Why Big Gifts Dropped in 2025 and Will Soon Rise
Tax-code changes and other political and economic forces are causing some ultra-wealthy donors to wait until the end of the year or to give quietly.
By Maria Di Mento
Senior Reporter
August 21, 2025 | Read Time: 4 minutes
When Nike co-founder Phil Knight and Texas financier David Booth recently announced gifts of $2 billion and $300 million, respectively, the donations were among only 12 known gifts of $100 million or more from the first half of 2025 — down from 18 big gifts from the first half of 2024. But major-gift experts say that decline doesn’t tell the whole story.
Big gifts have appeared particularly slow this year for several reasons, they say. Chief among them is that rich donors are waiting to see what the new tax-law changes mean for them.
“Many donors may have been holding back on their giving because they wanted to see how the tax code played out,” Laura MacDonald, founder of the Benefactor Group, a fundraising consulting firm, said. “Every time there’s been a significant change to the tax code, there’s then a significant bump in giving in the fourth quarter of the year.”
President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed into law July 4, removed some of the tax breaks that have benefited wealthy donors and have encouraged them to give to charity. Since changes to the tax code don’t take effect until 2026, experts say nonprofits could see some major windfalls in year-end big gifts as rich donors rush to make use of current tax breaks.
Another likely cause for the decrease in publicized mega-gifts is due to extreme partisan politics. MacDonald, who served a two-year term as chair of the Giving USA Foundation several years ago, said some rich donors may be making big gifts quietly because they want to avoid attention from the public or the federal government.
Economic forces are also playing a role, causing many ultra-wealthy donors to take a wait-and-see approach to giving big gifts, Bonnie Devlin, managing principal at the fundraising consultancy Washburn McGoldrick, said.
“My clients are not hearing people say ‘no’ to big giving,” Devlin said. “What [donors] are saying is they have to figure out when to make the gift and what assets to use.”
Some wealthy donors whose fortunes are tied to industries affected by the Trump administration’s tariffs — like retail and car dealerships — are also waiting to see how the tariffs could affect the economic environment.
“I don’t think it’s completely played out yet,” Devlin said. “I think it’s going to be interesting to watch what happens this fall and in December.”
Both Devlin and MacDonald also point out that attracting eight-and-nine-figure gifts is a long game, and those kinds of gifts generally do not happen quickly.
Major gifts are often the result of years of relationship-building and stewardship. The recent mega-gifts from Knight and Booth are case in point.
Phil and Penny Knight’s $2 billion gift to Oregon Health & Science University’s Knight Cancer Institute was the result of a relationship between OHSU professor David Druker, one of the country’s most celebrated cancer researchers, and the Knights, which began nearly two decades ago. Impressed with Druker’s work, the couple gave OHSU three nine-figure donations before this latest windfall, starting with their $100 million naming gift in 2008.
David Booth’s $300 million gift to University of Kansas Athletics came after more than 50 years of relationship-building, starting when the financier graduated from the university in the late 1960s and continuing through Booth’s $2.5 million donation in 2013 to help pay for a new business school building and his $50 million gift in 2017 for athletics.
Regardless of whether an era is marked by turmoil or peace and prosperity, Dan Martin, president of the university’s endowment, said there is no magical solution to landing major gifts from rich donors. It takes long-term relationship-building.
“It was really just through conversations with him over the years, making those touch points and developing a real relationship with him over time,” Marin said. “For us, it hasn’t been anything more than that.”
To learn more about America’s wealthiest philanthropists, see the Chronicle’s annual Philanthropy 50 report on the most generous U.S. donors. And check out our database of gifts of $1 million or more to see who else is giving big to charity.
