Susan Dell is co-founder and board chair of the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, the organization through which she and Michael Dell direct a large share of their charitable work. The foundation’s current biography says the couple have committed $10 billion to nonprofits and social enterprises in the United States, India, Africa and Israel. That figure is a cumulative commitment—not assets under management—and the couple’s largest visible bets combine direct support for students with long-term investments in health systems and medical education.
Susan Dell’s role in the family’s giving
The Michael & Susan Dell Foundation identifies Susan Dell as its co-founder and board chair. In that role, she helps set the foundation’s priorities and oversee programs aimed at measurable improvements in children’s lives, education and health. The foundation’s biography describes the Dells’ cumulative commitments as follows: “To date, Michael and Susan have committed $10 billion to nonprofits and social enterprises focused on creating positive change in the United States, India, Africa, and Israel.”
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The foundation’s public programs show a practical emphasis: helping children and students navigate education, while also building institutions intended to improve care for entire populations. The two approaches have different time horizons, but they are part of the same philanthropic strategy.
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| Bet | Primary beneficiary | Mechanism | Time horizon | Operating partner |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Student opportunity programs | Children and Pell-eligible college students | Scholarships, advising and personalized support | Immediate help through graduation | Foundation programs and the University of Texas at Austin |
| Children’s and academic medicine | Patients, clinicians and health systems | Institution-building, medical training and research capacity | Long-term system change | Dell Children’s Medical Center and Dell Medical School |
| UT Austin life-sciences investment | Researchers, students and future patients | University-scale funding for innovation and academic medicine | Long-term research and care improvements | University of Texas at Austin |
Children and student opportunity
UT for Me—Powered by Dell Scholars
On its Texas page, the foundation identifies UT for Me—Powered by Dell Scholars as a program for Pell-eligible students at UT Austin. It supports participants through graduation with personalized guidance, rather than treating a scholarship as a one-time payment. Students receive help navigating the academic and practical barriers that can cause capable students to leave college before earning a degree.
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The program reflects a broader distinction in the Dells’ giving: money for access is paired with advising and ongoing support. The foundation describes the initiative and its Texas work at dell.org/texas.
Dell Scholars
Dell Scholars is the student-opportunity platform connected to this work. In the UT Austin program, the emphasis is persistence—helping eligible students remain enrolled and reach graduation. That makes the investment different from a conventional award that ends when tuition is paid: the intended outcome is a completed degree and a stronger transition into adult life.
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Health care: building institutions, not only funding treatment
Dell Children’s Medical Center
The foundation says Michael and Susan Dell helped establish Dell Children’s Medical Center. A children’s hospital is an institution with continuing costs for specialists, equipment, clinical programs and research, so the philanthropic effect is designed to extend beyond a single grant cycle.
Dell Medical School
The Dells also helped launch Dell Medical School at UT Austin. The foundation says the school was created to attract talent and train physicians for Texas and beyond. Fortune reported in 2026 that, in 2013, the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation committed $50 million to establish the medical school and an additional $10 million for local health-care initiatives. Those amounts are the figures Fortune reported about the 2013 commitments; they are not a revised total for all Dell giving.
The medical-school strategy has a different mechanism from student scholarships. Instead of assisting one student at a time, it funds an institution intended to influence medical education, research and patient care for decades.
UT Austin becomes the largest disclosed institutional milestone
On April 21, 2026, UT Austin reported that Michael and Susan Dell had become the university’s first-ever billion-dollar supporters. The university said the investment is directed toward life-sciences innovation and academic medicine. Its announcement is available at news.utexas.edu/2026/04/21/michael-and-susan-dell-surpass-1-billion-in-giving-to-ut-austin/.
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The milestone includes the long-running relationship behind Dell Medical School and expands the focus to university-wide research and medical innovation. Dell Medical School dean Claudia Lucchinetti described the investment this way: “This historic investment is not just a gift to an institution, it is a commitment to fundamentally redefine health.”
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For UT Austin, the significance is both financial and strategic: the university can plan around a billion-dollar-plus philanthropic relationship aimed at research, training and care rather than a narrowly restricted scholarship fund.
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How the pieces fit together
Direct assistance for students
UT for Me and Dell Scholars target a clearly defined group—Pell-eligible students—and provide personalized support through graduation. The beneficiary is identifiable, and the intended result is improved persistence and completion.
System change in health care
Dell Children’s Medical Center and Dell Medical School operate on a broader scale. Their purpose is to expand clinical capacity, attract specialists, train physicians and support innovations that can affect many patients over time.
One philanthropy, two time horizons
The student programs address immediate obstacles such as navigating college and staying enrolled. The health-care investments take longer to mature because hospitals, medical schools and research programs require sustained institution-building. The Dells’ giving therefore spans near-term individual outcomes and long-term changes to systems that serve large populations.
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- The Michael & Susan Dell Foundation’s biography presents $10 billion as the couple’s cumulative commitments to nonprofits and social enterprises.
- It covers work in multiple regions, including the United States, India, Africa and Israel.
- It is not described as the foundation’s assets under management, annual giving or a balance available for future grants.
- The separate UT Austin figure—more than $1 billion—is the university’s reported total for gifts from Michael and Susan Dell and makes them UT’s first billion-dollar supporters.
The Bottom Line
Susan Dell’s influence is visible in a two-track strategy: personalized support that helps disadvantaged students finish college, and billion-dollar-scale institution-building in children’s health, medical education and life-sciences research. Together, those commitments explain how the Dells’ philanthropy reaches from an individual student’s graduation to the design of an entire health system.
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