$75 million latest boost: Phil and Penny Knight’s new gift continues their remarkable multi‑billion‑dollar push for health and science

Nike co-founder Phil Knight and his wife, Penny, have paired a fresh $75 million gift for cardiac care at Providence Heart Institute and Providence St. Vincent Medical Center with one of the most formidable personal giving records in American philanthropy.

The latest Providence commitment is their second $75 million donation to the health system, bringing total support for its heart programs to nearly $200 million and further expanding advanced procedures, clinical trials, and access to specialized cardiac care.

It follows a historic $2 billion pledge announced in August 2025 to Oregon Health & Science University’s Knight Cancer Institute, the largest single donation ever made to a U.S. university or academic medical center and the capstone on more than $2.7 billion the couple has committed to OHSU over the years.

Across higher education, the Knights have already reshaped research capacity at their alma maters with two $500 million gifts to the University of Oregon’s science and innovation campus and a separate $400 million commitment to Stanford University, cementing their focus on basic science and translational discovery.

Earlier nine-figure and landmark contributions include a $500 million challenge gift to launch and expand the Knight Cancer Institute at OHSU in 2013 and major investments in athletics and academic infrastructure at the University of Oregon that push their total giving to that institution alone well past $2 billion.

Through their private foundation, which now holds more than $5 billion in assets, the couple has also funneled hundreds of millions into Oregon schools, community programs, and civic institutions, helping make their home state one of the primary laboratories for their philanthropy.

With Forbes valuing the Knight family’s fortune in the mid-$30 billion range and recent tallies from philanthropy trackers placing their lifetime giving well into the multi‑billion‑dollar range, the couple has emerged as defining figures of contemporary big‑bet philanthropy, concentrating outsized resources on health, science, and education.

Knight has said that he and Penny aim to give away most of their wealth, and their recent pattern—anchored by the $2 billion OHSU commitment and repeated $75 million checks to Providence—suggests an accelerating effort to deploy capital during their lifetimes on institutions they believe can deliver global-scale impact from a base in Oregon.