The Conversation - $25 billion donated by 50 people

+ the tiny flies that pollinate 'the food of the gods' ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

The top 50 donors in the U.S. gave nearly $25 billion in 2020, up from $16 billion a year earlier, according to a detailed new report published by The Chronicle of Philanthropy.

Where did all of that money go? We asked three philanthropy scholars – Binghamton’s David Campbell, Seattle University’s Elizabeth Dale and Jasmine McGinnis Johnson of George Washington University – to assess the trends and where even this huge surge of giving fell short of expectations.

Also today:

Emily Schwartz Greco

Philanthropy + Nonprofits Editor

Jeff Bezos and MacKenzie Scott, seen here before they divorced in 2019, were the top two U.S. charitable donors the following year. Jorg Carstensen/dpa/AFP via Getty Images

What the $25 billion the biggest US donors gave in 2020 says about high-dollar charity today

David Campbell, Binghamton University, State University of New York; Elizabeth J. Dale, Seattle University; Jasmine McGinnis Johnson, George Washington University

While support for social services and historically black colleges and universities rose sharply, these donors spent a tiny fraction of what the government distributed to people who needed help.

Environment + Energy
Hundreds of fish species, including many that humans eat, are consuming plastic Alexandra McInturf, University of California, Davis; Matthew Savoca, Stanford University As more and more plastic trash permeates the oceans, fragments are making their way into fish and shellfish – and potentially into humans.

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Liberals in Congress and the White House have faced a conservative Supreme Court before Lucy Cane, University of Denver The US Supreme Court is often less insulated from partisan politics than many Americans assume.

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Fighting school segregation didn’t take place just in the South

Ashley Farmer, The University of Texas at Austin College of Liberal Arts

In the 1950s, Harlem mother Mae Mallory fought a school system that she saw as 'just as Jim Crow' as the one she had attended in the South.
Why are so many 12th graders not proficient in reading and math?

Elizabeth Leyva, Texas A&M-San Antonio; David J. Purpura, Purdue University; Emily Solari, University of Virginia

Three education experts explain why students aren't learning the basics.

Science + Technology
Tiny cacao flowers and fickle midges are part of a pollination puzzle that limits chocolate production DeWayne Shoemaker, University of Tennessee Entomologists wonder if the insects currently pollinating farmed cacao are the right ones for the task.

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I analyzed all of Trump’s tweets to find out what he was really saying

Michael Humphrey, Colorado State University

The 45th president of the United States used a specific technique to tell different versions of the very same story, of a nation under threat and a man working to save it.
Remote learning isn’t new: Radio instruction in the 1937 polio epidemic

Katherine A. Foss, Middle Tennessee State University

This isn't the first time America's schoolchildren have studied remotely – and Chicago's 1937 'radio school' experiment shows how technology can fill the gap during a crisis.
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The Conversation - $25 billion donated by 50 people

What the $25 billion the biggest US donors gave in 2020 says about high-dollar charity today

Environment + Energy

Hundreds of fish species, including many that humans eat, are consuming plastic

Politics + Society

Liberals in Congress and the White House have faced a conservative Supreme Court before

Education

Fighting school segregation didn’t take place just in the South

Why are so many 12th graders not proficient in reading and math?

Science + Technology

Tiny cacao flowers and fickle midges are part of a pollination puzzle that limits chocolate production

Trending on Site

I analyzed all of Trump’s tweets to find out what he was really saying

Remote learning isn’t new: Radio instruction in the 1937 polio epidemic

What The Weeknd’s changing face says about our sick celebrity culture

Older messages

CDC: Wear two masks

Subtle shifts in speech can signal the end of a relationship

Slavery is built into the American landscape

Wall Street isn't a casino – it's way too important

A reversal on policies that drove foreign students away

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