Minn. Billionaire Glen Taylor Gives $100 Million for Rural Families

Former Minnesota state Senator Glen Taylor gave farmland and securities valued at more than $100 million to his Taylor Family Farms Foundation to help people in rural areas of southern Minnesota and northwest Iowa. Taylor’s foundation focuses on helping struggling rural families. It also supports three Minnesota community foundations: Mankato Area Foundation, Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation, and Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation.

He established the Taylor Family Farms Foundation in 2023 with a donation of farmland valued at more than $172 million. The income generated from that land has been used to support a range of programs across the region. The foundation has given grants to local emergency medical services, programs fighting food insecurity, and child care and recreation groups. His latest donation will expand the work of the three community foundations and his foundation’s own grant making.

Taylor is a billionaire who founded the Taylor Corporation, a commercial printing and communications company headquartered in North Mankato, Minn., and served in the Minnesota state senate from 1980 to 1990. He is the majority owner of the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Minnesota Lynx professional basketball teams, and he owns the Minneapolis Star Tribune newspaper. He grew up on a small farm in southern Minnesota and said in a news release that the children and families of rural communities will always hold a special place in his heart because he has shared their struggles.

“I have received many blessings in my life, and they can all be traced back to my upbringing on a farm here in southern Minnesota,” said Taylor in a news release. “With this latest gift, I can give back for years to come and make a positive impact on the lives of others in a region that I love so much.”

Other Recent Big Gifts Include:

California Institute of Technology

Lynn Booth and Kent Kresa pledged $50 million through their foundations — the Otis Booth Foundation and the Kresa Family Foundation — to endow and name the Lynn Booth and Kent Kresa Department of Aerospace and to support graduate fellowships, research, and faculty recruitment efforts. Kent Kresa is chairman emeritus of Northrop Grumman Corporation, an aeronautics and defense-technology company from which he retired in 2003. Booth is a Los Angeles philanthropist. They both serve on the Caltech Board of Trustees.

Hopkins School

John Malone gave $50 million for the construction of a new academic building that will house the private school’s computer science, digital media, engineering, robotics, and other programs. Malone founded the telecommunications giant Liberty Media Corporation. He graduated from the New Haven, Conn., school in 1959. Malone is a billionaire who has appeared on the Chronicle’s annual Philanthropy 50 list of the biggest donors three times since 2000.

New York-Presbyterian

Emilia Fazzalari gave $20 million to establish the medical center’s Emilia Fazzalari Women’s Health Center of Excellence and the Emilia Fazzalari Women’s Health Program, in New York City, and Westchester, N.Y., respectively, which will focus on perimenopause and menopause health care and research. Fazzalari is a co-founder and the chairperson of Cincoro Tequila.

Hartford HealthCare

Neil Mellen left $15 million to expand St. Vincent’s Medical Center’s oncology department, in Bridgeport, Conn. Mellen founded the East Haven, Conn., tire retailer, Town Fair Tire, in 1967 and was a longtime donor to the Bridgeport, Conn., hospital, and many other local charities. He died in 2024 at age 89.

To learn about other big donations, see our database of gifts of $1 million or more, which is updated regularly.