By Patrick F. Cannon
My friend and fellow Northwestern University graduate Ed Swanson kindly invited me to join him at last Saturday’s football game at the new Ryan Field in Evanston. It was a lovely day, and the Wildcats beat Rutgers 42-14. They are now 6-1 and nationally ranked number 20. The new field is a wonderful venue, with great sight lines, comfortable seats, modern amenities, and elevators for us folks of advanced years! The old stadium, also named Ryan Field, had none of this modern stuff.
Much of the cost of the new stadium came from Northwestern graduates Pat and Shirley Ryan, who have given nearly $900 million to the school over the years. The University of Chicago, founded with Rockefeller money in the late 1800s, has recently benefitted from $300 million gifts from David Booth, and $125 million from Ken Griffin.
In addition to gifts to these and other Chicago universities, you can credit philanthropy with the building, expansion, and operations of Chicago adornments like the Art Institute, Chicago Symphony, Field Museum, Shedd Aquarium, Adler Planetarium, and Griffin Museum of Science and Industry (Ken Griffin gave them $125 million in 2019). That museum was originally financed by a 1926 gift from then Sears’s Chairman Julius Rosenwald, that would amount to $135 million in today’s money.
Every great American university and city would have a similar story to tell. In addition to those mentioned above, notable current major donors include billionaires Bill Gates and his former wife Melinda, Warren Buffet, Michael Bloomberg, and members of the Walton family of Walmart fame. They may be exceptions to their fellow billionaires – Forbes magazine reports that 75 percent of them give less than 5ive percent of their annual income to non-profit institutions and charities. (Although dealing in thousands rather than billions(!), I donated approximately 12 percent of my taxable income last year to cultural and charitable groups.)
(It goes without saying – but I’ll do it anyway – that not everyone agrees to the merits of every tax-exempt organization. Pro-life people would never donate to Planned Parenthood, for example. And I’m sure that not everyone loves the Salvation Army, as I do. Donors get to choose their causes. By the way, donations to politicians aren’t deductible, for obvious reasons. Why encourage them?).
President Trump in recent years has donated only his $500,000 salary, although it’s unclear which Federal agency receives it. However, he is much more generous with your tax money. On October 8, I checked my bank account and saw that it had been credited with $90 from the Social Security Administration. Confused, I went online and found it was meant to offset some of my Medicare costs. Although my yearly healthcare costs exceed $10,000, the $90 was welcome.
Last Friday, I finally got a personal letter from President Trump dated October 8 taking credit for the largess. Due to the efficiency of his Postal Service, it only took 15 days to find me. The president’s generosity is only costing the taxpayers $2 billion. If his offer to pay voters $5,000 each if Republicans retain control of Congress actually transpires, we’ll have to pony up more than $850 billion (if limited to registered voters).
The president’s generosity with other people’s money is legendary. Despite his boasted personal wealth, he even managed to get his supporters to raise funds to pay his legal fees. None of his six bankruptcies were personal, and he is famous for stiffing creditors, including poor Rudy Guiliani, who did have to declare personal bankruptcy when Trump refused to pay his legal fees, no doubt because Rudy had failed to overturn the 2020 election.
I was a bit disappointed by the letter though. It went on too long to allow for the president’s usual jumbo signature. It’s only 3/8 of an inch high. And since it’s printed, I wonder if it’s even valid?
Copyright 2026, Patrick F. Cannon
