Innovative $85 Million Naming Gift
Launches New Era for Wisconsin School of Business
In October, the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Business received an unprecedented naming gift totaling $85 million. The first impacts of the naming gift are already being felt.
Rather than being named for a donor, the naming gift preserves the school’s identity as the Wisconsin School of Business.
It was the first gift of its kind received by a U.S. business school. Conventional business school naming gifts adopt the name of a single donor in perpetuity. The Wisconsin Naming Gift has a 20-year horizon, leaving open the option of future naming opportunities.
The gift was made by from a small group of alumni who formed the “Wisconsin Naming Partnership” to support the school’s mission.
The unique nature of the gift has attracted international media attention.
University of Wisconsin-Madison Chancellor John D. Wiley called the gift, “a creative act of philanthropy and a major milestone for our university.”
A member of the Wisconsin Naming Partnership offered to match every individual gift given to the school’s unrestricted annual funds between the announcement of the naming gift and the end of the calendar year, up to $1 million. Wisconsin Business Alumni responded. In all, $1,072,853 was received by the deadline, creating a record-breaking year for unrestricted gifts to the business school.
Michael Knetter, dean of the Wisconsin School of Business, said the Wisconsin Naming Gift is already being put to use in a variety of ways to help guarantee faculty excellence, keep the school’s nationally recognized undergraduate program strong, enhance the resources available to the school’s increasingly recognized Wisconsin MBA program and to bolster the school’s world-renowned executive education programs.
“The Wisconsin School of Business is now better positioned to keep our key faculty from being actively recruited by other top programs and to attract outstanding faculty members. Thanks to these additional resources, we have been able to hire several exceptional new professors who will start next fall. Thanks to the ongoing generosity of our alumni, we are able to make the type of investment in human resources required of a top business school.”
More on the Horizon
A $40.5 million addition to Grainger Hall, the home of the Wisconsin School of Business, is nearing completion.
The four-story addition will be a major step forward for the full-time Wisconsin MBA program, providing a home to each of its career specializations and offering enhanced centralized resources for students. It will also offer enhanced facilities for the Wisconsin Enterprise MBA programs that serve the needs of working professionals. Space in the original section of the building will benefit other elements of the Wisconsin School of Business.
Funds from the Wisconsin Naming Gift are not being used for the addition’s construction. Its funding is provided in part by a $20 million gift from The Grainger Foundation. In addition, a classroom is made possible by a gift from Jeffrey J. Diermeier, BBA ’74, MBA ’75, and Julie Diermeier. Daniel Humber, BBA ’58, and Pat Huber provided a gift for the addition’s new undergraduate computer lab. Additional gift funds and $10 million in general fund-supported borrowing will complete the project budget.
Construction of the addition is scheduled for this summer, with all programs in place by the start of orientation for the fall semester.
Learn more about the addition, including an animation of the construction.