NewsVisual: Kent & Missy McCarthy donate $1.25 million to Kansas State University. Find out why…

It was reported yesterday in the University Herald that Kent and Missy McCarthy, both alumni of the University of Kansas have made a gift of $1.25 million to the schoolwith the intention of the funds going towards the building of a new building for the business school.

The donation is not the first the couple have made to the school. There were also donations of $500,000 and $10 million for the School of Business in 2001 and 2007 respectively. The couple have also pledged $2 million to a charitable foundation managed by the University, as the first installment of an overall $10 million donation.

This long-term history of donations to the school is almost certainly rooted in the couple’s close ties to their alma mater and prominent individuals at the institution. By analyzing and cross-referencing billions of relationships from the Prospect Visual global database, we can show the mutual connections and overlapping relationships that Kenth McCarthy has with constituents of KU.

With so many strong relationships, it’s no wonder the McCarthy’s continue to bestow generous gifts to their former school.

The Power of Relationships: California Lutheran University receives record $4.7 million from someone who never attended the school…

Two days ago it was announced that California Lutheran University received a $4.7 million donation from John Manken. Manken never attended the university however 24 years ago, he happened to meet the CLU’s Vice President of development at a festival.

The meeting happened soon after Manken’s mother had passed away and Manken who had to manage the estate expressed his interest in endowing a scholarship. Over the next two decades CLU’s director of scholarships and foundation relations continued to cultivate the relationship with Manken.

Manken himself passed away in 2012 and CLU has recently begun to receive the funds which from 2015 will amount to about $240 000 per year for student scholarships.

The gift is a generous one and it was based almost entirely on the strength of a relationship. It is a prime example of the importance of cultivating relationships when it comes to fundraising. Relationships have become an invaluable asset for nonprofits and, as technological advances and visualization techniques develop, there are more and more opportunities for nonprofits to begin to truly capitalize on those relationships.

NewsVisual: Harvard University receives $150 Million from Citadel CEO. Prospect Visual shows the relationships behind the donation.

Last Friday, Harvard University was the beneficiary of a $150 million donation from Kenneth Griffin,  founder and CEO of Citadel Advisors LLC.

The gift is mainly to support student aid and is the largest in the history of Harvard College (the university’s undergraduate school). This donation will help the expansion of the financial aid program that Harvard President Drew Faust has implemented.

“Ken Griffin’s extraordinary philanthropy is opening Harvard’s gates wider to the most talented students in the world, no matter their economic circumstances,” said Faust.

Griffin graduated with a degree in economics from Harvard College and has several other connections to the school. Prospect Visual reveals some of the strongest overlapping relationships that may have helped influence his generous donation to his alma mater.

NewsVisual: Who will benefit from Whatsapp’s windfall?

Yesterday’s news about the unprecedented price paid by Facebook to acquire the Whatsapp messaging service left us wondering – what are the people behind Whatsapp going to do with all that money?!

Will they donate some of it? And if so, who will be the benefactors? Here’s an image from Prospect Visual that shows why Stanford might have been especially happy while reading the news yesterday…

Brian Acton is a Whatsapp co-founder – reportedly now a billionaire. And who is Jim Goetz? A prominent Whatsapp Board member and investor. A couple of days ago we posted an article on Stanford’s highly successful year of fundraising – US $1 billion in 2012-2013… Looks like they’ve got a chance to continue 2014 in the same vein!

NewsVisual: Facebook and Whatsapp – they’ve always been friends!

This morning it was announced that Facebook has agreed to purchase Whatsapp for US $19 billion. Whatsapp is a popular, fast-growing mobile messaging platform and, with this agreement, becomes Facebook’s largest ever acquisition – bigger than any previously made by Google, Apple or Microsoft.

Experts have commented on a variety of reasons that makes the acquisition unsurprising. For a different angle on the story, see this image from Prospect Visual that shows the relationships that exist between individuals at both companies.

And here’s a few more details on how Jonathan G Heiliger and Jim Goetz are connected:

It turns out that Facebook and Whatsapp have been friends for a long time…

NewsVisual: Stanford University raises over $1 billion in a year, picking up a $151 million gift from John Arrillaga along the way. Prospect Visual shows the connections that may have made that happen.

University donations are at an all time high and Stanford University led the pack with over $931.57 million donated over the course of 2013.

Stanford was helped on its way to the top by being one of only 3 institutions to receive and individual donation of over $100 million. This came from philanthropist John Arrillaga a long time donor for university.

Below, an image from Prospect Visual shows the mutual connections and overlapping relationships that have resulted in such a close relationship between Arrillaga and the school.

 

NewsVisual: Eureka College receives donation from former Caterpillar Inc. CEO Glen Barton. Prospect Visual shows his connections to the college.

It was announced on Saturday that Eureka College had received a substantial gift from businessman Glen Barton and his wife Polly.

Their donation has been earmarked to create the “Barton Fund” which will support several scholarship and mentorship opportunities for students at the college. President J. David Arnold commented that the fund would not only provide “some budget relief, if you will, for the college… It will probably let us expand the number we offer, too.”

While the exact amount has not been disclosed, the image from Prospect Visual shows that Barton has a couple of connections to the school that may have influenced his decision to make a gift.

 

NewsVisual: University of Florida receives $5 million from an alumnus and his wife. Prospect shows their close connections to the school.

On Wednesday it was announced that Andrew Banks and wife, Pamela have pledged to donated $5 million to the University of Florida in order to create several endowed chairs.

Banks is a former alumnus of the school and he and his wife are are longtime UF supporters. Prospect Visual shows some of the connections that explain why that might be.

 

NewsVisual: Georgetown University receives $10 million from philanthropist. Prospect Visual shows the connections that might have played a part.

It was announced earlier this week that Georgetown University has received a $10 million donation from philanthropist Alberto Beeck and his wife Olga Maria. The money will go towards funding The Beeck Center for Social Impact & Innovation, which aims to help students, faculty and the private sector work together and collaborate better.

The Beecks are Georgetown alumni and currently two have children studying at Georgetown College. Below, an image from Prospect Visual, shows that they have many other connections to the school that may have played a part in influencing their donation.

 

 

NewsVisual: University of Arizona receives from $10 million from a former dean. Prospect Visual shows how close he is to the school.

Former dean, James C. Wyant, donates $10 million to the University of Arizona, College of Optical Sciences in honor of the 50th anniversary of the school at UA. The donation will go towards funding scholarships for graduate students.

Wyant, a well-known expert in the optics field, served as dean of the college until 2012 and has many close connections to the University of Arizona. Here is an image, taken from Prospect Visual, that shows some of those connections.