To increase their visibility on campus, donors also can post their logos on a school's Web site or in the school building itself, as well as get priority in sponsoring events, speaking to student clubs and lecturing in classes.
Some companies donate much more.
Tom Piazze, director of corporate and foundation relations at Wharton, says there are no defined benefits for such high-level donors. Encouraging Competition Schools that use such tactics say their corporate alliances are simply a way to encourage cooperation between industry and academia. In addition to the recruiting perks, he says, donors get better access to faculty, the school's research centers and executive-education courses. Nevertheless, many investment-banking and consulting firms that hire the majority of M.B.A. graduates feel they can't afford not to be among the first recruiters to make a pitch and to interview students. They get a reserved spot on a Careers Extravaganza panel highlighting the school's strongest employers to the incoming M.B.A. class in September, a plaque in the school's corporate suite and a banner on the school's job-placement Web site.