Contrary to popular belief, you don’t need to have a building named after your family, a 500k donation will get you into Stanford.
https://patch.com/california/paloalto/inside-stanford-s-exclusive-admission-path-c38ea20a
That is not what the article says. 500k seems to be the starting point to even be taken into consideration and “if a kid is theoretically admissible and contributes in other ways then that’s something that is worked out”. Given the level Stanford plays at, for a kid with mediocre stats and no other hooks whatsoever, the price of admission is certainly much higher than half a mil. Now if the kid also has stats on par with the typical Stanford admit the story is different.
I can tell you for a fact that $500k does not get an unhooked kid with mediocre stats into Penn. Highly doubt that amount would get them into Stanford.
I know someone who has given well over 1 million whose kids did not get in. The kid still has to do the work.