The Chronicle of Philanthropy’s just-released list of America’s most generous donors, the Philanthropy 50, includes six who made gifts of $1 billion or more, the largest numbers in the list’s 25-year history. In total, the 50 donors gave $16.2 billion.
Some of America’s biggest donors do not appear on the current Philanthropy 50 even if they donated to a nonprofit last year because the Chronicle’s rankings count multiyear pledges only once, as a lump sum in the year the commitment was made.
Several other philanthropists who made some of the biggest donations last year did not make it onto the Philanthropy 50 list because they gave through their foundations. Among them were Alice Walton, who gave $350 million through her Alice L. Walton Foundation to Mercy Health, and Jackie and Mike Bezos, who gave $186 million through their Bezos Family Foundation to the Aspen Institute.
To compile its 2024 list, the Chronicle talked to numerous charities, philanthropists and their representatives to find out more about large donations that were made publicly last year, as well as the philanthropy of big donors who gave quietly.
Not all philanthropists publicly disclose details about their giving, and they are not legally required to do so, the Chronicle noted.
Researchers counted gifts made to donors’ family foundations and donor-advised funds, but excluded disbursements from those grant-making vehicles in the rankings to avoid double-counting. The Chronicle counts only gifts and pledges that donors make to organizations with charity or foundation status under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.
See the gallery for the 12 most-generous Americans on the Philanthropy 50 list.
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