as chair of the McKnight Foundation, in Minneapolis, for 13 years. In 1987 she handed over the leadership of the foundation to her daughter, Cynthia Boynton, and decided to set up her own philanthropy. The VMB Fund will give out $600,000 this year, the magazine says.
In her grant making, Forbes says, Mrs. Binger looks for ways to help people beyond what foundations can usually do. “She wants to know the human dimension, what impact a project will have on people’s lives,” Jim Storm, a consultant to the fund, told the magazine. Mrs. Binger meets with Mr. Storm every other Friday to decide where to give.
“What makes this woman remarkable is not just that she gives — most wealthy people write checks for charities,” the magazine notes. “What’s remarkable is the pleasure and satisfaction giving gives her.” As an example, the magazine cites the key point she took away from the time she brought a guest speaker from a charity to a garden-club meeting. She was the only one of the 15 women present who made a gift to the charity. Her reaction: ”Lucky me and poor them. They’ve missed a lot in life.”
