William Donner

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William H. Donner (1864 - 1953) was an American businessman. He became extremely wealthy and founded two notable foundations that are still in operation today, the William H. Donner Foundation in the United States, and the Donner Canadian Foundation in Canada. Donner died in 1953 in Montreal, Quebec. In 1958, the William H. Donner Foundation used $2.5 million to fund five chairs in science at MIT, Harvard, Yale, Princeton and the University of Pennsylvania thus creating the title of Donner Professor.[1]

The Donner Canadian Foundation was established in 1950 and for 43 years was a typical, uncontroversial Canadian charitable fund.[2] In 1993, the conservative American Donner heirs who control the foundation changed its primary focus to that of supporting conservative research.[2] From 1993 to 1999, under the leadership of executive directors Devon Gaffney Cross and then Patrick Luciani, the foundation provided the seed money to start several conservative Canadian think-tanks and publications, and became the "lifeblood of conservative research" in Canada.[2][3][4][5] In 1999, the American Donner heirs who control the foundation began donating more of its money to land and wildlife conservation, international development, medical research and the arts, reducing funding of conservative research (though it is still one of the most generous benefactors to the right in Canada).[5]

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Cited

  1. ^ MIT receives $500,000 grant from the Donner Foundation, The Tech, May 23, 1958.
  2. ^ a b c Walkom, Thomas (October 25, 1997). "Right-wing causes find a rich and ready paymaster. Canada 'too liberal', so Donner family is taking foundation down a more controversial path". Toronto Star: p. E1. 
  3. ^ Cernetig, Miro (February 5, 1994). "Neo-cons young bucks of the new right. In the sixties, the rallying cry for young activists was free love. Now it's free markets". The Globe and Mail. 
  4. ^ Camp, Dalton (February 5, 1997). "Politics, journalism of new right fueled by money". Toronto Star: p. A19. 
  5. ^ a b Daifallah, Adam (November 8, 2004). "Rescuing Canada's right". Western Standard. 

Uncited

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