NEW YORK CITY, New York: Michael Bloomberg has again been named the biggest donor in the United States, topping the Chronicle of Philanthropy's annual Philanthropy 50 list for the third consecutive year.

The founder of the Bloomberg financial news empire and former New York mayor donated US$4.3 billion in 2025 to support the arts, education, environmental efforts, public health, and initiatives to improve city governments.

Bloomberg led a list of several billionaires who made major charitable contributions last year. Bill Gates ranked second after donating $3.7 billion to the Gates Foundation. In comparison, the late Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen placed third with a $3.1 billion bequest to launch a foundation focused on science and technology. Warren Buffett ranked fourth after donating $1.3 billion to four family foundations supporting a range of causes.

Together, donors on the Philanthropy 50 list contributed $22.4 billion to charitable causes in 2025. The median donation was $105 million.

Wealth from the financial sector accounted for the largest share of donors on the list, with 20 philanthropists collectively giving $4.1 billion. Technology was the second-largest source of wealth, with 12 donors contributing $10 billion, followed by real estate, where four donors gave $466.7 million.

Geographically, more donors lived in New York and California than in any other state, and nonprofits in those states received the largest share of contributions.

For many donors, charitable giving is closely tied to personal experiences. Jon and Mindy Gray, who ranked No. 34 after donating $63.6 million, focus their philanthropy on research into inherited cancers linked to BRCA mutations and on programs supporting young people in New York City. Mindy Gray's sister died from BRCA-related ovarian cancer at age 44.

One of their projects, the Gray Scholars program, provides scholarships each year for 10 New York City students to attend historically Black colleges or universities. The couple also hosts an annual gathering for scholarship recipients.

"We're very hands-on people — we enjoy it," Mindy Gray says. "Other people often come to us and say, ‘I want to do something, but what should I do?' And it really is what you feel in your heart. You should not be doing this work in areas that don't move you."

Despite the large donations recorded in the ranking, only a small portion of the wealthiest Americans appeared on the list. Just 19 members of the Forbes 400 made contributions large enough to qualify for the 2025 Philanthropy 50.

High-profile donor MacKenzie Scott did not appear in the ranking even though she has given about $26 billion to charities since 2020. The Chronicle said she likely made contributions to donor-advised funds that would have placed her on the list, but declined to disclose details of her giving.

The ranking also includes several lesser-known philanthropists.

Robert and Karen Hale, ranked No. 25, donated nearly $111 million to nonprofits they have supported for years, including a $100 million gift to Boston Children's Hospital. James and Patricia Anderson, ranked No. 39, donated $50 million to Wayne State University and more than $8 million to charities serving elderly people and people with special needs. Los Angeles real estate investors Melanie and Richard Lundquist, ranked No. 42, gave $50 million to Torrance Memorial Medical Center and another $3 million to organizations helping cancer patients and young people.

Many major gifts were tied to long-standing relationships between donors and charities. The Chronicle found that more than 35 of the 51 donors on the list had worked with the organizations they supported for at least five to 10 years.

"It's about building relationships," says Jeff Schreifels, a fundraising consultant at Veritus Group. "It's being that bridge between the donor and their desire to change the world, and matching that up with everything that the nonprofit does. That's what everyone is trying to do."

Foundations, donor-advised funds, and colleges and universities received the largest share of contributions in 2025, though donors also supported a wide variety of causes, including science, health care, and athletics.