PND (4/25/2000) -- Ontario Community Foundation Gets $40 Million Stock Gift

The Hamilton Community Foundation in Ontario has received a $40 million gift from Joyce Young, a 75-year-old Canadian woman who invested a few thousand dollars five years ago to help her nephew start a software company, the New York Post reports.

Young's nephew is Bob Young, the founder of Red Hat, Inc., a leader in open source operating system software based in Durham, North Carolina. The NASDAQ-listed company saw its shares reach $151 in December after going public last summer. (The price of the stock has since fallen below $30.)

"While I respect Bob as a businessman, I quite honestly never thought I'd see my money again. I really just wanted to support him," said Young, who added that buying into the company was "really just exactly like buying a lottery ticket."

After Young donated her entire stake in the company to the foundation, foundation officials quickly sold the shares for between $57 and $69, nearly doubling the foundation's assets to $73 million in the process.

"We are thrilled, just thrilled," said foundation president Carolyn Milne. "Mrs. Young has basically shared all her profits with her community. Isn't this incredible?"

Mrs. Young, who had intended to keep her gift a secret, told the Post that she found the experience of making so much money so quickly "frightening [when] there are people who are hungry and others in line for cancer treatment."

Hoffman, Bill. "Reluctant Software Tycoon Stocks Up on Good Will With $40 Million Donation." New York Post 4/21/2000.

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