Madison PAC Fully Funded (By One Donor)

Wisconsin philanthropist Jerry Frautschi is even more popular in Madison’s arts community today than he was previously. Back in the late 1990s, Frautschi agreed to pay the entire cost of designing and building a new performing arts center in the capital city. But no one was sure of exactly how much that cost was, until this week, when the Overture Center announced that Frautschi’s gift would total more than $200 million, more than double previous press estimates. Frautschi agreed to pay for the center because he believes that such projects should not be built with public money.