Anyone with $10 million and a hankering for a certain brand of R&D immortality might want to get in touch with the folks in charge of fundraising for Max Planck Florida. The medical research lab has ambitious plans to raise $50 million, and it hopes to get $10 million of that for naming rights to the lab.
That certainly seems in the right price range, notes The Palm Beach Post, which first wrote up the story. Home Depot CEO Bernie Marcus ponied up $25 million to a regional hospital in Boca Raton to put his name on the Marcus Neuroscience Institute. A couple of years ago, Christine Lynn gave $10 million for a women's health center. The prestigious Max Planck Florida would seem to operate in the same league--or better.
On the other hand, Scripps Florida has been shopping naming rights for $10 million and has yet to find a taker. Still, with the stock market up, the rich are in more of a giving mood.
"The climate for fundraising has improved from where it was two or three years ago," New York fundraising consultant Tony Martignetti tells the Post. "It's just a matter of getting in front of the right people."
- here's the story from The Palm Beach Post