Posted on November 7, 2011

Stanford Launches Institute to Alleviate Poverty With $150 Million Gift

The Stanford Graduate School of Business has announced a $150 million gift from alumnus Robert King and his wife, Dorothy, to establish the Stanford Institute for Innovation in Developing Economies (SEED) and help leverage Stanford's resources and human capital to combat poverty in the developing world.

The largest portion of the gift, $100 million, will be used to fund the institute, which will work to stimulate, develop, and disseminate research and innovations that enable entrepreneurs, managers, and leaders to help alleviate poverty in developing economies. Through multidisciplinary research, education, and on-the-ground capacity building, the institute will take an integrated approach to poverty reduction and will leverage the expertise of organizations that support entrepreneurship in developing countries — including Endeavor, the Omidyar Network, the Skoll Foundation, and the Acumen Fund — to help local stakeholders address real-world problems standing in the way of economic growth. The remaining $50 million will be used to match gifts from other donors interested in supporting Stanford's anti-poverty efforts.

"We believe that innovation and entrepreneurship are the engines of growth to lift people out of poverty," said Robert King. "And we believe Stanford's tradition of innovation coupled with a forward-thinking global bias as well as its multidisciplinary resources will make a real impact."