The Harvard Business School will receive a $10 million donation to establish programs in not-for-profit management from a former chair of the University's Board of Overseers, school officials said yesterday.

The contribution, the gift of John C. Whitehead, a prominent New York philanthropist, will be used to create the John C. Whitehead Fund for Not-For-Profit Management.

School officials said they were thrilled with the donation.

"I think it's wonderful," Business School Dean Kim B. Clark '74 said last night.

"It's great for the Harvard Business School and its students to have such a program," he said.

Clark added that Whitehead is "a role model for students."

According to the dean, the new fund will aim to deepen the understanding of not-for-profit management through research and teaching. It will also encourage "social entrepreneurship," for both not-for-profit and for-profit organizations.

Clark cited Boston's City Year project as an example of successful social entrepreneurship. The City Year project is a year-long program for high school students, who take time off from their studies to perform community service in schools and elsewhere.

"It's probably one of the most successful programs of its kind," Clark said.

A University-wide Effort

The Kennedy School of Government, the Harvard Business School, and the Divinity School are exploring ways to cooperate on the study of not-for-profit organizations.

The Kennedy School already has a not-for-profit management program similar to the Business School's new initiative, school officials said.

"We're trying to find ways of working together; there are projects we've collaborated on together," said Lecturer in Public Policy Christine W. Letts, who teaches an introductory class on not-for-profit management at the Kennedy School.

"The field needs the level of energy collaboration can bring to it," Letts added.

According to Letts, one-third of the Kennedy School's students go to work for not-for-profit organizations.

The New York Times reported yesterday that 11 out of 807 graduates entered public service from the Business School's Class of 1995.

Harding Professor of Business Administration H. Kent Bowen said that the new gift might make it easier for students interested in public service to pursue it.

"The Business School will be looking for ways to help students committed to [not-for-profit-work] to not suffer a loss," he said.

Whitehead's gift comes at a crucial time for the University's on-going $2.1 billion capital campaign, according to William H. Boardman Jr., director of capital giving for the University.

Whitehead's contribution is important for its "timeliness not only for the Business School, but for [President Neil L.] Rudenstine's entire campaign, and for keeping the momentum going for the entire school," he said.

@D: A Role Model

Whitehead, who is originally from Evanston, Ill., graduated from Haverford College in 1943. He received his M.B.A. from Harvard Business School in 1947.

The former head of the University's board of Overseers also donated $10 million to Haverford, in addition to several other not-for-profit groups, the New York Times reported yesterday.

Whitehead's career has included a stint as chair of the Securities Industry Association from 1973 to 1974. He then served as co-chair of Goldman Sachs & Co. from 1976 to 1984 and as director of the New York Stock Exchange from 1982 to 1984.

Whitehead assumed a post as Deputy Secretary of State from 1985 to 1989 and as the Chair of the Board of Overseers from 1989 to 1992.

Whitehead is also involved in such organizations as the United Nations Association of the U.S.A., the Brookings Institution, Outward Bound and the Greater New York Councils/Boy Scouts of America