Phil and Penny Knight’s donation tops the Chronicle of Philanthropy’s list of 2025’s biggest gifts

FILE - Phil Knight, right, and Penny Knight, watch the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in the Phil Knight Invitational tournament in Portland, Ore., Nov. 26, 2017. Photo by Craig Mitchelldyer /AP

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The Chronicle of Philanthropy’s annual list of the biggest charitable donations from individuals or their foundations totaled $5 billion in 2025. Topping the list was $2 billion from Nike co-founder Phil Knight and his wife, Penny, followed by a $746.7 million donation from Warren Buffett and a $500 million pledge from the mother and stepfather of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

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Nearly 40% of the $5 billion total came from the Knights’ gift to Oregon Health & Science University. More than $1.3 billion, or about one-quarter of the total, came from four donations to Buffett family foundations.

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The top three gifts went toward cancer care and research, a private grantmaker, and an international effort to fight hunger and malnutrition among women and children. Two donations totaling $600 million went to university athletics programs. One gift of $300 million backed the construction of a new hospital and an effort to expand the health care workforce in South Dakota. Another gift of about $200 million went to an art museum for an expansion project.

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Five of the donors are multibillionaires and their combined net worth is roughly $190 billion.

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Support for cancer research

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Phil Knight, whose net worth Forbes pegs at more than $31 billion, and his wife, Penny, gave their $2 billion donation in August to Oregon Health & Science University to expand clinical trials and basic cancer research at the Knight Cancer Institute and bolster a range of support services for cancer patients and their families, including psychological, genetic, and financial counseling, nutritional care, and survivorship support, among other offerings.

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Their gift was the result of a long relationship between OHSU professor Brian Druker, one of the country’s most celebrated cancer researchers, and the Knights, which began nearly two decades ago. Impressed with Druker’s work, the couple gave OHSU three nine-figure donations before this year’s windfall, starting with their $100 million naming gift in 2008. They have given Oregon Health & Science a total of at least $2.7 billion over the years.

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Buffett supports family foundation

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The Knights’ donation is followed by a gift from the legendary investor Warren Buffett, who gave 1.5 million shares of Berkshire Hathaway stock valued at $746.7 million in November to the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, named for his late first wife, who died in 2004.

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Buffett, whose net worth is estimated by Forbes at more than $146 billion, created the grantmaker in 1964 to manage the family’s charitable giving, and it remains a family affair. Two of his three children serve on its board, and it is led by his former son-in-law. The foundation primarily backs women’s reproductive health. It also provides college scholarships for students in Nebraska, where the family is from.