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- A nonprofit that's gifted Columbia $86 million pulled funding last month, the NYT reported.
- Unlike outspoken billionaires, the Berrie Foundation exerted influence behind the scenes.
- Columbia said the move wouldn't affect patients at a diabetes lab and treatment center.
Yet another Columbia University mega-donor yanked funding from the school — this time behind the scenes.
The New York Times reported that the Russell Berrie Foundation — named for the gift and greeting-card entrepreneur — suspended giving on April 26 in a move that could cost Columbia tens of millions of dollars over the upcoming years.
The organization stopped donations as pro-Palestinian protests raged across Columbia and other US college campuses.
A Columbia spokesperson told Business Insider it was grateful for the Berrie Foundation's "support of innumerable and impactful diabetes initiatives throughout the years," and was "committed to sustained, concrete action to make Columbia a community where antisemitism has no place and Jewish students feel safe."
The Berrie Foundation's website says it gives to issues that reflect its late founder's passions, which includes diabetes care and research and Israel-related causes.
The nonprofit has given $86 million to Columbia over more than two decades, the Times reported, underwriting both the Russ Berrie Medical Science Pavilion and Naomi Berrie Diabetes Center.
A university official told BI it does not anticipate disruption to patient care and that Minouche Shafik, Columbia's president, has been in communication with the foundation.
Unlike high-profile mega-donors like the New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft and the billionaire investor Leon Cooperman who have made their opinions on the protests known, the Berrie Foundation has been exerting its influence quietly, the Times reported.
This has included emails to Shafik and a meeting with her last November.
Angelica Berrie, the wife of the foundation's late founder who serves as the president of its board, called the decision to pull funding "painful," the Times reported.
"We will watch and see whether their actions actually rectify the situation," she told the outlet.
The Berrie Foundation did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.