The donation is another example of big gifts in today’s philanthropy space.

Caruso, a noted philanthropist in the Los Angeles area and beyond, will help raise an additional $50 million in endowment funds over the next decade, the law school said in a statement this week. As a result of the gift, which comes via the Caruso Family Foundation, the school will be renamed the Rick J Caruso School of Law.

“The lack of affordable education in our nation and the student debt crisis is not only inhibiting underprivileged students from gaining equal opportunity to education, but also discouraging potential students from exploring careers in public service, roles that have a critical impact on society,” Caruso said. 

The gift is part of a wider phenomenon of entrepreneurs, financiers and inheritors making big gifts to various causes.

“Since 1981, the Caruso family has made extraordinary contributions to Pepperdine’s rise, especially at the School of Law, through their dedicated stewardship,” Pepperdine president Jim Gash said. 

In 1994, Rick and Tina Caruso created the Rick J Caruso Research Fellows Program, which supports the scholarly work of the School of Law’s faculty, and in 1998 created the Caruso Family Chair in Law. 

As part of his philanthropic background, Caruso is a primary benefactor of Operation Progress, which guides at-risk students in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles to and through college, as well as Para Los Niños, which provides health care, education, and social services to Angelenos living in poverty. He has also made significant donations to other academic institutions, including St Lawrence of Brindisi School and Verbum Dei High School - schools focused on the historically underserved area of Watts, Los Angeles - as well as the Brentwood School and Loyola High School.

The amounts involved in modern philanthropy, even allowing for inflation compared with the era of the Rockefellers, Mellons and Carnegies, are huge. In May 2017, some 14 billionaires signed the Giving Pledge, formally joining the 154 other billionaires who have pledged to transfer at least half of their vast wealth to philanthropic causes. The Giving Pledge was started in 2010 by Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett . At that time, the Gateses were worth a collective $88.5 billion, and Buffett was worth $74.2 billion.

Media tycoon Michael Bloomberg set a new record with a major gift in 2018. The founder of Sands Capital Management, Frank M Sands, gave $68 million to the University of Virginia Darden School of Business.