February 10, 2000 | Read Time: 1 minute
Michael Dell, founder of the Dell Computer Corporation, and his wife, Susan, have contributed $114-million worth of stock to establish a charitable foundation.
The existence of the new philanthropy, the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation, came to light when the foundation sold 2.7 million shares of Dell stock in January. Mr. and Mrs. Dell had donated the stock to the foundation in 1999, according to Tricia Knox, a spokeswoman for the family.
Ms. Knox would not say whether the foundation had received any other contributions from the Dells in addition to the shares of stock.
Mr. Dell, now 34, quit college at age 18 to found his company, which sells computers directly to customers rather than through stores. The Round Rock, Tex., company, which he started in 1984 with an investment of $1,000, now reports annual sales of $23.6-billion and is the 78th-largest company in America, according to Fortune magazine.
Ms. Knox said that Mr. Dell and his wife started their new foundation “because they want to extend the charitable giving they have done in the past, and the foundation is a vehicle for them to do that a little bit further.”
The Dells have concentrated their giving largely in the Austin, Tex., area, supporting its public-library system, United Way, and a children’s hospital. They have also given $1.9-million to a new program called Insure-a-Kid that helps provide health insurance to children from low-income families in two Texas counties.
Ms. Knox said that education and children’s health are two issues that the Dells are particularly passionate about and said she thought it was “very likely” the foundation’s giving would emphasize such programs. But she added that the Dells had not yet made any major decisions about the foundation’s operations.
