Of the billions donated by the Philanthropy 50, how much goes to sparking social change? That figure is not easy to calculate. Some philanthropists who talk about doing good don’t always identify the nonprofits they support. Also, some big givers earmark contributions for social-change goals but funnel the money through family foundations. Until those dollars are disbursed as grants, they can’t be counted as catalysts for change.
Still, several 2015 gifts are noteworthy for both their size and their purpose. The nonprofit Bridgespan Group, which did a groundbreaking study last year of “big bets” for social change, examined each Philanthropy 50 donation of $10 million or more that included the disclosure of the dollar figure and charity recipient (excluding donor-advised funds and family-controlled entities).
$2.1 billion given to colleges and universities in 2015
Bridgespan defined a big bet for social change in broad terms: gifts to human services, environmental, and international development groups; or gifts to support efforts that focus on those issues as well as poverty or underfunded diseases that disproportionately affect low-income people.
Among the social-change big bets from 2015:
$30 MILLION
Lenfest Scholars Foundation
The Philadelphia media mogul Gerry Lenfest and his wife, Marguerite (No. 30), quietly made this gift to a college-scholarship program they began in 1999.
$40 MILLION
Inner-City Scholarship Fund
The New York financier Stephen Schwarzman and his wife, Christine (No. 8), are paying for scholarships for disadvantaged students to attend Catholic schools in the city.
$40 MILLION
World Vision
$182 million given to human-service groups in 2015
The gift by the steel-magnate David Dornsife and his wife, Dana (No. 28), will expand the international aid group’s clean- water, sanitation, and hygiene projects. The couple also gave $45 million to Drexel University (Ms. Dornsife’s alma mater) to improve health in cities and expand the university’s global-health program, among other things.
$101 MILLION
Northwestern University
The venture capitalist and Hyatt hotel scion J.B. Pritzker (No. 20) worries that crushing debt loads prevent newly minted lawyers from seeking public-interest careers. Among other things, this gift to the law school by Mr. Pritzker (an alumnus) and his wife, M.K., will go toward scholarships and grants as well as social-justice centers focused on wrongful convictions, children and family issues, international human rights, and environmental law.
$125 MILLION
Estimated bequest to Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired
The San Francisco charity will decide later this year how to use this windfall from entrepreneur Donald Sirkin (No. 15), but the group hopes to expand its work with the city’s high-tech companies to design consumer products that blind people can easily use.
$605 MILLION
Estimated bequest to San Antonio Community Foundation
Before his death, John Santikos (No. 2), owner of a Texas movie-theater chain, directed his bequest to support people in need; youth and education programs; public libraries, parks, and museums; arts and culture; and health care and medical research.
