Now add to that perspective, there are only two business schools that have received a nine figure gift. That’s it. Of the 67 named Business Schools, #21 ranked Carnegie Mellon University, is next, having received a $55 million gift in 2004.

For the record, there have been more naming gifts made to Business Schools than to Medicine, Law and Engineering combined. Capitalism helped to cr

In late November of 2006, the University of Colorado announced a $25 million gift from Denver philanthropist Phillip Anschutz. In appreciation of this donation, the Medical Campus in Aurora was re-named in Anschutz’s honor.

The School of Medicine used the announcement to trumpet the call for a naming rights donor, asking price $100 million. Interesting tactic in the grand scheme of fundraising efforts.

An emerging trend in the non-profit sector is the super-charged escalation of ASK AMOUNTS for naming rights. This trend is directly linked to the surge in billion dollar fundraising campaigns currently underway at universities, colleges, environmental groups and others across the USA.

I wonder aloud sometimes and ask the wind, “Who checks the moral barometer of non-profit entities?” Which organization is genuinely qualified to ask for a $100 million gift in return for the perpetual naming rights to an intangible like a school of medicine?

Is this about entitlement or need?

Benchmarking Named Gifts to universities

Last August Stanford University received a $105 million gift from the founder of Knight Industries and in turn named the Knight Graduate School of Management. The dollar amount of $105 million by the way, made it the number one ranked named gift to a Business School, $5 million more than the gift made to the University of Michigan in December of 2004.

Stanford is ranked # 7 Best National University – Doctoral level by the U.S. News and World Report. The six schools ahead of Stanford include Princeton, Harvard, Yale, Cal Tech, Duke and MIT.

Now add to that perspective, there are only two business schools that have received a nine figure gift. That’s it. Of the 67 named Business Schools, #21 ranked Carnegie Mellon University, is next, having received a $55 million gift in 2004.

For the record, there have been more naming gifts made to Business Schools than to Medicine, Law and Engineering combined. Capitalism helped to cre

An emerging trend in the non-profit sector is the super-charged escalation of ASK AMOUNTS for naming rights. This trend is directly linked to the surge in billion dollar fundraising campaigns currently underway at universities, colleges, environmental groups and others across the USA.

I wonder aloud sometimes and ask the wind, “Who checks the moral barometer of non-profit entities?” Which organization is genuinely qualified to ask for a $100 million gift in return for the perpetual naming rights to an intangible like a school of medicine?

Is this about entitlement or need?

Benchmarking Named Gifts to universities

Last August Stanford University received a $105 million gift from the founder of Knight Industries and in turn named the Knight Graduate School of Management. The dollar amount of $105 million by the way, made it the number one ranked named gift to a Business School, $5 million more than the gift made to the University of Michigan in December of 2004.

Stanford is ranked # 7 Best National University – Doctoral level by the U.S. News and World Report. The six schools ahead of Stanford include Princeton, Harvard, Yale, Cal Tech, Duke and MIT.

Now add to that perspective, there are only two business schools that have received a nine figure gift. That’s it. Of the 67 named Business Schools, #21 ranked Carnegie Mellon University, is next, having received a $55 million gift in 2004.

For the record, there have been more naming gifts made to Business Schools than to Medicine, Law and Engineering combined. Capitalism helped to cr

Is this about entitlement or need?

Benchmarking Named Gifts to universities

Last August Stanford University received a $105 million gift from the founder of Knight Industries and in turn named the Knight Graduate School of Management. The dollar amount of $105 million by the way, made it the number one ranked named gift to a Business School, $5 million more than the gift made to the University of Michigan in December of 2004.

Stanford is ranked # 7 Best National University – Doctoral level by the U.S. News and World Report. The six schools ahead of Stanford include Princeton, Harvard, Yale, Cal Tech, Duke and MIT.

Now add to that perspective, there are only two business schools that have received a nine figure gift. That’s it. Of the 67 named Business Schools, #21 ranked Carnegie Mellon University, is next, having received a $55 million gift in 2004.

For the record, there have been more naming gifts made to Business Schools than to Medicine, Law and Engineering combined. Capitalism helped to cr

Stanford is ranked # 7 Best National University – Doctoral level by the U.S. News and World Report. The six schools ahead of Stanford include Princeton, Harvard, Yale, Cal Tech, Duke and MIT.

Now add to that perspective, there are only two business schools that have received a nine figure gift. That’s it. Of the 67 named Business Schools, #21 ranked Carnegie Mellon University, is next, having received a $55 million gift in 2004.

For the record, there have been more naming gifts made to Business Schools than to Medicine, Law and Engineering combined. Capitalism helped to cr

Now add to that perspective, there are only two business schools that have received a nine figure gift. That’s it. Of the 67 named Business Schools, #21 ranked Carnegie Mellon University, is next, having received a $55 million gift in 2004.

For the record, there have been more naming gifts made to Business Schools than to Medicine, Law and Engineering combined. Capitalism helped to create wealth, some are giving back in a big way.

Naming rights for non-profit organizations take their benchmarks from these named Business Schools. Every now and then there is a gift outside the norm, made by someone who has financial capacity and a strong emotional attachment to the institution.

UCLA - David Geffen School of Medicine ( 2002 ) $ 200 million

University of Miami - Miller School of Medicine ( 2004 ) $ 100 million

Cornell University - Weill Medical College ( 1998 ) $ 100 million

Northwestern University - Feinburg School of Medicine ( 2002 ) $ 75 million

Stanford - Knight School of Management ( 2006 ) $ 105 million

University of Michigan - Ross School of Business ( 2004 ) $ 100 million

Carnegie Mellon University -Tepper School of Business ( 2004 ) $ 55 million

University of Texas, Austin - McCombs School of Business ( 2004 ) $ 50 million

I pose the question once again. Are the naming rights dollar figures about need or a sense of entitlement?

To the universities and colleges, receiving a large naming gift is like winning the lottery. Truth be known, it’s better because unlike someone who claims a windfall from a random lottery ticket, there are no state or federal withholding taxes skimmed off the top. It’s more like cashing in a tax-free prize from the Irish Sweepstakes.

For any university to be so bold as to peg their naming rights for a designated asset at $100 million appears to be one of self-serving entitlement. Public universities in particular. We do because we can.

Twenty years ago, philanthropy was all about c