The top 50 American individuals and couples who gave or pledged the most to charity in 2023 committed US$12 billion to foundations, universities, hospitals and more. That total was 28% below an inflation-adjusted $16.5 billion in 2022, according to the Chronicle of Philanthropy’s latest annual tally of these donations.
The Conversation U.S. asked David Campbell, Angela R. Logan and Michael Moody, three scholars of philanthropy, to assess the significance of these gifts and to consider what they indicate about the state of charitable giving in the United States.
What trends stand out overall?
David Campbell: As was the case in 2022, more than one-third of these big gifts – $4.4 billion – went to donors’ personal foundations. Another $764.3 million flowed into donor-advised funds. Also known as DAFs, these charitable savings accounts make it possible for donors to reserve assets such as cash, stocks and bonds for future charitable gifts.
That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it does mean that a significant amount of the money these wealthy Americans technically gave away in 2023 didn’t get in the hands of charities right away. And while foundations must give away or spend 5% of their assets every year, there are no such requirements for DAFs.
Many of the same wealthy people make this list every time, and they stick with a few main priorities. Media mogul and former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg, for example, puts a lot of his charitable money into public health.
Michael Moody: One thing that stands out for me is what’s missing. This list doesn’t include some billionaires known to give significant amounts of money to charity, and it doesn’t reflect all the ways that the wealthiest Americans seek to do good aside from giving to charitable organizations.
The list leaves out anonymous donors, such as the one who in 2023 catapulted the endowment of McPherson, a small college in Kansas, past the $1.5 billion mark. It also omits a very prominent billionaire donor: author and philanthropist MacKenzie Scott.
Scott openly discusses her giving in periodic essays posted to the internet, including one in December 2023 when she described the more than $2.1 billion she had given in the previous 12 months to 360 nonprofits.
However, this sort of self-disclosure doesn’t fit the Chronicle of Philanthropy’s methodology. To avoid counting the same donation twice, it acknowledges only those gifts that go directly to charities or are made to foundations and other intermediaries such as DAFs. Without specific information from Scott or her representatives about which vehicles she uses and how much money she funnels through them each year, they leave her off the list.
Another probable omission is Elon Musk, one of the richest people in the world, who leads several companies and designated billions for charity in 2021 and 2022. He has said little about his giving. Details about gifts he’s made to his foundation or other charities usually surface only through mandatory legal filings. Also, Musk has argued that his companies are his best “philanthropy.”
Similarly, other billionaires who regularly make this list also say they use money to do good in ways beyond the charitable gifts summarized here.
John Arnold, who made a fortune by starting and running a hedge fund, and his wife, Laura Arnold, as well as Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, often point to ways they pursue their philanthropic goals through for-profit means, as well as through gifts to their foundations and DAFs. They reserve large chunks of their fortunes in limited liability companies, which are private corporations that they use to either make charitable donations or invest in what they believe are socially responsible companies.
What surprises you about the biggest donors?
Campbell: Last year, I predicted that Melinda French Gates, the ex-wife of Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, would make the 2023 list and she did. French Gates was the ninth-largest donor of 2023, while her former husband was No. 16.
French Gates has charted her own course by creating Pivotal Ventures, a limited liability company. But she has continued to give primarily by funding the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the biggest private source of funding for international development.
French Gates indicated that she plans to branch out with her philanthropy. But she and Bill still co-chair the foundation bearing their names.
Angela Logan Most donor-advised funds aren’t massive. Only 1% of those accounts held balances of $10 million as of late 2021, according to a recent report. Yet, some of the biggest donors of 2023 deposited far more than that.
Tech executive Michael Dell and his wife, Susan Dell, have infused theirs with $486 million, while Phil Knight, the founder of the athletic apparel and footwear company Nike, and his wife, Penny Knight, placed $104 million in their DAF. Both couples also have their own foundations.
I believe it’s worth watching to see whether in the future more of the biggest donors will take this route, rather than creating their own family foundations.
One concern is that there is no obligation for donors to disclose gifts they make through DAFs, another difference between them and foundations.
If more of the biggest donors take the DAF route, rather than forming foundations or giving directly to charities, the public would lose access to information about where philanthropic dollars go. And that could potentially further erode trust in charitable giving and nonprofits.
What concerns do you have?
Campbell: While these gifts are formidable, I still think about those who are not showing up. Only 23 of the top givers are from the Forbes 400 list of the wealthiest Americans.
I find it surprising that many of those with the most to give away are outflanked by others’ generosity. Only 13 of the year’s top donors have signed the Giving Pledge, a “promise by the world’s wealthiest individuals and families to dedicate the majority of their wealth to charitable causes.” This fact leads me to wonder what the long-term plans are for many of the other top donors.
Will they sign to the Giving Pledge? What makes them willing to give so much today but not commit for tomorrow?
Logan Similarly, I’m struck by the lack of diversity in terms of age among the top givers. More than half of them are over 80. Only one person listed among the youngest members of the Forbes 400 list, Zuckerberg, also made the cut.
Even more intriguing is that, in addition to Zuckerberg, five more of the youngest members of the Forbes 400 have signed the Giving Pledge: Airbnb co-founders Joe Gebbia, Nathan Blecharczyk and Brian Chesky; Brian Armstrong, CEO of the cryptocurrency platform Coinbase; and Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz.
What makes them willing to commit so much tomorrow but less inclined to give as much today?
What do you expect to see in 2024 and beyond?
Logan: I feel as though this has been stated every four years since I turned 18, but the 2024 U.S. presidential election will be the most consequential in the nation’s history.
I suspect that in this election cycle, donors are putting more of their philanthropic dollars toward preserving democracy, voter education and the causes that matter to Americans on the left, right and center.
Additionally, even if the conflict between Israel and Hamas ends soon, I expect to see an increase in giving in 2024 to combat both antisemitism and Islamophobia and for that to continue going forward. Hate-related crimes, including those targeting Muslims and Jews, have been rising in the U.S. since 2014. And they have surged since Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and Israel launched its war on Gaza. That could drive further giving along the lines of the $100 million that New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft provided his Foundation to Combat Antisemitism in 2023.
Moody: I expect that most of the biggest gifts will keep going to foundations and DAFs, as well as higher ed and medical causes. That pattern seems to hold steady, regardless of whatever new culture war, political fight or international conflict is in the headlines.
However, as Angela Logan notes, there are hints that we’ll see more major gifts focused on issues like ethnic conflict, bigotry or racial justice and uplift. One notable example of this in 2023 was the Knights’ $400 million pledge to revive a struggling Black neighborhood in Portland, Oregon.
But the world of philanthropy can be surprising sometimes. Donors can make choices no one saw coming, and new donors can burst on the scene. With new billionaires emerging at a swift pace, it’s hard to predict what’s going to happen next.
Consider, for instance, the news announced in late February 2024 that Ruth Gottesman donated $1 billion to the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx.
Gottesman is a former professor at that medical school. Her husband, David “Sandy” Gottesman, was a billionaire investor who died in 2022 without putting any strings on what she should do with their fortune. This gift broke with some common conventions.
While she did stipulate that the funds should be be used to make the school tuition-free forever, she didn’t tie the gift to naming rights. She insisted, instead, that the college keep its name. Initially, she even wanted to give the money anonymously.
Will other big donors now follow suit?
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has provided funding for The Conversation U.S. and provides funding for The Conversation internationally. Arnold Ventures provides funding for The Conversation U.S.