Summer Science Program received a $200M gift

It’s the kind of problem nonprofit leaders dream about: What do you do when you get an unexpectedly large donation?

Summer Science Program, a nonprofit with an annual budget of about $2 million, sent about 200 high school juniors to sixweek intensive research courses at universities this year. It has also puzzled over what do to with a surprise bequest of an estimated $200 million — about 100 times its annual budget.

Summer Science Program learned last year that one of its alumni, Franklin Antonio, a co-founder of chipmaker Qualcomm, had granted the organization 20% of his estate, said CEO Frank Steslow.

“The estate is still being assessed and appraised and there is not a final valuation, but it is well north of $960 million at this point,” Steslow said. The board was not previously aware that Antonio, who died in May, 2022, at the age of 69, had included the organization in his will. Board members were equally surprised when they learned of the potential amount of the gift, he said.

Members of the nonprofit’s board had previously spoken with Antonio about making a major gift, in addition to the $1.2 million he had already donated to the organization since 2000.

Summer Science Program places students in groups of 36 to complete a research project in astrophysics, biochemistry or genomics, under the supervision of faculty advisors at universities like Indiana University, Bloomington, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, and University of Colorado Boulder.

Gabrielle Fitzgerald, Panorama Global’s founder and CEO, said Summer Science Program should celebrate and appreciate the good news, “And then, the work starts.”

Generally, Scott’s gifts represented the equivalent of a year’s operating costs for the organizations she supported, Fitzgerald said.