Here are the 10 largest donations given by the ultra-wealthy in 2016

In a recent report, the Chronicle of Philanthropy analyzed publicly announced donations given by wealthy individuals in 2016.

The 10 largest of these all surpassed $200 million apiece:

Two of the three most generous donations came from Nike co-founder Phil Knight — both bequeathed to higher education institutions. His $500 million gift to Oregon University, to be used to create a scientific research center, marks the largest single donation to a public university in American history. An additional $400 million donation to Stanford University will be used to establish a scholars program for global leadership.

Investor Nicolas Berggruen’s $400 million donation will be used to create his own public policy think tank, the Berggruen Institute.

Calculating these donations as a percentage of the donor’s net worth, though, the most generous gesture was a $400 million gift from Howard and Lottie Marcus. Their gift represented their entire life savings.

The since-deceased elderly couple, who had fled Nazi Germany and invested with Warren Buffett in the 1960s, gave the funds to Israel’s Ben-Gurion University for water research. “The single biggest gift before this was $20 million,” a university official told Jewish Week.

Also among the biggest single donations of 2016 was a pair of $300 million-plus gifts from Michael Bloomberg, benefiting anti-tobacco research and the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Hedge fund manager Steven Cohen gave $275 million to start the Cohen Veterans Network (a mental health institute for former military service members), Facebook co-founder Sean Parker threw down $250 million to start the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, and Oracle founder Larry Ellison pledged $200 million to the University of Southern California to establish a medical clinic bearing his name.

These donations — collectively totaling more than $3 billion — benefited a wide array of causes:

Here are a few other massive donations from individuals in 2016 that narrowly missed this list (full breakdown at Forbes):

• Sanford Weill (Citigroup chair emeritus): $185 million to the University of California San Francisco, for neuroscience research
• Sheryl Sandberg (Facebook COO): $107.2 million to Fidelity Charitable
• Paul Allen (Microsoft co-founder): $100 million to the Paul G. Allen Frontiers Group
• David Geffen (DreamWorks co-founder): $100 million to New York’s Museum of Modern Art for renovations and expansion
• Reed Hastings (Netflix founder): $100 million to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation

It is possible there were other non-public, or anonymous, donations that exceeded $100 million. But this report gives us an idea of what institutions America’s wealthiest benefactors are supporting.

Explore more of 2016’s top donations in the Chronicle of Philanthropy’s full report.

We have a request

Vox's journalism is free because we believe that everyone deserves to understand the world that they live in. That kind of knowledge helps create better citizens, neighbors, friends, parents, consumers and stewards of this planet. In short, understanding benefits everyone. You can join in on this mission by making a financial gift to Vox today. Reader support helps keep our work free, for everyone. Will you join us?

One-Time Monthly Annual

$95/year

$120/year

$250/year

$350/year

Other

$

Yes, I'll give $120/year

Yes, I'll give $120/year

We accept credit card, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. You can also contribute via