MBA News: Stanford GSB Receives $150 Million Gift to Start “SEED” Institute
November 7th, 2011
Dorothy and Robert King (MBA ’60) have donated $150 million to Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business (GSB), the largest gift in the school’s history, to start the Stanford Institute for Innovation in Developing Economies (SIIDE or “SEED”). The idea for the institute came from the homestays that the Kings have offered to the GSB’s international students for more than four decades—the Kings personally saw these students benefit from their educations and the broader communities benefit from their entrepreneurship. The institute’s goal is nothing short of helping to alleviate poverty in developing economies through multidisciplinary research and “on-the-ground work.” SEED will focus on developing organizations that employ people in impoverished communities and those that provide low-cost services or products for people in these areas. The Kings’ gift should help Stanford reach $200 million in donations, because $50 million of the couple’s gift is “matching,” meaning that others must contribute $50 million for the Kings to release the second $50 million tranche. Wouldn’t it be nice to be in a position to donate $150 million…?
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