Major Donors Shift Gifts Toward Democracy Programs
Development teams at civic nonprofits face a small pool of large gifts that still trails education and health care.
Updated on Nov. 2, 2026 in Philanthropy
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Wealthy donors gave $266.5 million to democracy programs from 2021 through 2025, according to a tally of gifts of $1 million or more. The figure is 72 percent of the $369.2 million such donors have given to democracy programs since 2006, and it matters to nonprofit operators because democracy giving remains a small share of overall major giving.
Why it matters
Democracy programs remain a small slice of the giving that major donors direct toward education and health care, so organizations in the sector are competing for a limited pool of large gifts. The rise in recent years signals that donors are increasingly directing capital toward civic and governance causes.
Wealthy donors gave $369.2 million to democracy programs across 18 gifts since 2006, with $266.5 million of that total arriving from 2021 through 2025, or 72 percent of the cumulative figure. The largest single democracy gift in the period was $59 million to the University of Southern California.
The players
University of Southern California
A private research university in Los Angeles that receives large philanthropic gifts across its academic programs, including public policy.
Leonard Schaeffer
Founder of the Wellpoint health insurance company, who later served as head of the Health Care Financing Administration in the late 1970s and is now a professor of public policy at USC.
The ACLU
The American Civil Liberties Union, a national civil rights advocacy organization that received one of the democracy gifts from 2021 through 2025.
The details
Democracy giving is tracked by counting gifts of $1 million or more and ranking donors by the amount they gave to democracy programs from 2021 through 2025. Programs affiliated with universities received the majority of these gifts in that window, while three gifts went to the ACLU, Interfaith America, and New York Historical. The concentration of recent giving in a few large gifts means a handful of donors can shift the category's totals considerably.
Timeline
Tally of democracy gifts begins in 2006.
Schaeffer served as head of the Health Care Financing Administration in the late 1970s.
Democracy gifts totaling $266.5 million were made from 2021 through 2025.
Market Landscape
The Chronicle's tally since 2006 shows democracy giving rising as a share of the cumulative total, now 72 percent of the $369.2 million donors have given to the category. Education and health care still draw the bulk of major giving by these donors, which places democracy programs in a competitive pool for large gifts.
Nonprofits seeking major gifts for civic and governance work should expect competition from education and health care causes for the same donor dollars. Development teams should track where large donors are directing capital in their own cause areas.
The takeaway
Development officers should watch whether the recent concentration of democracy giving in a few large gifts holds in the next tally. Budgeting for major-gift pipelines should account for how dependent the category is on a small number of donors.
Further reading
For broader context on how major gifts are shaped, see Philanthropy coverage on the nonprofit funding landscape.
Source note: This article includes information reported by Chronicle of Philanthropy.
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