Biggest Gifts and Pledges Announced by Individuals in 2009





  • $747-million - Haas family, heirs to the Rohm & Haas Company fortune
    To the William Penn Foundation (Philadelphia) for programs to benefit Philadelphia causes

  • $705-million - Stanley Druckenmiller, founder of Duquesne Capital Management, and his wife, Fiona
    To the Druckenmiller Foundation (New York) for medical research, education, and antipoverty programs

  • $350-million- William H. (Bill) III Gates, a co-founder of the Microsoft Corporation, and his wife, Melinda
    To the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (Seattle) for a new building

  • $125-million (pledge) - Michael R. Bloomberg, Mayor of New York, and founder of Bloomberg LP
    To the Association for Safe International Road Travel (Potomac, Md.), Global Road Safety Partnership (Washington), the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (Baltimore), World Bank Global Road Safety Facility (Washington), World Health Organization (Washington), and World Resources Institute Center for Sustainable Transport (Washington), for an international program to reduce deaths from automobile accidents

    $100-million - George Soros, chairman of Soros Fund Management
    To the Fund for Policy Reform (New York) to support the Climate Policy Initiative (San Francisco)

  • $100-million (pledge)- William P. Clements Jr., founder of Sedco
    To the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Foundation (Dallas)

  • $100-million (pledge) - J. Ronald Terwilliger, chairman of Trammell Crow Residential
    To Habitat for Humanity International (Americus, Ga.) for endowment and microloans for needy people

  • $85-million - Louise Dieterle Nippert, an owner of the Cincinnati Reds baseball team
    To the Greenacres Foundation to support the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, the Cincinnati Ballet, the Cincinnati Opera, and other arts groups

  • $65-million (pledge) - Patrick Soon-Shiong, founder of Abraxis BioScience, and his wife, Michele B. Chan
    To Saint John’s Health Center (Santa Monica, Calif.) for medical research

  • $50-million (pledge) - Caroline Amplatz, a businesswoman
    To the Minnesota Medical Foundation (Minneapolis) for a new children’s hospital

  • $50-million (pledge) - John W. Jackson, a retired chief executive of the Celgene Corporation, and his wife, Susan
    To Princeton University (N.J.) for a global-affairs institute

  • $50-million (pledge) - Pierre Omidyar, founder of eBay, and his wife, Pam
    To the Hawaii Community Foundation (Honolulu)

  • $50-million (pledge) - George Soros, chairman of Soros Fund Management
    To Central European University (Budapest) to establish an economics institute

  • $50-million (pledge) - Ronald P. Stanton, founder of Transammonia
    To NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital for a program for cancer patients

  • $40-million (pledge) - Thomas F. Steyer, founder of Farallon Capital Management, and his wife, Kat Taylor
    To Stanford University (Calif.) to establish a center for sustainable energy

    $35-million (pledge) - Mark W. Yusko, founder of Morgan Creek Capital Management, and his wife, Stacey
    To the University of Notre Dame (Ind.) for scholarships

    Note: Does not include gifts of artwork or other noncash donations or gifts from anonymous donors. Unless otherwise noted, the donor did not place any restrictions on how the money was to be used.

    Source: Chronicle of Philanthropy