BEZOS TOPS 50 U.S. CHARITY DONORS IN 2020

These are the donors who gave the most in 2020, according to the Philanthropy 50, an annual ranking compiled by the Chronicle of Philanthropy. A searchable database with more information on the donors and their beneficiaries is available at philanthropy.c

As the world grappled with COVID-19, a recession and a racial reckoning, the ultrawealthy gave to a broader set of causes than ever before — bestowing multimillion-dollar gifts on food pantries, historically Black colleges and universities and organizations that serve the poor and the homeless, according to the Chronicle of Philanthropy’s annual rankings of the 50 Americans who gave the most to charity last year.

Another cause that got outsize attention from billionaire philanthropists: Climate change.

Jeff Bezos topped the list by donating $10 billion to launch the Bezos Earth Fund. Bezos, who last week announced he was stepping down as Amazon CEO to devote more time to philanthropy and other projects, also contributed $100 million to Feeding America, the organization that supplies more than 200 food banks.

No. 2 on the list was Bezos’s ex-wife, MacKenzie Scott, who gave $5.7 billion in 2020 by asking community leaders to help identify 512 organizations for sevenand eight-figure gifts, including food banks, human-service organizations, and racial-justice charities.

Another donor who gave big to pandemic causes and racial-justice efforts was Jack Dorsey, the co-founder of Twitter, who ranked No. 5. He put $1.1 billion into a fund that by year’s end had distributed at least $330 million to more than 100 nonprofits.

The financier Charles

Schwab and his wife, Helen (No. 24), gave $65 million to address homelessness in San Francisco. Netflix cofounder Reed Hastings and wife, Patty Quillin (No. 14), gave $120 million for financial aid for students at historically Black colleges and universities.

Michael Jordan, the basketball great (No. 31), pledged $50 million to racial and social-justice groups.

“When I look at the events of the last year, there was an awakening for the philanthropic sector,” says Nick Tedesco, president of the National Center for Family Philanthropy. “Donors supported community-led efforts of recovery and resiliency, particularly those led by people of color.”

Giving experts say they think the trend toward broader giving is likely to persist.

All told, the 50 biggest donors contributed $24.7 billion in 2020, compared with $15.8 billion in 2019. Still, those gifts come from a small share of the billionaire class.

Only 23 of the people on the Forbes 400 gave enough to qualify for the list. Many of the multimillion-dollar donations came from people far less wealthy, like Gordon Rausser, a former dean of natural resources at the University of California at Berkeley.

The Chronicle’s rankings are based on the total amount philanthropists awarded in 2020.

The information is based on extensive research with donors, their beneficiaries, and public records.

The founder of Huawei said Tuesday he doubts President Joe Biden will remove U.S. sanctions that battered the telecom equipment giant’s smartphone sales but expressed confidence the company can survive.

Speaking in the central city of Taiyuan, Ren Zhengfei said strong sales of network gear and other technology should make up for Huawei’s weaker handset business, according to a transcript released by the company.

“We can still survive even without relying on phone sales,” he was quoted as telling reporters.

Huawei Technologies Ltd., China’s first global tech brand, is at the center of conflict with Washington over technology and security. American officials say the maker of network equipment and smartphones might facilitate Chinese spying, an accusation Ren and other executives deny.

Then-President Donald Trump cut off Huawei’s access to U.S. processor chips and other tech needed to make smartphones in 2019. Last year, Trump tightened those curbs by prohibiting suppliers from using U.S. tech to make chips for Huawei designed by its own engineers.

Ren said he expects Biden to consider U.S. chip and other suppliers that are losing billions of dollars in sales to Huawei. But he said it is “very unlikely” Huawei will be removed from the “Entity List.”

“I won’t say it’s impossible, but it’s extremely unlikely. We basically aren’t considering it a possibility,” Ren said.

Huawei sold its lower-priced Honor handset brand last year in an attempt to revive its sales by separating it from U.S. sanctions on the parent company.

Huawei’s smartphone sales, including Honor, fell 22 percent ast year to 188.5 million handsets, according to Canalys. In the fourth quarter, Huawei fell out of the top five global brands for the first time in six years.

Ren, who founded Huawei in 1987, said last year’s sales and profits were higher than 2019 but gave no details. Huawei, which is privately held, began reporting financial results a decade ago in an attempt to defuse foreign unease.

Ren was in Taiyuan in the center of China’s coal country for the opening of a mining industry research center. He pointed to mining as an example of an industrial customer for Huawei’s network technology to link devices.