$50 million donation now $500 million endowment fund
In 2007, energy industry leader and philanthropist T. Boone Pickens made a $50 million donation to MD Anderson. At the time, it was the largest single gift in the institution’s history.
Terms of the landmark gift dictated that MD Anderson grow the money to $500 million before the institution could put the funds to use. Pickens gave MD Anderson 25 years to accumulate earnings on the original principal and/or add funds from other sources.
MD Anderson surpassed Pickens’ expectations. In just three years, it met the $500 million mark and established the Pickens Research Endowment to increase the pace of research toward eliminating cancer.
“I’m delighted that MD Anderson has achieved this within only a few years,” Pickens says. “I have expressed my desire to build a major legacy that would help ensure the excellence of the institution in the decades to come and make life better for those battling cancer. MD Anderson has done just that, and in a remarkable amount of time.”
Endowments provide a permanent source of funding for specific purposes, so these funds will be preserved indefinitely as a stable source of research support.
Income from the Pickens endowment will support basic, translational, clinical and population research at MD Anderson to create further progress in cancer prevention, detection, treatment and survivorship.
