David Booth Gifts $300M to KU’s Gateway District Project

KU Athletics has received its largest donation in history of $300 million from alumnus David Booth. Photo credit: Kansas Athletics.

Posted August 13, 2025

David Booth has donated approximately $300 million to Kansas Athletics, marking the largest gift the University of Kansas has ever received.

The Jayhawks football team will play its first game of the season on August 23. Days before kickoff, KU announced it received an unprecedented gift from alumnus Booth. The gift also includes a $75 million challenge to other donors to launch the next phase of development for the Gateway District and David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium.

“It accelerates phase II of the Gateway District and the new ‘Booth’ and inspires others to step up and join in completing this vision,” KU Athletics Director and Vice Chancellor Travis Goff said in a Wednesday release. “We’re profoundly grateful for David’s leadership and extraordinary impact on generations of student-athletes and fans. There is no more generous and impactful Jayhawk, and we are so fortunate to call him a friend and mentor.”  

The next phase of the Gateway District project will focus on the south and east portions of the stadium. The second phase of construction adds a new hotel, retail and restaurant spaces, student housing, improved parking and an outdoor event plaza.. Earlier this month, KU received a $25 million donation from the DeBruce Foundation to help support the project.

After graduating from Lawrence High, Booth attended KU, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in Economics in 1968 and a Master of Science in Business in 1969. He then earned his Master of Business Administration from the University of Chicago in 1971.   In 1981, Booth founded Dimensional Fund Advisors, a global investment firm that today manages over $850 billion in assets.

“KU and Lawrence are a big part of my story, and it means a lot to support the community that invested in me. Philanthropy, like investing, pays dividends over time. Each gift compounds, creating opportunities not just for today, but for years to come. This is really about the future we’re building.”  Booth said in the release.