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Bill Dietrich gives CMU $250,000,000

cmu.edu

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Re: Bill Dietrich gives CMU $250,000,000

#41

Post by prodigal_erik »

schmittz wrote: post #28
0x12 wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No grudge, it just seemed as though giving an amount like that without any expectation of a return was not exactly a libertarian thing to do. As for not knowing what your position is, that's correct but it's a safe bet that you are not a in position to match his donation. Feel free to surprise me ;)

People have a horrible misunderstanding of libertarianism. Libertarians believe people should be absolutely free to do what they want with their money. Libertarianism is not a fancy word for narcissistic hedonism. From a philosophical standpoint, libertarians should welcome charity/philanthropy as it is a free market solution to dealing with society's problems. They are merely against forced charity (i.e. welfare, me…

They spend a lot of time advocating public good solutions I consider unworkable due to free rider problems. I'm cynical enough to be pleasantly surprised when a libertarian demonstrates they aren't hoping to become a free rider.

Re: Bill Dietrich gives CMU $250,000,000

#42

Post by mahmud »

ehsanu1 wrote: post #25
testcock1 wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What surprised me even more was that it was only the 14th largest donation in history made to higher education. Here's the list if anyone else was wondering: http://chronicle.com/stats/big_gifts.htm

That list is slightly outdated, missing the $10b endowment for the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (endowed by its namesake). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Abdullah_University_of_Sci...

King Abdullah's is not a donation or an endowment. It's a drop in the bucket; the royal family giving to the people less than a fraction of one percent of what they looted from the country, and its wealth.

Re: Bill Dietrich gives CMU $250,000,000

#43

Post by ChuckMcM »

suking wrote: post #4
cleverjake wrote: post #3

It starts after his death? Why might that be

I think (and I may be wrong) - he gets to write off the donation now (probably amortized) to help his tax basis even though the $ doesn't go anywhere until he's gone...

Yes, this is something I talked about with an estate attorney when we had kids and were setting up a living trust. Basically you can create an entity called a charitable trust which is a gift to a third party, that transfers on your death, and avoids estate taxes. What is more interesting is that many of these are more durable than language in one's will, specifically the will can be challenged and thrown out but a charitable trust won't get screwed because of it.

Re: Bill Dietrich gives CMU $250,000,000

#44

Post by cleverjake »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #43
suking wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think (and I may be wrong) - he gets to write off the donation now (probably amortized) to help his tax basis even though the $ doesn't go anywhere until he's gone...

Yes, this is something I talked about with an estate attorney when we had kids and were setting up a living trust. Basically you can create an entity called a charitable trust which is a gift to a third party, that transfers on your death, and avoids estate taxes. What is more interesting is that many of these are more durable than language in one's will, specifically the will can be challenged and thrown out but a c…

Thanks for the answer, thats real interesting.

Re: Bill Dietrich gives CMU $250,000,000

#45

Post by benmccann »

cschmidt wrote: post #40
dmv wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

$55 million (Tepper) in 2003 was the previous price...

Well, you expect the b-school to cost more than other departments, don't you :-).

The Tepper School of Business is a college at CMU just like the newly-named Marianna Brown Dietrich Humanities and Social Sciences college. The colleges contains departments such as English, Philosophy, etc.

Re: Bill Dietrich gives CMU $250,000,000

#47

Post by schmittz »

cschmidt wrote: post #11
ahi wrote: post #6

According to Wikipedia, CMU currently has an endowment of $815m so rather huge donation. I was actually surprised by this. For some reason I thought CMU had one of those endowments where $250m gets a urinal named after you.

I'm a CMU alum, and I asked about that once when they were mentioning "space naming opportunities". Very roughly and unofficially speaking, $50,000 gets you a classroom, $1,000,000 gets you a floor or wing, and $20 million gets you a department. Apparently $265 million gets you a college.

For those interested, here's a list of the actual valued naming opportunities. Although, it doesn't include anything about naming spaces. (Scroll to the bottom) https://www.cmu.edu/campaign/about/endowment.html

Re: Bill Dietrich gives CMU $250,000,000

#48

Post by cschmidt »

benmccann wrote: post #45
cschmidt wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, you expect the b-school to cost more than other departments, don't you :-).

The Tepper School of Business is a college at CMU just like the newly-named Marianna Brown Dietrich Humanities and Social Sciences college. The colleges contains departments such as English, Philosophy, etc.

Sorry, of course it is. I wasn't thinking straight.
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