http://philanthropy.com/news/updates/index.php?id=10035

Generosity is a difficult value to maintain in the current economic crisis. As more and more nonprofits seek different methods of keeping donors active and even attempting to gain new, untapped resources in new donors, two people have made a more than generous donation to a well-known American university.
Amherst College is a small liberal arts university located in Amherst, Massachusetts. The school only enrolls 1,600 students which allows for more in-depth learning in the classroom.
It was founded in 1821 and is one of the Five Colleges. It is an honor to be accepted to this institution and a great reward to attend classes there. Students work hard to maintain good grades under a heavy course load.
The strong standards that educational institutions such as Amherst require are what causes such strong loyalties for alumni.
What other schools have received such large, anonymous donations? The fact that two alumni were willing to donate $125 million total is simply astounding. This kind of generosity is what will allow schools and nonprofits in general to continue to thrive. A strong passion for whatever you believe in must lead to such an astronomical gift and these alumni must love their alma mater.
This passion is a resource that needs to be tapped on a national level. It does not necessarily need to be huge monetary gifts, although those are needed to keep any philanthropic organization running, but also gifts of time and energy. Few people actively volunteer any part of their lives to volunteer. We are so selfish with our time, spending it watching four hours of television as opposed to helping someone in need. If everyone could learn to donate an hour out of their week, great things could be accomplished in the United States and worldwide.