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Several higher education institutions announced multimillion-dollar gifts this week.
Smith College received the largest gift in its history: $50 million from an alumna donor who wished to remain anonymous. Of the total, $40 million will go toward financial aid and $10 million will be used to revamp the college’s career development program.
The Harold Alfond Foundation will invest $240 million over the next 12 years into the University of Maine system. The gift is the largest in the foundation’s history and is being touted as the largest ever made to public higher education in New England.
“The University of Maine System is rising to meet the challenges of our state in a very big way. Through the initiatives we are supporting, it is perfectly poised to set new standards for how public higher education serves students and at the same time partners with employers in the pursuit of economic development and opportunity,” said Greg Powell, chairman of the Harold Alfond Foundation, in a press release. “It needs resources to do that and so we are betting big on its success and urging others to join us.”
The system will leverage the gift to seek $170 million in matching funds from private, state and federal sources, according to a press release.
The Harold Alfond Foundation is also giving $100 million to the Roux Institute, a Northeastern University innovation hub in Portland, Me. The institute will use the gift to fund the new Alfond Scholars Initiative, which will provide need-based financial aid for more than 7,400 graduate students over a decade.
