April 7, 2009 | Read Time: 2 minutes
Cornell University’s request to one of its top donors, Sanford I. Weill, to pay his $250-million pledge early — and at a reduced rate — may be a tactic more nonprofit organizations could use to raise much-needed cash in this recession.
Brown University has made similar requests, giving donors a discount in exchange for early pledge payments. One foundation, scheduled to complete a $25-million donation to the university in 2012, will instead pay the college $23.9-million this June.
Mr. Weill and his wife pledged $250-million to Weill Cornell Medical College in 2007 as part of a $300-million donation to the university. The bulk of that amount was a bequest, said John D. Rodgers, a spokesman for the medical college, and some it comes from the couple’s family foundation.
On Tuesday, the college announced the Weills had fulfilled their pledge early with a cash gift of $170-million, which was paid to Cornell in December and January. It will help pay for the construction of a new research building scheduled to start this year.
Last year David J. Skorton, Cornell’s president, along with Peter C. Meing, chairman of the university’s Board of Trustees, asked Mr. Weill, the chairman of the board of overseers for the medical college, if he would consider paying his pledge early.
Cornell and the Weills negotiated on the amount of the cash gift, taking into account the time between now and when the university could expect to receive money from a Weill bequest. They settled on $170-million.
“We felt this was a fair compromise, as well as a good way to spur other donors to give,” Mr. Rodgers said. Part of the gift will be used for a naming challenge, giving $1 for every $1.50 donated so that new donors can have naming opportunities at a discount.
(Read a Chronicle of Philanthropy profile of Mr. and Mrs. Weill.)
