The Chronicle took a look at some major philanthropists who are part of the shift toward nontraditional families, including more unmarried and childless people and more households with same-sex couples.
Paul Allen
Beatrice de Gea/Courtesy of Vulcan Inc.
Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, who has never married and has no children, has left $2.3 billion so far to science, the environment, and the arts and culture of the Pacific Northwest.
Wealth source: Co-founded Microsoft and founded investment company Vulcan Capital
Family ties: Never married; no children
Total personal charitable giving: $2.3 billion
Foundation: Founded the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation in 1988; it has awarded $650 million to date.
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The Chronicle took a look at some major philanthropists who are part of the shift toward nontraditional families, including more unmarried and childless people and more households with same-sex couples.
Paul Allen
Beatrice de Gea/Courtesy of Vulcan Inc.
Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, who has never married and has no children, has left $2.3 billion so far to science, the environment, and the arts and culture of the Pacific Northwest.
Wealth source: Co-founded Microsoft and founded investment company Vulcan Capital
Family ties: Never married; no children
Total personal charitable giving: $2.3 billion
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Foundation: Founded the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation in 1988; it has awarded $650 million to date.
Appearances on the Philanthropy 50 (The Chronicle’s annual list of America’s most generous donors): 15
Major recipients and causes: Allen Institute for Brain Science, Allen Institute for Cell Science, environmental causes, and arts and culture in the Pacific Northwest
Tim Gill
Craig F. Walker/The Denver Post/Getty Images
Tim Gill (right)
Wealth source: Founded the software company Quark
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Family ties: Married his partner Scott Miller in 2009; no children
Total personal charitable giving: More than $300 million
Foundation: Started the Gill Foundation in 1994; it has awarded more than $167.8 million to date.
Major recipients and causes: Freedom for All Americans Education Fund, Gay and Lesbian Fund for Colorado, efforts to promote same-sex marriage
Lyda Hill
Southern Methodist University
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Wealth source: Granddaughter of oilman H.L. Hunt and founder of a venture-capital firm
Family ties: Never married; no children
Total personal charitable giving: More than $300 million
Foundation: She has a small foundation but primarily gives directly from her own wealth.
Major recipients: Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership at Kalamazoo College, Global Trans Initiative, Save the Chimps
Peter Thiel
Peter ThielBruno Levy/CHALLENGES-REA/Redux
Wealth source: Founded several investment firms and the software company Palantir Technologies; co-founded PayPal; was Facebook’s first outside investor
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Family ties: Openly gay; never married
Total personal charitable giving: More than $71.7 million
Foundation: He started the Thiel Foundation in 2006; it awarded nearly $42.6 million from 2006 to 2015.
Major recipients: Thiel Fellowship; Breakout Labs, which backs unusual science companies; Imitatio, which supports research on and development of mimetic theory, a type of social science developed by French philosopher and literary critic René Girard.
Oprah Winfrey
Vera Anderson/WireImage/Getty Images
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Wealth source: Media and entertainment
Family ties: Never married; no children
Total personal charitable giving: Nearly $316.9 million
Foundation: Founded the Oprah Winfrey Foundation in 1995; it awarded $84 million from 1998 to 2011.
Major recipients: Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls South Africa, Oprah Winfrey Foundation, Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African American History and Culture
Maria directs the annual Philanthropy 50, a comprehensive report on America’s most generous donors. She writes about wealthy philanthropists, arts organizations, key trends and insights related to high-net-worth donors, and other topics.
