Top Ron DeSantis Donor Gifts Harvard $300 Million

Billionaire hedge fund manager Kenneth C. Griffin, the founder and majority owner of Citadel, gifted Harvard University $300 million.

From The Harvard Gazette:

Harvard University announced today that business leader and philanthropist Kenneth C. Griffin ’89 has made a gift of $300 million to the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) to support the School’s mission and to advance cutting-edge research and expand access and excellence in education for students and scholars regardless of economic circumstances. This unrestricted gift furthers Griffin’s philanthropic legacy at Harvard, which spans four decades and totals more than $500 million.

In recognition of Griffin’s commitment to Harvard’s mission over the years, the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences will be renamed the Harvard Kenneth C. Griffin Graduate School of Arts and Sciences in his honor.

Griffin’s most recent gift builds on his commitment to expanding opportunity and his legacy of transformational support for the FAS and across Harvard. His $150 million contribution to financial aid in 2014 remains the largest single gift to undergraduate financial aid and to Harvard College. That endowed gift currently supports 228 undergraduates — and has supported more than 600 to date. It also established the Griffin Leadership Challenge, which inspired alumni and other donors to establish 654 new scholarships during a four-year period and made it possible for the FAS to raise $600 million for undergraduate financial aid.

In addition to showering Harvard with money, Griffin is one of the biggest political donors in the country.

Per Wikipedia:

Griffin has contributed tens of millions of dollars to political candidates and causes, including both republican and democratic candidates.

The billionaire hedge fund manager has openly supported Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for president in 2024.

Griffin called Donald Trump a “three-time loser” and suggested he step aside for DeSantis to run for president.

The Citadel CEO made the comments ahead of Trump’s announced 2024 presidential bid.

From Bloomberg:

“I’d like to think that the Republican party is ready to move on from somebody who has been for this party a three-time loser,” Griffin said, citing Trump’s 2020 defeat, the loss of Georgia Senate seats in 2021 and this year’s midterms. DeSantis, who Griffin has financially backed, is “going to run on a record of just unbelievable accomplishment.”

Griffin’s comments Tuesday at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum in Singapore came ahead of Trump’s expected launch of his third presidential bid in Florida later in the day. The GOP supporter praised the results of last week’s midterm elections, even though a predicted Republican “red wave” turned out to be “red ripple,” with Democrats outperforming expectations.

POLITICO reported that Griffin was DeSantis’ leading donor in his 2022 re-election campaign and is prepared to back him in 2024.

He has given nearly $60 million to federal Republican candidates and campaigns this election cycle. That puts Griffin behind just liberal billionaire George Soros, who’s given more than $128 million to Democrats, and Richard Uihlein, who aligns himself with far-right candidates and organizations, at about $62 million.

“Do I get a bronze medal?” Griffin asked, chuckling while allowing that “it’s not a competition.”

Bronze-level giving by Griffin, 54, would be welcome news for one potential 2024 hopeful: Ron DeSantis. During an interview in his temporary offices in downtown Miami, detailing how he directs his political contributions, Griffin told POLITICO that he’s prepared to back the Florida governor if he runs for the White House. Griffin was the leading donor to DeSantis’ reelection campaign this cycle, dropping $5 million.

“I don’t know what he’s going to do. It’s a huge personal decision,” he said of DeSantis. “He has a tremendous record as governor of Florida, and our country would be well-served by him as president.”