Dear MFSA Members and Supporters,
We’re excited to announce that MIT alumnus and fellow MFSA member Neil Webber has generously offered to match the next $25,000 from donors with an additional $25,000 donation to MFSA. We’re grateful for Neil’s belief in our work, and hope that you’ll join us in doubling the effectiveness of your gift with his help!
Neil has been a longstanding donor to MIT, having previously endowed an undergraduate scholarship fund at the Institute. Since the Dorian Abbot affair in 2021, Neil has redirected his philanthropy, with a focus on supporting organizations promoting free expression and viewpoint diversity. The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression and Heterodox Academy are among the more recent beneficiaries of Neil’s giving, and we’re honored to be joining their company through this campaign.
A resident of Austin, Texas, Neil Webber graduated from MIT with a degree in computer science in 1983. Neil was Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer of Vignette Corporation, an enterprise software company that went public in 1999. In that same year, Neil founded the Webber Family Foundation, which has awarded more than $21 million in grants to expand educational opportunities for low-income students, with a current focus on youth in the Austin and Washington, DC areas.
Neil has been a presence at our events this year, including our spring DEI debate and our fall conference, and it has resonated strongly that the issue of free speech at MIT is near enough to his heart that he made a point of traveling to Cambridge for our events. What’s more, we’re honored by the fact that someone with his experience in educational philanthropy sees enough promise in MFSA not only to give, but to amplify the effect of others’ giving.
To make a donation to MFSA, please click the button below, and don’t hesitate to email me at president@mitfreespeech.org with any questions.
Sincerely,
Wayne Stargardt ‘74
President
