Bill Gates Makes 2022's Biggest Charitable Donation

The Chronicle of Philanthropy's annual list of the 10 largest charitable gifts announced by individuals or their foundations totaled nearly $9.3 billion in 2022, with Bill Gates leading the list of donors, the Associated Press (AP) reported.

Photo Insert: Gates' contributions went to large, well-established institutions, three of them private foundations and three universities to support environmental sustainability, children's mental health, and stem-cell research.

The contributions went to large, well-established institutions, three of them private foundations and three universities to support environmental sustainability, children's mental health, and stem-cell research.

The other gifts backed cancer research and treatment, housing efforts, youth programs, and reproductive health.

Two of the gifts exceeded $1 billion, and six of the eight donors (one donor made three gifts) are multibillionaires. The combined net worth of those six donors is just over $325 billion.

Topping the list is Bill Gates, who gave $5 billion to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to back the grantmaker's work in global health, development, policy and advocacy, and US education.

Gates, whose net worth is estimated at $104 billion, attracted attention in July when he announced he was giving $20 billion to the foundation he runs with his former wife, Melinda French Gates.

However, foundation officials confirmed in December that three-fourths of that $20 billion went toward paying off the $15 billion he and French Gates had pledged in July 2021. The remaining $5 billion was a new infusion to the foundation.

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