# Salvation Army in USA to receive $1.5 billion gift

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2004/01/21/salvation-army-usa-receive-15-billion-gift/
- Published: 2004-01-21T00:00:00+00:00
- Author: Howard Lake

**The bequest from Joan Kroc of at least $1.5 billion is one of the largest charitable
donations from an individual to a non-profit.**

Joan Kroc, who died in October 2003, was the widow of the founder of hamburger giant
McDonald’s. She has also left money to other non-profits, but the gift to the Salvation
Army is by far the largest.

The final amount of the bequest will only be known when the estate’s administration
is complete.

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Mrs Kroc specified that half the donation is spent on building community centres,
and the other half placed in an endowment to contribute to their operating costs.
She did not want any of the gift spent on other projects or administration costs.
She also made it clear that the communities selected for these new centres would
need to provide additional support for operational purposes.

Only a few other people have exceeded this donation, notably Bill and Melinda Gates’
$5 billion gift of Microsoft stock to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in 2000,
and Ted Turner’s 1997 pledge to give $1 billion to the United Nations.

The Salvation Army has not surprisingly featured Mrs Kroc’s donation on its front
page, together with a video and audio version of the non-profit’s announcement of
the donation.

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