Harvard receives $350M donation, largest gift in university's history

Dive Brief:

• Hong Kong's Morningside Foundation made the largest gift in Harvard University's history, the Ivy League institution announced Monday.
• The $350 million gift was donated to the university's Boston-based School of Public Health and will help it expand programs and provide additional financial aid.
• Along with the program expansions and additional financial aid, Harvard says the gift will be focused in the areas of pandemics, harmful environments, poverty and humanitarian crises, and failing health systems.

Dive Insight:

While the donation is the largest in Harvard's history, there are several others that top it in higher ed overall on the Chronicle of Higher Education's list. Brothers Ronnie and Gerald Chan are the Hong Kong businessmen behind the Morningside Foundation, and they have major interests in Chinese real estate, as well as private equity and venture capital. As a result of the gift, their father, T. H. Chan, founder of real estate developer Hang Lung Group, will now have his name attached to the school.