The Largest Gifts to US Colleges and Universities
A running list of the biggest single donations to US higher education, led by Ken Griffin's $3 billion gift to Carnegie Mellon University.
Updated · 5 gifts
Ken Griffin's $3 billion commitment to Carnegie Mellon University in September 2026 is the largest single gift to a US college or university on record. It passed Michael Bloomberg's $1.8 billion gift to Johns Hopkins, which had held the record since 2018.
The list below ranks the largest gifts WYDE Newsroom has reported on or verified. It updates whenever a new gift is covered.
| # | Donor | Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ken Griffin | Carnegie Mellon UniversityNew Miami campus ($2 billion) and Pittsburgh priorities including the School of Computer Science ($1 billion) | $3 billion |
| 2 | Michael Bloomberg | Johns Hopkins UniversityUndergraduate financial aid | $1.8 billion |
| 3 | John and Ann Doerr | Stanford UniversityStanford Doerr School of Sustainability | $1.1 billion |
| 4 | Ruth Gottesman | Albert Einstein College of MedicineFree tuition for medical students | $1 billion |
| 5 | Phil and Penny Knight | University of OregonNew Knight College of Engineering | $1 billion |
This list covers gifts WYDE Newsroom has reported on or verified against a primary source. It is not a complete census.