US: A US$5-billion donation by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates to the eponymous foundation he started with his ex-wife was the largest charitable gift of 2022, according to an annual ranking compiled by the Chronicle of Philanthropy.
The publication’s annual list of the 10 largest charitable gifts announced by individuals or their foundations totaled nearly US$9.3 billion in 2022. The contributions went to large, well-established institutions, three of them private foundations and three universities to support environmental sustainability, children’s mental health, and stem-cell research. The other gifts backed cancer research and treatment, housing efforts, youth programmes and reproductive health.
Two of the gifts exceeded US$1 billion, and six of the eight donors (one donor made three gifts) are multibillionaires. The combined net worth of those six donors is just over US$325 billion.
Topping the list is Gates, who gave US$5 billion to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to back the grantmaker’s work in global health, development, policy and advocacy and U.S. education. Gates, whose net worth is estimated at US$104 billion, attracted attention in July when he announced he was giving US$20 billion to the foundation he runs with his former wife, Melinda French Gates. - abc news
Add new comment