Nike cofounder makes largest known donation to public flagship university
Phil and Penny Knight have donated $1 billion to the University of Oregon to establish a new engineering college. This contribution follows a series of massive philanthropic gifts from the couple to medical and educational institutions.
Why it matters
The donation represents one of the largest private gifts to a public university, highlighting the growing role of private wealth in funding public higher education amid federal funding uncertainty.
Nike cofounder Phil Knight just made the largest known donation to a public flagship university in the US. According to a New York Times report, Phil Knight and his wife Penny have donated a whopping $1 billion to the University of Oregon. The donation, surfaced from an unscheduled call, will go toward establishing an engineering college in the University. The latest pledge adds to previous donations by the Knights. Last week, they committed $1.1 billion to Providence St. Vincent Medical Center and Providence Heart Institute in Portland. In 2025, they gave $2 billion to OHSU’s Knight Cancer Institute. Knight, 88, has a net worth of nearly $23 billion, according to Bloomberg.Responding to the donation, Karl Scholz, president of the University of Oregon, told Fortune: “This extraordinary gift is an endorsement of what higher education delivers.
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