Arkansas Children’s $50M Gift (Editorial)

Tom Golisano, billionaire philanthropist and founder of Paychex (Photo provided by Arkansas Children's)

We start the new year with good news from the old year: the $50 million gift from billionaire philanthropist Tom Golisano to Arkansas Children’s Hospital.

The gift from Golisano, announced in late December, is the largest in the hospital’s history.

Golisano, founder of Paychex Inc. of Rochester, New York, the payroll services company, at the same time announced a $50 million donation to Wellstar Children’s Hospital of Georgia in Augusta. Both hospitals will join the nonprofit Golisano Children’s Alliance, a national network to share expertise, expand specialized services and improve pediatric care.

At Arkansas Children’s, the money will go to supporting the system’s $371 million expansion, among other priorities. Other organizations have contributed to the project, including the Willard & Pat Walker Charitable Foundation, which donated $25 million. And Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin has committed more than $50 million in opioid and vaping settlement funds to the health system.

We would never presume to tell a billionaire — or anyone, for that matter — what to do with their money, but Golisano, who has given more than $1 billion for education and health care in the United States, is not a bad model. In our book, giving life and health to children beats a new yacht any day.