March 5, 2024 (Washington, DC) – Michael Bloomberg, the former New York City Mayor, gave the most to charitable causes last year, followed by Nike founder Phil Knight, and his wife, Penny, and Michael Dell, and his wife, Susan, according to the Chronicle of Philanthropy’s exclusive list of the 50 Americans who donated the largest sums to nonprofits last year.
Bloomberg contributed $3 billion to support the arts, education, environment, public health, and programs aimed at improving city governments around the world, while the Knights gave $1.24 billion, including support for the University of Oregon, and an ambitious poverty-fighting effort in Portland, Ore. The Dells awarded nearly $976 million to their charitable funds, which distribute gifts to a wide array of charities.
For the first time, Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates appear separately on the list — she at #9 and he at #16. And all three co-founders of Home Depot are on the list — Bernie Marcus at #10, Ken Langone at #12, and Arthur Blank at #21.
While foundations created by the donors and colleges and universities were the biggest recipients of last year’s gifts, many donors supported a diverse range of causes that included:
- Researching Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases: The Lauder family, at #14, contributed $200 million to the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation. Recipients of Google co-founder Sergey Brin’s $67.33 million (#34) included the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research.
- Combatting anti-Semitism: Businessman and New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, #24, committed $100 million to expand the work of the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism.
- Lifting up women and girls: Recipients of Lucia Woods Lindley’s $63 million in donations (#35) included the Ms. Foundation for Women and the Chicago Foundation for Women.
- Understanding artificial intelligence: At #36, David and Kathleen LaCross awarded $57 million to the University of Virginia Darden School of Business, which will support an extensive AI program. And, at #8, eBay founder Pierre Omidyar and his wife, Pam, awarded $264 million in donations including a contribution to the AI Collaborative, a group of grantmakers who distribute funds to ensure AI advances the public interest.
Most of the nation’s wealthiest people do not appear on the list. Only 23 of the richest Americans on the Forbes 400 list donated enough to appear on the Chronicle of Philanthropy’s rankings.
Among those who gave big – but are less well known – were:
- Franklin Antonio, an early employee of chipmaker Qualcomm is #6; he bequeathed $400 million to the Summer Science Program and to the SETI Institute, which seeks to detect evidence of civilizations elsewhere in the universe.
- Ohio investor Hugh Hoffman, at #11, left $231.7 million to the ALS Association, University of Cincinnati Foundation, Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden, Cincinnati Nature Center, Yale University, and other groups.
- Boston’s Tim Springer and Chafen Lu, academics and researchers, were early investors in Moderna. At #13 on the list, they contributed $210 million
- to the Institute for Protein Innovation, which shares its data to scientists free.
- At #23, San Diego’s Jay Kahn worked in the clothing industry for many years and was an early investor in Price Club and Apple. He bequeathed $106 million to the San Diego Foundation.
The 24th annual Philanthropy 50 is based on gifts and pledges of cash, stock, land, and real estate to nonprofit organizations in 2023. The Chronicle talked to dozens of nonprofits, philanthropists, and their representatives to find out more about large donations that were made public last year, as well as the philanthropy of big donors who gave quietly. However, not all philanthropists publicly disclose details about their giving, and they are not legally required to do so. As a result, some major donors may not appear on this list.
“Revealing America’s largest donors and analyzing where the wealthy give shines a spotlight on all giving to charities,” said senior reporter Maria Di Mento, who directs the Philanthropy 50. “Our deep research annually unearths dozens of large donations that were previously never disclosed to the public and reflects surprisingly significant ‘hidden wealth,’ among many generous contributors who are not widely known.”
Among the other findings from the report:
- When they start giving big: Four of the donors on the Philanthropy 50 are under 40. The youngest donor is 34-year-old Jeff Sobrato, a real estate investor.
- Where they live: Fifteen top donors live in California, seven in New York, five in Florida, four in Texas, and three each in Virginia and Washington. Thirty-four states and the District of Columbia have no donors on the list.
- Where they give: Twenty recipients of donations from the largest donors are based in California, 12 in New York, 11 in Hawaii, seven in Ohio, five in Virginia, and four in Massachusetts.
- How they became wealthy: Donors with ties to the financial industry were most frequently on the list (10 donors with $2.2 billion in contributions); followed by those who earned fortunes in technology (nine donors with $2.6 billion in donations), and real estate (six donors with $397 million in contributions).
The Chronicle’s extensive coverage of the Philanthropy 50 includes a story on the transition to the next generation of major donors, as well as a detailed analysis of key data related to the 50 top donors.
For more than 35 years, the Chronicle has been the premier source of news, information, analysis, and opinion in the nonprofit world. Nearly 350,000 nonprofit professionals, foundation executives, board members, fundraisers, donors, and others working to advance the common good rely on it to stay informed, learn, and broaden their perspective. As part of its bold plan to innovate and expand its coverage of the rapidly growing social sector, the Chronicle last year become an independent nonprofit organization.
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Media contact: Andy Solomon, andy@stratfordcommunications.com, (202) 841-9049