Announcing a $100 million gift to Georgetown’s McCourt School

March 25, 2021

Dear Members of the Georgetown University Community:

I write to share with you exciting news for our University community and our McCourt School of Public Policy—a new $100 million investment in public policy and inclusion at Georgetown by Frank McCourt (C’75)—half of which will be devoted to financial aid and scholarships.

Since its founding in 2013, the McCourt School and its partners across Georgetown have exemplified what it means for policy to be inclusive, ethical, and impactful for the common good. This most recent gift builds on the extraordinary work already taking place at the McCourt School to reimagine the contributions that a public policy school can make—not only to policy—but to strengthening civic engagement and our civic institutions. With this gift, we can take significant new steps to expand our faculty at our McCourt School and increase access, advancing our vision to remove financial barriers for students seeking a policy education.

The impact will be immediate. For the 2021-2022 academic year, because of this gift, participants in the National Urban Fellows (NUF) program will attend tuition free. In 2018, the McCourt School was selected as the sole academic home of the 50-year-old NUF graduate program, which focuses on providing opportunities for mid-career leaders and professionals who are from underrepresented groups and who are committed to service in the public and nonprofit sectors.

The additional $50 million will fund faculty and research—allowing us to add to our McCourt faculty and make new investments in research that will support public scholarship and enable data-driven, evidence-based research to shape policy conversations and solutions.

We have been honored by Frank McCourt’s long-standing commitment to public policy—which enabled us to establish the McCourt School in 2013, and, with this most recent investment, advances our vision for impactful public policy for the common good. He has a deep understanding of the importance of inclusion and equity in policy-making and, through his organization, Unfinished, has sought to build a network of diverse initiatives committed to strengthening civic engagement in our digital age.

At a time when civic engagement and our civic institutions are being challenged, Frank’s exceptional support of the McCourt School could not be more important. I wish to express our profound gratitude to Frank for his vision for the role that Georgetown could play in shaping public policy and public service. I wish to also recognize the Dean of our McCourt School, Maria Cancian, for her extraordinary work to guide our McCourt School at this moment in its history. This is an exciting time and we are very grateful for the opportunity to deepen the contributions that we, as a University community, can make to public policy in service to the common good.

Sincerely,

John J. DeGioia