Anonymous Donor to Give K-School Challenge Grant Totalling $6 Million

The Kennedy School of Government will receive $6 million from an anonymous Harvard graduate if it can raise an equal amount on its own, Dean Graham T. Allison Jr. '62 said Wednesday.

Kennedy School officials could not discuss the "challenge grant" yesterday, however, because of "continuing conversations between the Dean and the principles," according to K-School spokesman Steve Singer.

Recent K-School publications put the value of the school's endowment and capital plant at "well over $100 million." If the Kennedy School, which has an annual budget of about $23 million, secures $6 million in contributions as well as the matching grant, that figure will leap by $12 million.

Singer said he did not know the size of the school's endowment, and development officials were not available for comment yesterday.

In 1984, the K-School concluded a massive campaign that raised more than $50 million in eight years.

Allison first publicly mentioned the challenge grant at Wednesday's Godkin Lecture, which was delivered by MIT emeritus professor Paul A. Samuelson and attended by a host of wealthy and influential dignitaries and economists.

"I will leak this news to you," Allison told the crowd of nearly 400 people.

While Singer said it was not yet clear whether the grant would be earmarked for a specific K-School project, several officials speculated that it is just a grant which will go toward the School's endowment.

Singer called it "something that is obviously a boon for the School."