“Lifting up the Next Generation.” A Gift Underscores the Growing Footprint of Self-Made Female Donors

NYU’s Stern school of business. littlenySTOCK/shuttertock

New York University’s Stern School of Business announced that it received a $5 million gift from alumna Elizabeth Elting (MBA ’92), the single largest gift from a self-made woman in the school’s history. With her gift, Elting aims to champion the next generation of talented and entrepreneurial women affiliated with her alma mater.

Elting earned her fortune as the former co-CEO of TransPerfect, a language solutions company she co-founded in her NYU dorm room in 1992. Headquartered in New York City, the company has over $600 million in revenues and more than 4,000 employees in over 90 cities around the globe. Forbes recently ranked Elting No. 62 in its annual list of America’s Self-Made Women, pegging her net worth at $350 million.

A Growing Focus on Giving

The 53-year-old Elting stepped away from the company last year to focus on her Elizabeth Elting Foundation, which supports public health and education, efforts to advance workplace equity, and strategies designed to remove systemic barriers to economic independence and mobility. Her gift, which comes as other higher ed funders dig deep to fund entrepreneurship programs and initiatives aimed at boosting gender parity in fields like engineering and economics, underscores how an emerging crop of self-made female givers are reshaping modern philanthropy.

“Starting my own business is the best and most rewarding decision I ever made for my life,” said Elting. “It gave me the resources I needed to provide for my family and influence the world for the better. That’s why I’m so excited to provide this gift to NYU Stern. This money will not only make Stern accessible to a greater number of ambitious young women eager to create their own futures, but will also help the best and brightest launch new enterprises and carry out visions that could transform the world.

“As an NYU Stern alumna that has received so much from this school, I wanted to give back and do my part in lifting up the next generation of forward-thinking women leaders.”

After graduating from Trinity College in 1987, Elting worked in the proprietary trading division of a French bank. It was a sobering experience. Speaking to Forbes’ Denise Restauri, Elting recounted growing dissatisfied with the “boys’ club” atmosphere and the expectation that she would perform administrative and secretarial work alongside her official responsibilities. “I knew that I had not spent tireless years studying, honing my skills and working my tail off so I could make coffee and take messages for my colleagues,” she said.

Her experience inspired Elting to found TransPerfect with her one-time fiancé Phil Shawe. The couple broke up in 1997, but remained co-CEOs as TransPerfect grew to become the world’s largest language solutions company. Their partnership eventually deteriorated, and they sued each other in 2014. Four years later, Elting complied with a court order to sell her half of TransPerfect to Shawe for $385 million.

Supporting Women Leaders

Over the course of 10 years, Elting’s $5 million gift to NYU Stern will support 40 female MBA students through the new Elizabeth Elting Women’s Leadership Program and provide seed capital to an additional 20 women-led businesses through the Elizabeth Elting Venture Fund. NYU Stern will name a large-scale convening space the Elizabeth Elting Lecture Hall in recognition of the gift. Effective October 1, Elting will also join NYU Stern’s board of overseers.

Elting has also partnered with and served as the co-chair of the New York branch of the American Heart Association’s Go Red For Women Campaign. The partnership is dedicated to spreading awareness and education regarding the factors that can affect women’s cardiac health, as well as promoting future research and encouraging more women to go into STEM fields like medicine and engineering. Elting is involved with the National Organization of Women, Women in the World, and the Women’s Leadership Council’s Founders Council at Trinity College, where she has awarded scholarships to women.

A few years back, Inside Philanthropy spoke with Debra Mesch, director of the Women's Philanthropy Institute, and Andrea Pactor, its associate director, about how women are changing modern philanthropy. The pair pointed to three factors behind this profound paradigm shift—the growing financial muscle of women, women’s growing leadership, and the upward trajectory of women in philanthropy. Elting, who made her fortune after escaping the “boys’ club” that is the finance world, checks off all three boxes.

Reflecting on how the “blatant yet insidious gender bias and workplace sexism” of her previous job drove her to create TransPerfect, Elting told Forbes’ Restauri, “We are who we choose to be, and I knew that if I wasn’t going to be allowed the space to utilize my talents and fulfill my potential, I would have to create that space myself.”