| 1. | U. of California at San Francisco | Helen Diller Foundation | late wife of Sanford Diller, founder of Prometheus Real Estate Group (Ms. Diller); she died in 2015 | $500 million (bequest) | $200 million each for endowments to recruit and retain outstanding faculty members, and to support scholarships for students in four professional schools; $100 million to help advance innovations in biomedical research |
| 1. | U. of Oregon | Philip H. and Penelope Knight | co-founder and chairman emeritus of Nike (Mr. Knight) | $500 million (pledge, to be paid in 10 annual installments of $50 million) | new science complex in Eugene, Ore., for research on innovations, products, or cures |
| 3. | Johns Hopkins U., Bloomberg School of Public Health | Bloomberg Philanthropies (Michael R. Bloomberg) | co-founder and chief executive of the media company Bloomberg, and former mayor of New York | $300 million | support for the Bloomberg American Health Initiative, including a $125-million endowment to support faculty research on drug addiction, obesity, gun violence, adolescent health, and environmental threats; a $100-million endowment to support 50 public-health fellows per year; and $75 million to establish scholarships for a doctor-of-public-health program and a public-health summit |
| 4. | U. of Washington | Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation | co-founder of Microsoft (Mr. Gates); philanthropists | $279 million (pledge) | expansion of the work of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, which studies global health trends |
| 5. | U. of Washington | Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation | co-founder of Microsoft (Mr. Gates); philanthropists | $210 million | construction of a building to house a department and units of the university’s Population Health Initiative, and provide a place for employees to meet with global partners |
| 6. | Johns Hopkins U. | Stavros Niarchos Foundation | a Greek shipping magnate who died in 1996 and who left a significant part of his estate to create a namesake foundation | $150 million | creation of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Agora Institute, which will foster civic engagement through academic and public forums |
| 7. | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | Anonymous | alumnus | $140 million (pledge) | unrestricted use |
| 8. | California Institute of Technology | Tanqiao Chen and Chrissy Luo | founders, in 1999, of Shanda Interactive Entertainment Limited, which became the largest online entertainment developer and publisher in China | $115 million | creation of the Tianqiao and Chrissy Chen Institute for Neuroscience at Caltech and support for interdisciplinary brain research |
| 9. | California Polytechnic State U. at San Luis Obispo | William and Linda Frost | founder of Chemlogic, a chemical-manufacturing company, which he later sold for $1.3 billion, and an alumnus (Mr. Frost) | $110 million | funds for a new interdisciplinary research center, updated equipment, and the hiring of more instructors in the College of Science and Mathematics, with $3.6 million set aside annually for student scholarships and research stipends |
| 10. | Colby College Museum of Art | Peter and Paula Lunder | former president of Dexter Shoe Company, and a 1956 Colby graduate and life overseer (Mr. Lunder); life trustee of Colby (Ms. Lunder) | at least $100 million (value of art) | addition of more than 1,100 artworks to the museum’s collection, and creation of the Lunder Institute for American Art |
| 10. | Santa Clara U. | John and Susan Sobrato | founder and principal of the Sobrato Organization, a property-development company in Silicon Valley, 1960 graduate of Santa Clara, and a member of its Board of Trustees (Mr. Sobrato) | $100 million | support for construction of a 300,000-square-foot Sobrato Campus for Discovery and Innovation to promote cross-disciplinary undergraduate teaching and research |
| 10. | U. of Chicago Medicine | Craig and Janet Duchossois, and the Duchossois Family Foundation | chairman of the Duchossois Group, a holding company with investments in racehorse tracks, defense contracts, and rail-car manufacturing, and a longtime trustee of both the University of Chicago and its Medical Center (Mr. Duchossois) | $100 million (pledge) | creation of the Duchossois Family Institute to develop “a new science of wellness,” through research and other interventions |
| 13. | Iowa State U. Foundation | Frank Ferguson | founding investor and chairman emeritus of Curriculum Associates, an educational publishing and technology company in Massachusetts; 1950 alumnus of Iowa State | $93 million (estimated value of the donated majority interest in Curriculum Associates) | endowment to support internships, study abroad, and other learning opportunities for students in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences |
| 14. | U. of California at San Diego | Taner Halicioglu | former software and operations engineer at Facebook who now teaches in San Diego’s Jacobs School of Engineering in the department of computer science and engineering, and a 1996 alumnus of San Diego | $75 million | establishment of the Halicioglu Institute for Data Science, with support for faculty, postdoctoral, and graduate-student fellowships as well as undergraduate scholarships |
| 15. | U. of Vermont | Robert and Helen Larner | 1939 alumnus who earned an M.D. from UVM in 1942, medical doctor, commercial real-estate investor (Mr. Larner) | $66 million (pledged bequest) | endowment to improve what was renamed the Robert Larner, M.D. College of Medicine |
| 16. | U. of Dubuque | Edward Babka and his widow, Shirley Babka | founder of Babka Publishing Company and Antique Trader, a magazine catering to antiques buyers and collectors, who served on Dubuque’s Board of Trustees for 43 years and who died in 2016 (Mr. Babka) | $60 million (estate commitment) | endowment funds to support the Ed and Shirley Babka Scholarship Fund |
| 16. | U. of Southern California | Suzanne Dworak-Peck | 1965 alumna who earned a master’s degree in social work from the university in 1967, longtime social-work practitioner, former president of the National Association of Social Workers, and investor | $60 million | endowment for what was renamed the Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work |
| 18. | Colorado State U. at Fort Collins | Walter Scott Jr. | chairman emeritus and former chief executive of the construction and engineering company Kiewit; 1953 alumnus | $53.3 million | endowment of scholarships for engineering undergraduates, fellowships for graduate students, and four professorships in the College of Engineering, which was renamed for Mr. Scott |
| 19. | Bates College | Michael and Alison Grott Bonney | retired chief executive of Cubist Pharmaceuticals and chairman of the Bates Board of Trustees (Mr. Bonney); the couple are 1980 Bates alumni, and their three children, and Mr. Bonney’s father, grandfather, and a sister are also alumni | $50 million | new and modernized facilities for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics programs |
| 19. | Brandeis U. | Rosaline Cohn and Marcia Cohn | longtime Brandeis donor who died in 2010 at age 97; her husband, Jacob Cohn, owned the Continental Coffee Company, which was sold to Sysco in 1988 (Rosaline Cohn); daughter of Rosaline and Jacob Cohn (Marcia Cohn, who died in 2015) | $50 million (bequest) | addition to the Jacob and Rosaline Cohn Endowed Scholarship and Fellowship Fund |
| 19. | Saint Joseph’s U. (Pa.) | James J. and Frances Maguire | founder of the Maguire Insurance Agency (later Philadelphia Insurance Companies), who sold his family’s share of the business for $1 billion in 2008 when the company merged with Tokio Marine Group, and a 1958 alumnus of Saint Joseph’s who credits the institution with helping him overcome his dyslexia (Mr. Maguire) | $50 million | funds for the endowment and scholarships for students with financial need, support for the university’s risk-management and insurance program, and leadership training for teachers at Catholic and independent schools |
| 19. | U. of California at San Francisco | William K. Bowes Jr. Foundation (William K. Bowes Jr.) | founding partner of the California investment firm U.S. Venture Partners, and a founding shareholder and former chairman of the biopharmaceutical company Amgen (Mr. Bowes Jr., who died in December) | $50 million (pledge) | creation of a program to support faculty researchers pursuing unconventional biomedical research |
| 19. | U. of Texas at Austin | Mulva Family Foundation (James and Miriam Mulva) | former chairman and chief executive of the energy company ConocoPhillips (Mr. Mulva) | $50 million | creation of the Mulva Clinic for the Neurosciences |