Maria Di Mento

A questionable $240 million gift illustrates what can happen when nonprofit leaders ignore warning signs.

Plus, Harvard gets $20 million after taking a fundraising beating when controversies around campus protests prompted several major donors to pull back.

Wealthy donors gave more than $5 billion in 2024, including a $1 billion donation to the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Fundraisers are optimistic about the next six months of major donations.

Plus, Rochester, N.Y. area billionaire Tom Golisano gave $50 million to build a center to help people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, and University of South Carolina lands $30 million for engineering and computing.

Plus, a performing arts center receives $10 million from its original funder, and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, the Pratt Institute, and other nonprofits land big gifts.

The billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott’s no-strings, no-hassle giving approach...

Plus, Cornell University landed $20 million to boost mental health services for students, and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra received $10 million to attract new audiences.

Plus, Rochester businessman Phil Saunders gave the University of Rochester Medical Center $30 Million to support orthopaedics, nursing, and medical school faculty.

Plus, immigrants donated big last week: The Clark Art Institute, MIT, and a historical society all received eight-figure gifts from wealthy donors who immigrated to the U.S. and built their fortunes here.

The Chronicle’s annual list of the biggest charitable donations from individuals or their foundations totaled nearly $6 billion in 2024, with half of that coming from three contributions of $1 billion...