It’s been a rough few weeks for the billionaire philanthropist Thomas Golisano and his family.
Three weeks ago, a 5-year-old great grandchild underwent a heart transplant; it was scary but successful. Then his 95-year-old sister, Marie, opted into a risky hip replacement surgery; she is also fine. Then on Thursday, Golisano was sitting on the patio of his foundation’s Victor, N.Y., offices when he fainted. Twice. His wife and a foundation official called an ambulance and Golisano was rushed to the hospital. Now, the Paychex founder has a new pacemaker and is giving away $360 million as direct personal gifts that are likely to have a big impact on the work of charities in Upstate New York.
At a news conference Tuesday, Golisano surprised the assembled leaders of 82 charities in Buffalo, Rochester, and Syracuse, N.Y., with the news that they were getting big gifts. The charities received $250,000 to $10 million apiece, with most in the $1 million to $5 million range. All of the gifts are unrestricted. He also announced that he is giving his Golisano Foundation $52 million, nearly doubling its endowment to $120 million.
“I’m thrilled to provide support to the region where I built my life and my business,” Golisano said during the announcement. “I know there are many organizations doing great work and understand that running a nonprofit is not easy, facing both opportunities and challenges, like raising money. These awards are the result of relationships I’ve formed over the years. It is extremely rewarding to see what they have been able to accomplish with my financial support over the years. I hope this unexpected, unrestricted funding helps them build on their successes.”
Golisano has been a mainstay among philanthropists in Upstate New York for decades. Born in Rochester, N.Y., to a pasta salesman father and seamstress mother, Golisano founded the payroll giant Paychex in 1971 and built up what has become a $6 billion fortune.
The donations he announced Tuesday are in addition to $50 million he pledged in June to the University of Rochester Medical Center to establish the Golisano Intellectual and Development Disabilities Institute, his biggest single donation so far.
Some of his other large gifts over the years include the $25 million he gave in 2015 and $30 million in 2021 to the Special Olympics to expand the organization’s Healthy Communities program, which provides health services globally for people with intellectual disabilities. He also gave $20 million in 2011 and another $20 million in 2015 to the University of Rochester Medical Center to establish the Golisano Children’s Hospital, among many other donations over the years.
To date, he has given $775 million primarily to education, health care, human service groups, and nonprofits that help disabled people and has appeared on the Chronicle’s annual Philanthropy 50 list of the biggest donors three times.
The donations he announced on Tuesday will continue his support of those key causes. Of the $360 million he gave, the largest portion — multimillion-dollar donations totaling $104 million — will go to 26 nonprofits that help intellectually and developmentally disabled people, a cause close to Golisano’s heart: He has a developmentally disabled son. He also gave $86 million to 16 colleges, universities, and high schools; $69 million to nine health care organizations; $25 million to eight Rochester human service groups and other charities; and $24 million to 23 animal welfare groups.
Golisano said he was looking forward to seeing how the nonprofits decided to use his donations and said this isn’t the last of his gifts. He plans to contribute more to charities in the coming years and even encouraged nonprofits to visit the foundation’s website to learn more about what he supports.
“One of my favorite sayings is, ‘The only wealth you keep is that which you give away,’” said Golisano in his announcement. “I’m so lucky to be able to live that out.”
