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25 October 2017 — the Ricci commitment; 23 January 2024 — the Poverty Initiative gift
The Ricci commitment: On 25 October 2017 the university announced a commitment of 100 million dollars from Kenn Ricci, a Notre Dame alumnus and trustee who founded the aviation holding company Directional Aviation Capital, and his wife Pamela — at the time the largest unrestricted gift ever committed to the university, and structured as one. The commitment is made through a Philanthropic Succession Partnership, a vehicle Ricci developed: the Riccis give during their lifetimes, and at Kenn Ricci's death the university takes a beneficial interest in the family partnership holding the aviation businesses and completes the 100 million from the sale of its assets. It is printed in the table as what it is — a guaranteed commitment of record, fulfilled over time and at death, not cash in hand in 2017.
The anonymous gift: On 23 January 2024 the university launched its Poverty Initiative — a university-wide research and teaching effort against poverty, led by the economist Jim Sullivan — on the strength of a lead gift of 100 million dollars from an alumni couple who asked not to be named. The university's own description of the gift is exact, and this section keeps to it: the largest single donation to an academic priority in the university's history. (A secondary account's broader phrasing, calling it simply the largest donation the university has ever received, is not the university's wording and is not used here.) The initiative works through the Wilson Sheehan Lab for Economic Opportunities and the Pulte Institute; the Sheehan name returns in this section at Saint Mary's College, in the same family's scholarship giving.
Sources:
- University of Notre Dame news release (25 October 2017) — the Ricci commitment, its unrestricted character and the Philanthropic Succession Partnership structure.
- University of Notre Dame news release (23 January 2024) — the Poverty Initiative and its 100 million dollar lead gift, in the university's own wording.