Grantmakers in the News

October 1, 2004

Institute of International Education Receives $10 Million for Scholar Rescue

The New York City-based Institute of International Education has announced a $10 million gift from economist and philanthropist Henry Kaufman in support of the organization's scholar rescue fund, which aids persecuted scholars around the world.

The fund provides life- and career-saving support to scholars who are persecuted in their home countries, offering grants for them to continue their work at institutions in the United States and other safe locales. The program was launched in 2002 and has awarded grants to more than fifty scholars from twenty-seven different countries.

The gift, the largest single donation from an individual in the organization's history, will be presented by Kaufman at the institute's eighty-fifth anniversary dinner, where Kaufman will be honored with IIE's Stephen P. Duggan Award for International Understanding in recognition of his lifetime commitment to international education. Kaufman, the institute's chairman emeritus, has been a generous contributor to IIE over the years and was the driving force behind the establishment of the Ruth Gruber chair at the rescue fund.

"Without strong support for our young people and students, there is no real future," said Kaufman, who attributes his commitment to international education to his experiences growing up in post-World War I Germany. "When IIE began its work in the aftermath of World War I, its founders believed that international education was the most important tool available to humankind for reducing conflict and fueling human progress. Recent world events demonstrate how urgent it still is today to protect scholars who are the focus of attack and persecution, and to defend scholarship and freedom of thought around the globe."

“Renowned Economist/Philanthropist Dr. Henry Kaufman Announces $10 Million Gift.” Institute of International Education Press Release 9/15/04.

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