April 3, 2003 | Read Time: 2 minutes
Just days after Old Dominion University, in Norfolk, Va., announced it was receiving $32-million from Frank and Jane Batten (The Chronicle, March 20), several other nonprofit institutions have said they are getting gifts totaling an additional $110-million from the couple.
Mr. Batten is founder of Landmark Communications, in Norfolk, which owns the Weather Channel and several other cable and news channels and newspapers.
The Battens had originally planned to leave the money to the nonprofit beneficiaries as part of their wills, but they decided to give the money now because the downturn in the economy is making fund raising more challenging for many institutions, said Tim McDermott, a spokesman for Virginia Wesleyan College. Mr. McDermott said that the Battens also wanted to see the money put to use in their lifetimes.
The following institutions received large gifts from the couple:
- Harvard Business School, in Boston, has received $32-million for capital improvements. Mr. Batten is an alumnus of the school.
- The Culver Academies, in Culver, Ind., has received $20.8-million for academic programs, faculty support, scholarships, and technology. Mr. Batten is an alumnus of this boarding school.
- The Norfolk Foundation, in Virginia, has received $20-million to create a donor-advised fund that will primarily support local education and youth-development programs.
- The College of William and Mary, in Williamsburg, Va., has received $11.3-million to endow the School of Business. Mr. Batten was a member of the college’s Board of Visitors.
- The Tidewater Scholarship Foundation, in Hampton Roads, Va., has received $11.2-million to support and expand a program that provides college scholarships and advice on obtaining scholarships and other financial aid to local high-school students. Mr. Batten is a co-founder of the program.
- Virginia Wesleyan College, in Norfolk, has received $11.2-million for faculty support and scholarships. Ms. Batten was previously chair of the college’s Board of Trustees.
- Hollins U., in Roanoke, Va., has received $2.2-million to support a faculty chair. Ms. Batten is an alumna of the school.
