10 largest charitable donations made in 2014
Howard Lake | 6 January 2015 | News
Ultra high net worth individual research firm Wealth-X has revealed the 10 largest charitable donations made in 2014. Not surprisingly, eight out of the top 10 donors are Americans, and all of the beneficiary organisations are American.
The largest gift in 2014 was made by billionaire investor Warren Buffet, who gave $2.1 billion to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in the form of 16.6 million shares of his company, Berkshire Hathaway.
Non-US major donors
The two non-American donors who appear on the list are Hong Kong real estate tycoons Ronnie and Gerald Chan. In total the brothers gave a $350 million gift to Harvard University. This is the largest ever received by the organisation.
Educational institutions receive most donations
Six of the top 10 donations made in 2014 were made to educational institutions. For example, Harvard also received a $150 million donation from hedge fund manager Kenneth Griffin.
Two donations were made to health causes, and two were made to philanthropic foundations.
Top 10 donations in 2014
1. Warren Buffett – $2.1 billion to Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
2 Nicholas Woodman (with spouse) – $497.5 million to Silicon Valley Community Foundation
3,. Ronnie Chan – $175 million to Harvard University
4. Gerald Chan – $175 million to Harvard University
5. Kenneth Griffin – $150 million to Harvard University
6. Gert Boyle – $100 million to Oregon Health & Science University
7. John Morgridge (with spouse) $100 million to University of Wisconsin-Madison
8. John “Jay” Jordan – $75 million to University of Notre Dame
9. Edward Meyer (with spouse) $75 million to Weill Cornell Medical College
10. Charles Munger – $65 million to University of California Santa Barbara
Photo: 2014 in gold coins by Dim Dimich on Shutterstock.com
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About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.