The biggest charitable donations from the world’s wealthiest individuals and their foundations totalled over $3.5 billion in 2023.  

According to an annual list compiled by Chronicle of Philanthropy, four universities received big gifts in 2023, along with four scientific research institutes and a health-care system. The other gifts went to a family foundation and a racial-justice group. 

Eight donors listed are billionaires, with a combined net worth is $305.1 billion. 

US investor Warren Buffett topped the list, giving away 1.5 million shares of Berkshire Hathaway stock – valued at $541.5 million – to the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, linked to his first wife who died in 2004. Buffett is worth an estimated $119 billion.

Buffett’s charitable giving remains controlled by his family. Two of his three children serve on his charitable board, led by his former son-in-law.  

The Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation supports women’s reproductive health and provides college scholarships for students in Nebraska, where the Buffett family is from. 

Mathematician James Simons and his wife Marilyn Simons donated a $500 million gift, via their own Simons Foundation, to the State University of New York. The couple are estimated to be worth $30.7 billion. They have given the institution nearly $600 million through their foundation over the last 10 years. 

Nike co-founder Phil Knight and his wife, Penny, made a $400 million pledge to the 1803 Fund, as part of efforts to revive Albina, a historic area of Portland, Oregon, which once housed a thriving Black neighbourhood. Discrimination from successive government policies and construction projects dismantled the diverse area.  

The Knight’s, worth $43 billion, are giving the money both personally and through their Knight Foundation. 

The Chronicle’s annual rankings are based on the 10 biggest publicly announced gifts. The tally does not include contributions of artwork or gifts from anonymous donors, which is why US philanthropist Mackenzie Scott does not appear on the list.  

Shafi Musaddique is news editor at Alliance magazine.