Stanford Hospital launches $1 billion campaign

At first glance, the $1 billion fundraising campaign that Stanford Hospital officially launched Monday sounds audacious, even by Silicon Valley standards. But in one more example of the valley's mind-boggling wealth and Stanford's ability to tap into it, half the goal—$500 million—has already been committed. The donors are a who's who of the high-tech community. Before jaws begin dropping, however, consider that the latest fundraising "ask" from the powerful research university comes on the heels of a just-completed $6.2 billion campus campaign—the biggest in the history of U.S. education.Don Fellows, president and CEO of philanthropy consulting firm Marts & Lundy, says he knows of no other capital campaign that has secured such large commitments from so many corporations—especially for a hospital.