Nike’s Knight “Just Does It” with $400M Donation

By matching one of the largest individual donations, Nike’s Co-Founder and Chairman Phil Knight has committed $400- million to Stanford University for the Knight-Hennessy Scholars Program. With the money, Stanford will recruit graduate students to address society’s greatest challenges, including poverty and climate change.

Commencing in 2018, the program will offer full tuition to 100 students annually, (1/3 from the U.S. and 2/3 from around the world). Stanford will admit each scholar to one of its seven graduate schools, where they will commit to working on a team to solve global issues.

According to Stanford President John L. Hennessy, “To say we can solve all the world’s problems is naïve. To say we can educate people to make a significant difference in trying to solve those problems — that’s an achievable goal.”