February 10, 2013 | Read Time: 1 minute
Amount donated in 2012: $30.5-million
Top beneficiary: DePaul University
Background: Mr. Driehaus founded the investment firm Driehaus Capital Management.
Mr. Driehaus, 70, pledged $30-million to DePaul University for its College of Commerce, which has been renamed the Richard H. Driehaus College of Business. The money will be used to endow academic programs and faculty salaries.
He said he committed the money in part because he believes faculty development and retention are critical issues for today’s top business schools.
Mr. Driehaus also gave the university a total of $49,000 to support a number of programs, including scholarships and other projects in its theater school, art-museum exhibits, emergency financial aid for struggling students, and the university’s annual Driehaus Portfolio Competition in Finance.
The donor graduated from the business college in 1965 and earned a master’s degree in business administration there in 1970.
In addition to his gifts to DePaul, Mr. Driehaus gave $200,000 to the Better Government Association, an advocacy and investigative-journalism nonprofit; $135,269 to support the Prince of Wales Foundation in the USA; and $100,000 to the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
