OHSU reaches $500 million fundraising goal; Nike co-founder Phil Knight to match

Oregon Health and Science University announced Thursday morning that it reached its goal of raising $500 million, meeting a challenge from Nike co-founder Phil Knight. Phil Knight and his wife, Penny Knight, pledged in 2013 to match the funds, bringing the total amount of money to $1 billion for cancer research at OHSU. SEPT. 2013: OHSU accepts challenge from Nike co-founder Knight after $500M pledge With the huge amount of funding, the OHSU Knight Cancer Institute will hire nearly 300 new researchers and physicians who will work on a large-scale program dedicated to early detection of cancer. OHSU said improving early detection methods will allow doctors to treat deadly cancers when they're most curable, resulting in fewer side effects and lower overall costs. According to the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, the Knights' cancer challenge is the biggest documented fundraising challenge to succeed. OHSU said more than 10,000 donors gave money to the effort, many of whom were first-time donors. Money poured in from all 50 states and five countries.