Giving Large

CSQ and Philanthropy.com share a bicoastal snapshot of the most generous donations received and the philanthropists who gave them.

Givers:

Los Angeles

The two-story 27,000-square-foot Steven D. Dorfman Center.

Steven Dorfman pledged $6M toward the construction of a new building for the School of Management at California Lutheran University. Dorfman retired in 1999 as vice chairman of Hughes Electronics.

Stewart & Lynda Resnick.

Stewart & Lynda Resnick gave $750M to California Institute of Technology, Pasadena to build the Resnick Sustainability Resource Center and endow environmental research related to the effects of climate change. The Resnicks founded the Wonderful Company, which owns the food and beverage brands FIJI Water, POM Wonderful, and Wonderful Pistachios, among others.

New York

Craig Newmark donated $1.1M to provide cybersecurity protection for media and journalists, and to safeguard election offices and community organizations in advance of the 2020 U.S. presidential election. Newmark is the founder of the classified-advertising website Craigslist and Craig Newmark Philanthropies.

James Simons, under the Simons Foundation, donated $100M to the New York Genome Center for collaborative research programs focusing on neurodegenerative conditions, neuropsychiatric diseases, and cancer. Simons is a mathematician who founded Renaissance Technologies, a hedge fund in East Setauket, N.Y.

Recipients:

Los Angeles

The Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of California, Los Angeles has received $100M from the Samueli Foundation (Henry and Susan Samueli) for 100 new professorships and to enroll more undergraduate and graduate students. In 1991, Henry Samueli co-founded Broadcom, a semiconductor and software company, when he was a professor of electrical engineering at UCLA. He is also a UCLA alumnus, having earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from UCLA in 1975 and 1976, and a Ph.D. in 1980.

Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute has received $70M from Richard and CSQ Visionary Melanie Lundquist. The gift will expand biotech research at the institute and throughout Los Angeles County. Richard Lundquist owns Continental Development Corporation, a commercial real-estate development and management company.

New York

Anti-Semitism Accountability Project has received $25M from Ronald Lauder to establish this new bipartisan watchdog group to combat hate speech against Jews. Lauder is the president of the World Jewish Congress and an heir to the Estée Lauder Company cosmetics fortune.

Data courtesy of the Chronicle of Philanthropy, the leading news and information source for nonprofit leaders and grant makers. Learn more at philanthropy.com.