SOURCE OF WEALTH: Madison Industries
FUNDING AREAS: Education & Youth, Health
OVERVIEW: Larry and Beth Gies conduct their philanthropy through the Gies Foundation, which available tax filings indicate, gave away around $825,000 in 2018. The couple recently made a $150 million gift to the University of Illinois. Other interests include K-12 education and health.
BACKGROUND: Larry Gies graduated with a B.S. from University of Illinois and earned his MBA from Northwestern University in 1992. Gies founded Madison Capital Partners in 1994 and spun his investment firm, whose companies generated more than $5 billion in revenue, into Madison Industries, a holding company that now acquires and builds businesses.
ISSUES:
EDUCATION & YOUTH: Larry and Beth Gies made a $150 million gift to their mutual alma mater, University of Illinois, which renamed the university’s business school at the Urbana-Champaign campus the Gies College of Business. Gies has also supported Northwestern University. On the K-12 front, the Gies Foundation helped establish the Gies Campus of Chicago Jesuit Academy, a full scholarship school for boys on Chicago’s West Side. Other grantees include Glenwood School for Boys, Holy Trinity High School, Teach for America, and Boys & Girls Club.
HEALTH: The Gies have supported Huntington Disease Society, Sarcoidosis Foundation, and Misericordia Women’s League, a fundraising arm of Misericordia Heart of Mercy Center. They made a seven-figure gift to the Lucile Packard Foundation in the Bay Area. Some of this work is related to allergy research and is tied to the Sean N. Parker Center for Allergy Research at Stanford University.
LOOKING FORWARD: Gies is only in his late 40s and very much engaged in business. The couple’s work in the education space in Chicago may deepen in the coming years.
CONTACT:
The Gies Foundation
500 West Madison Street, Suite 3890
Chicago, IL 60661
