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SIPA Students to Benefit from $400 Million Gift from John Kluge
Recognizing the importance of SIPA’s mission to Columbia University and the importance of a vibrant, diverse, and global student body to SIPA, the University’s greatest benefactor, John Kluge (CC '37), has agreed to allow the University to designate $30 million of his $400 million bequest intention to build the financial aid endowment at SIPA.
To fully leverage the Kluge gift and inspire other donors, SIPA will use $25 million of Mr. Kluge’s gift to establish the SIPA Challenge program. All gifts of $100,000 or more for financial aid endowment at SIPA will be matched 1:1. The remaining $5 million of Mr. Kluge’s gift will be used to create Kluge fellowships. In the interim before the pledge arrives, SIPA will use its existing fellowship funds to name four Kluge Fellows per year. After the pledge is fulfilled, the number of Fellows selected per year will increase. Selection will be based on Mr. Kluge's interest in supporting students who need financial assistance and whose backgrounds and future interests support SIPA’s mission for public service.
Mr. Kluge graduated from Columbia College in 1937 and is Columbia’s greatest benefactor. In addition to pledging $400 million to Columbia University in 2007 for the purpose of endowed financial aid, he previously donated more than $110 million to the University, through the Kluge Scholars program, the Kluge Presidential Scholars, the Kluge Faculty Endowment, and other programs benefiting students in Columbia College. Mr. Kluge is also the founder and past chair of Columbia’s International Advisory Council. In 
1988, the University awarded Mr. Kluge an honorary doctor of laws, and in 1991 the Columbia College Alumni Association honored him with the Alexander Hamilton Medal for distinguished service and accomplishment.
Learn more about John W. Kluge and his gift to Columbia University here.
For more information about the SIPA Challenge, contact SIPA’s Development Office at
212-851-7448 or devsipa@columbia.edu.
(Left to right: NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Congressman Charles Rangel, Columbia President Lee Bollinger and John Kluge)