Philanthrophy
Behring was involved in founding the Blackhawk Museum (originally the Blackhawk Automotive Museum) in 1988, created, in part, to house his personal collection of vintage cars; he was criticized for the tax exemption he sought and received for donating his cars to his museum.
Behring pledged $20 million to the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History in 1997, with the intention that it be used for educational purposes. At the time, the money was allocated for refurbishing the museum's rotunda, supporting a traveling exhibition, and endowing the museum's new Kenneth E. Behring Family Hall of Mammals, which opened in 2003. There was some controversy around the terms of the donation, linked to Behring's endangered species hunting controversy.
He pledged another $80 million to the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History in 2000. Of the $80 million, $20 million was allocated for a hall honoring "American legends and legacies," paying "tribute to deceased individuals who made great contributions to our country and who truly epitomize the 'American spirit", $4 million paid for an exhibition on the American presidency, and another $16 million funded an exhibit called "The Price of Freedom: Americans at War," opened in 2004. In return, Behring's contract required that the museum rename its main facility the "Behring Center." MuseumNews called Behring's donation "purportedly the largest cash donation ever to be given to a U.S. museum by a living person," and Behring was given the Smithsonian's James Smithson Award for his contributions. In 2001, a memorandum by a group of curators and scholars at the Museum of American History expressed concerns about Behring's gift, and criticized the museum for hiring Behring's personal architect to do a study on modernizing the museum's exhibition space; a Smithsonian official denied accusations of impropriety. According to The New York Times, Behring's gift was also then criticized in the museum world, as some museum professionals charged that he had been given too much power to "dictate the nature and content of the museum's exhibitions."
In 2000, Behring also donated $7.5 million to expand the University of California, Berkeley's Principal Leadership Institute; the newly established Kenneth E. Behring Center for Educational Improvement focused on training programs for public school principals, providing scholarships for 50 aspiring principals every year. UC Berkeley awarded him a Chancellor's Citation in 2001.
Behring founded the Wheelchair Foundation in Blackhawk, California in 2000, to provide free wheelchairs for people with physical disabilities in developing nations unable to afford one. He founded the WaterLeaders Foundation, a nonprofit working to support safe drinking water around the world, in 2005. In a 2010 interview, he reported having given away between $200 and $300 million, and his interest in issues of global health.
In 2009, Behring made a $1.9 million donation to National History Day, intended to "improve the teaching and learning of history at middle and high schools throughout the country."
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