O'Donnell Foundation gives its remaining assets to UT Southwestern as it concludes its work

The O'Donnell Foundation is giving its remaining assets to UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas in a final "capstone gift," the medical center announced on October 15. UT Southwestern said the gift brings the foundation's support to nearly $400 million and that the foundation "concludes its work as the largest donor in UT Southwestern's history."

The release does not give a dollar figure for the final gift. It says the gift follows a recent gift of oil-producing land in West Texas to Southwestern Medical Foundation, with annual earnings to benefit UT Southwestern, so that the foundation's support will continue "beyond the conclusion of its operations." Inside Philanthropy's October 16 roundup also described the foundation as concluding its work.

Donors who preferred to stay quiet

The foundation was established in 1957 by the late Peter O'Donnell Jr. and his wife, Edith. William T. "Bill" Solomon, a longtime trustee who has been its chairman, president and CEO since 2016, said in the release that the couple "preferred to do their philanthropy anonymously," and that over the decades they were nicknamed "Mr. and Mrs. O'nonymous."

UT Southwestern has also renamed its West Campus outpatient building the William T. Solomon Outpatient Building, honoring his volunteer service, his stewardship of the foundation and his own giving with his wife, Gay. The naming ceremony was held on October 14.

What the money supported

UT Southwestern credits the foundation with endowing its Center for Human Nutrition in 1981, backing the cholesterol research of Michael Brown and Joseph Goldstein, who won the 1985 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, and helping establish an Endowed Scholars Program in Medical Science. A $36 million gift from the foundation launched the Peter O'Donnell Jr. Brain Institute in 2015, The Texas Tribune reported at the time, and in 2022 the foundation gave $100 million to support and name the Peter O'Donnell Jr. School of Public Health.

The totals have been counted in different ways. In 2022, UT Southwestern said the O'Donnells and their foundation together had given more than $400 million. The new release puts the foundation's support at nearly $400 million and does not explain the difference. "They understood the importance of assembling the best and brightest researchers to tackle medicine's most pressing problems," said Daniel K. Podolsky, president of UT Southwestern.

What family foundation boards can take from it

In our view, the notable choice is the ending. A foundation can choose to finish by putting what remains with a partner it has backed for more than four decades. Boards weighing perpetuity against spending down can ask which partner would carry the work on, and in what form. For how the wealthiest families pace their giving, see Bridgespan's figures on families with $500 million or more, and for another foundation gift to an academic medical center, see the Smilow Foundation's $25 million to Penn Medicine.