Why else would it have been news when a dozen or so rich folks recently pooled their resources to ensure that a business school in Wisconsin would not â?? I repeat, not â?? be named after anybody at all?
As The Associated Press reported last month, the dean at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Business couldnâ??t find anyone to pony up a cool $50 million to get his or her name on the school. So the dean switched strategies and discovered that several givers were willing to chip in to ensure that, for 20 years at least, the school would not be personally branded, but would instead simply remain the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Business (a long enough handle, surely). The non-naming fund eventually reached $85 million.
â??It is an unprecedented act of selfless philanthropy,â? Terry W. Hartle, senior vice president for the American Council on Education, told The A.P. â??I hope it is the start of a trend.â?