In 2017, Shi Yigong, a former vice president of Tsinghua University, was anxious to prepare for the construction of Westlake University, and in an anxious mood, he found his high school classmate, That is, Zhang Lei of Hillhouse Capital, who said that he had just donated 300 million yuan to his alma mater, Chinese Min University, and donated 8.8888 million US dollars to Yale University.
Shi Yigong said excitedly: "No matter how much money you donate, you are their alumni, that is what you deserve, but it is different if you donate money to me, you will be the founder of our Westlake University." ”
Zhang Lei replied after listening to it, not only to let Shi Yi open his heart, but also to let him know that it was too difficult to establish Westlake University. What exactly did Zhang Lei say?
Shi Yigong, the vice president of Tsinghua University, resigned from this position in order to prepare for the establishment of Westlake University, a world-class university in his heart. However, it is difficult for a woman to cook without rice, and the money to build the school alone is already astronomical.
Shi Yigong ran around for this reason, begging his grandfather and grandmother everywhere, making himself physically and mentally exhausted, still unable to get together.
At this time, Shi Yigong's compatriot Zhang Lei donated 8.88 million US dollars to Yale University, and Shi Yigong remembered him and took the initiative to find him, hoping that he could donate to Westlake University.
Shi Yigong said to Zhang Lei that if you donate to your alma mater, then you are just an alumnus, and if you donate to Westlake University, then you are the founder. Zhang Lei listened to this sentence and said, "I have collected donations for several universities several times, and the donation is not as simple as you think." There is a set of rules here, not to find a few rich people at once to donate and end it. ”
Zhang Lei once went to Yale University in the United States to study, followed the investment master Swenson to work in the Yale University Endowment Foundation for more than ten years, and is very familiar with the university donation set, everyone believes in his words, and also feels that school donations are not very easy.
Fundraising is not simply to find a few businessmen to ask for funds, there are corresponding indicators for this fundraising team.
One is called the donation participation ratio, which means that fundraising is not just a matter of pulling a few large donors, if there is no proof of participation in the fundraising process, etc., there will be no more foundation and no sustainability in the future.
It can't be said that five were donated this time, then these five, what about the next period and the next year's fundraising activities.
Each year's fundraising activities should be reserved in advance, and the team should talk about both the total amount and the proportion of donation participation. The proportion of donation participation must talk about all potential and value, which is a very basic business thinking.
In Zhang Lei's view, the initial cost of the establishment of Westlake University is still small, and the operating costs in the later stage, the salaries of the staff on campus, etc. are the big heads.
Therefore, for Westlake University, if you want to achieve a win-win situation between donors and Westlake University, you must do a good job in the brand value of Westlake University and establish a correct educational concept in order to continuously attract more and more people to donate.
The first thing the donor considers is social influence and social reputation, so Westlake University must develop from social value, investment value and competitive value. In this way, the fundraisers not only help the operation of the school, but also get a good social reputation, which is what the fundraisers want most.
After Zhang Lei officially donated money to Westlake University, he immediately attracted ma Huateng, Wang Jianlin and other big entrepreneurs to donate to it, prompting Westlake University to open smoothly as scheduled and develop very well.
After the establishment of Westlake University, the first board of directors was held, and the honorary chairman of the board of directors was Yang Zhenning, a Nobel Laureate in Physics and an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences; the chairman of the board of directors was Qian Yingyi, the fourth dean of the School of Economics and Management of Tsinghua University and a senior professor of liberal arts; and the vice chairman of the board of directors was Qin Yinglin, chairman of Makihara Food Co., Ltd.
The first board of directors confirmed that Shi Yigong was elected as the first president of Westlake University. The top management of the school is a leader in various industries, which has laid a good foundation for the later development of the school.
At the beginning, Westlake University had high standards of enrollment, and the school began to enroll students from the doctorate, which is unprecedented and unprecedented. As of 2021, only cutting-edge students with postgraduate degrees or above will be admitted.
Unlike other universities that started with undergraduate basic education at the beginning and then slowly applied for undergraduate professional degrees, master's degrees, and doctoral professional degrees, Westlake University should start with the impression that it is necessary to start from scientific research and be an elite research university.
Westlake University is a private new type of university focusing on high-end research, drawing on the model of California Institute of Technology and stanford University's educational philosophy, with "high starting point, small and fine, research-oriented" as the positioning.
Westlake University has always put the reliance on the foundation to raise funds for school development in the first place, and has placed donors in the C position on any occasion to highlight. This is very important, and public universities are almost fully funded by the state treasury.
Schools must consider the overall policies and interests of the state in school management, teaching and scientific research, and other aspects. The characteristics of public universities determine that public universities cannot provide the same education as private universities. This is also the reason why the best public universities in the US college rankings are also difficult to enter the top 20.
The world's top universities, such as Harvard University and Yale University, are private universities and mainly rely on social donations based on alumni donations. The source of funding can largely determine the direction of a university, that is, the question of who the school is responsible for and to whom to report.
In just a few years, Westlake University has also done a lot of outstanding things.
The recent goal of Westlake University is to create the technology of intelligent manufacturing in the future, which is currently the highest precision electronic 3D printing in China.
Taking the new material as the core to break through the limit of 3D printing accuracy, the design of a new 3D printing functional material can realize the electronic 3D printing from 100 nanometers to microns, mainly focusing on the high-end areas of microwave communication, photoelectric interconnection, high-precision three-dimensional packaging and other systems.
Westlake University is developing rapidly, which is inseparable from the leadership of President Shi Yigong, let alone Zhang Lei and the donations he brought at that time. Zhang Lei has a very large view of the pattern, and at the same time has a long-term vision.
In 2005, when Zhang Lei received his first funding, the first project he invested in was the current giant company Tencent.
At that time, Tencent's market value was only more than a billion US dollars, and Zhang Lei had a long-term vision, smelled the direction of future development, and invested the fund in him. In 2008, P&G and Unilever occupied the household washing market, Zhang Lei analyzed the market, found Luo Qiuping, the founder of Blue Moon, and encouraged him to continue to make laundry detergent.
He told Luo Qiuping that he should have the courage to create new categories in order to beat multinational companies and become the first place in China's laundry detergent. After a few years, Blue Moon's operating income increased from the previous 400 million yuan to 4.3 billion yuan.
In 2010, JD.com faced huge problems, Liu Qiangdong needed to raise $75 million, he found Zhang Lei. At that time, Zhang Lei was crowned with the title of "people with more stupid money", and Jingdong was like a revived lion after that investment, developing rapidly and quickly seizing the market.
There are also many domestic companies, such as Gree, Belle women's shoes, Didi, etc., have been invested by Zhang Lei, and they have also developed in a higher and better direction.
In 2010, Zhang Lei donated 8.8888 million US dollars to his alma mater, Yale University, but it was controversial by many people, who questioned why they did not donate to their alma mater in China.
In fact, everyone does not know that since 2010, Zhang Lei has set up the "107 Scholarship" in Zhumadian's alma mater, funded the National People's Congress to build the Gaoli Research Institute in 2011, and donated 300 million yuan to the National People's Congress in 2017. In fact, Zhang Lei's donation to Yale University is a kind of peach and reward mentality. Zhang Lei's entrepreneurial fund came from his mentor At Yale University, Stevenson.
Swenson is a legendary figure with deep achievements in the investment industry, is the chief investment officer of Yale University, has made great contributions to Yale University, and is also Zhang Lei's guide in the investment industry.
After learning of his love disciple Zhang Lei's plan, Swenson was in a dilemma of no funds, and Swenson took out $20 million from Yale's foundation as Zhang Lei's start-up fund. It can be said that without Yale University and without Swenson, there may not be Zhang Lei today.
Zhang Lei's insight and understanding of talents is more profound, and he has emphasized this on many occasions.
"Every turning point and development in my life has benefited a lot from education." Many venture capital investments need to be exited, but nurturing talent is an investment that never needs to be exited. Education is the most important and sensible investment in life.
Discover talents, cultivate talents, and help outstanding people play their talents and values to achieve their dreams. Today's society is very scarce for truly talented people, and talent has a vital position in the development of the whole society.
The purpose of Zhang Lei's donation to the school is to use this money to support the exploration and development of innovative interdisciplinary disciplines in the long term, and at the same time encourage young people to learn more in a complex and choice-free world, and to make choices that are truly beneficial to the development of the country and society with creative and speculative thinking.
Education is a very emotional care and motivation of the field, the need for the support of the whole society hopes that more businessmen to participate in the cause of education, science, so that China can continue to innovate, create wealth, and always move forward!