Longtime ACLU Donor Confirms $388-Million in Anonymous Gifts

David Gelbaum, a former hedge-fund manager who has made large donations anonymously, confirmed that over the past five years he has given a total of nearly $388-million to three organizations.

Full text article by Maria Di Mento is available via The Chronicle of Philanthropy, 12/9/09.

Longtime ACLU Donor Confirms $388-Million in Anonymous Gifts

David Gelbaum, a former hedge-fund manager who has made large donations anonymously, confirmed that over the past five years he has given a total of nearly $388-million to three organizations.

Full text article by Maria Di Mento is available via The Chronicle of Philanthropy, 12/9/09.

Mystery Donors Give Over $45M to 9 Universities

A mystery is unfolding in the world of college fundraising: During the past few weeks, at least nine universities have received gifts totaling more than $45 million, and the schools had to promise not to try to find out the giver's identity.

Full-text article by Michael J. Crumb is available via The Associated Press, 4.17.09.

Anonymous Giving Is on the Rise

Wealthy philanthropists are increasingly choosing to give their charitable donations anonymously, in part to protect their privacy but also to avoid rifts among family members expecting an inheritance.

Full-text article by Steve Chawkins is available via The Los Angeles Times,
3.31.2008.

Mystery Donors Push Marquette Past Halfway Point

Marquette University has a generous, though shy, family to thank for helping to raise half of the $100-million for a new College of Engineering facility.

The anonymous family of a Marquette alumnus donated $25-million, officials announced this week, which brings the family’s total to $50-million given to the College of Engineering.

The university is spending a total of $167-million on the engineering school. Its strategic plan includes a new Discovery Learning Complex, seven endowed faculty chairs, and scholarships.

Full-text article (above) by Erin Strout published via the Chronicle of Higher Education, 1.30.08.

U. of St. Thomas Receives Anonymous $50-Million Gift

An anonymous donor has given $50-million to the University of St. Thomas’ Opus College of Business, officials announced today.

The Minneapolis university is in an eight-year, $500-million fund-raising campaign. So far it has raised $317-million.

Full-text press release is available on the University of St. Thomas website.

Philanthropy in 2007

The Philanthropy 50: Americans Who Gave the Most in 2007. Twenty donors made gifts of $100-million or more last year, just shy of a record of 21 such gifts in 2006.

Donors Increasingly Make Their Big Gifts Anonymously, Chronicle Analysis Finds (article by Sam Kean). Anonymous giving hasn't had a year like 2007 in recent memory, according to a Chronicle analysis of donations of $1-million or more. Unnamed donors made at least 87 such donations.

Search The Chonicle's database to learn more about all the donors on the Philanthropy 50, plus gain access to information on all the gifts of $1-million or more listed in the Chronicle in the past year.

Published via The Chronicle of Philanthropy, 2008. [Subscription required/]

Why Donating Millions Is Hard To Keep Secret

As anonymous giving to charities increases, it's getting harder for donors to maintain the anonymous part.

Wealthy philanthropists last year made 37 gifts of $5 million or more without publicly revealing their names. That's up from 27 such gifts in 2006, and just 13 in 2004, according to an analysis by the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University.

Full-text article by Sally Beatty is available via the Wall Street Journal, 1.9.08.