Cleveland Clinic, MIT, Duke and USC to receive $1 billion in unrestricted funds

The Cleveland Clinic and three U.S. universities announced Wednesday they will receive unrestricted funds of roughly $260 million each, due to the sale of global technology and manufacturing company, Lord Corp.

Why it matters: Officials at the the Cleveland Clinic, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Duke University and the University of Southern California say the anticipated $1 billion in total donations is believed to be the largest single allocation of its kind.

Of note: Many institutional donations like this comes with detailed agreements from donors on how the money may be used, but this did not, the Washington Post reports.

• Lord Corp. grew its sales to more than $1 billion in 2018, and the company was recently purchased by Parker-Hannifin Corporation for $3.7 billion, triggering the distribution of proceeds to the four schools to advance education and research in science and technology, per the Cleveland Clinic.
• The Lord foundations supported MIT, Duke, USC and the Cleveland Clinic, and previously handed out approximately $200 million to the four institutions since the 1980s.

The bottom line: The universities and medical center can prioritize needs that are pressing, but may not be appealing to donors.

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