The A. James & Alice B. Clark Foundation donated $12.2 million to the McDonough School of Business to support scholarships and collaboration with local educational programs, Georgetown University President John J. DeGioia (CAS ’79, GRD ’95) announced in an email to the community Oct. 16.

The foundation’s donation will go towards expanding undergraduate need-based scholarships, strengthening education in real estate and providing leadership education in partnership with District of Columbia Public Schools and Public Charter Schools, according to a university news release. 

The Clark Foundation is a family foundation named after A. James Clark, a real estate executive whose firm designed many Washington, D.C. landmarks, such as the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian and Nationals Park, as well as the Southwest Quadrangle buildings on campus.

The new financial support will enable the MSB to expand programs that are central to the school’s goals, according to MSB Dean Paul Almeida.

“The Clark Foundation funding addresses three key areas of importance for the McDonough School of Business — undergraduate scholarships, academic excellence, and leveraging our expertise as a world-class business school to make a difference in our community,” Almeida wrote in an email to The Hoya.

The Clark Foundation will invest $3.5 million to expand the Robert J. & Elizabeth Flanagan Family Endowed Scholarship Fund, a fund for undergraduate scholarships.

Broadening the Flanagan Family fund will increase the MSB’s ability to support individuals in need of financial aid, according to a university spokesperson.

“These funds are critical to the university’s ongoing priority of making a Georgetown education accessible to talented students with financial need,” the university spokesperson wrote in an email to The Hoya. 

The MSB hopes to ensure that financial need does not restrict students from attending Georgetown, according to Almeida.

“At Georgetown, we believe a world-class education should be accessible to everyone regardless of their financial circumstances,” Almeida wrote. “I have met so many successful alumni—many of whom are the chief executives in their organization—who share that they could not have attended Georgetown without the financial support we offer as a need-blind institution.”

The Clark Foundation will invest $6 million to establish the A. James Clark Endowed Chair in Global Real Estate at the Georgetown University Steers Center for Global Real Estate, an initiative launched in 2015 to strengthen real estate education, according to a university spokesperson. 

The establishment of the endowed chair in global real estate will strengthen the global aspect of the Steers Center, according to professor Matthew Cypher, director of the Steers Center.

“The goal of the Steers Center is to build a globally pre-eminent real estate program so the A. James Clark Endowed Chair in Global Real Estate is another huge step in that direction,” Cypher wrote in an email to The Hoya. “This center is now directly tied to Robert Steers and Mr. Clark who are global figures that have meaningfully influenced real estate and the built environment over their careers.”

The donation to the real estate program will also allow the MSB to expand its real estate faculty, providing students with more opportunities, Almeida said.

“Part of what makes the Georgetown experience so transformational for our students is our ability to attract the best professors to the school,” Almeida said. “Having an endowed chair allows us to offer more opportunities to our students.”

The Clark Foundation is also investing $2.7 million to support the participation of DCPS and Public Charter School principals in the MSB’s Executive Master’s in Leadership program, a program for working professionals aimed at teaching effective leadership behaviors, the university spokesperson wrote.

The donation to the EML program helps develop future leaders in D.C. schools, according to professor Robert Bies, founder of the EML program.

“The generous support of the A. James & Alice B. Clark Foundation is so critical to the mission of this program—bringing together DCPS and Public Charter School leaders to deepen and broaden their capacity to lead their schools and make a difference in the lives of young people in Washington, DC,” Bies wrote in an email to The Hoya. “We are so blessed to have the Clark Foundation support—and so are the school leaders and the students that they serve.”

Part of the MSB’s responsibility as a leading business school is to change the world through teaching others, which is one of its priorities in utilizing this donation, according to Almeida.

“As one of the world’s best business schools, Georgetown McDonough seeks ways to impact the world through our ability to teach others,” Almeida said. “I can think of no better way to impact our D.C. community than working with the public schools to strengthen the leadership and innovation skills of their principals and administrators.”