There is this perception(not invalid) that more research money should go to the best schools because that would result in more impactful research. I, myself don't quite disagree with that.

But one of the claims for this argument that a huge donation suddenly doesn't turn a bad school into a good one is a strawman argument. Things don't have to be so extreme. There are plenty of middle tier schools specially state schools where amazing research is happening, and there are brilliant researchers who can also make use of that money having huge impact on the world. These schools already have very advanced infrastructure to utilize additional research money.

But as a graduate student in a state school, I might be biased.