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We wanted to compile a running, non-exhaustive list of cases in which the largest donation ever received by an institution was made by an anonymous donor. We want to showcase and celebrate the powerful impact that anonymous donors can and do have in today’s philanthropic landscape.

We hope that this impressive list further underscores the need for and importance of anonymous donors, and their place in modern philanthropy. With the undeniable global trend and movement toward personal privacy alreadyunderway,connecting with privacy-conscious donors is a savvy way for a nonprofit organization to reach and resonate with a broader spectrum of the donor demographic. For every transformative anonymous donor, there are thousands of other donors who also want to give anonymous gifts.

For the list below, we deliberately chose gifts that represented a breadth of different industries. This includes different universities, city foundations, public radio, charities, hospitals, theaters, museums, and more. The impact of anonymous donors is felt everywhere. This list was compiled after about one evening of searching, so there is no doubt many more donations that fit this category than the ones we have listed below. This list is just some food for thought – which also happens to total over $3 billion in donations.

Silent Donor also regularlypartnerswith charity and nonprofit organizations for free, allowing for anonymous gifts to be received every day. Partnering with us is an effortless and free way for your organization to appeal to donors who may prefer to give anonymously, or are more privacy-minded. It’s as easy as listing us as an “other way to give” or adding us within your online giving options. Who knows, your organization may receive a wonderful gift as a result. (if you’re a nonprofit, get in touch with us at: [email protected])

All of the following gifts are the largest donations ever received in the history of these institutions and almost all were donated within just the past three or four years, which is remarkable and also shows the ever-increasing relevance of anonymous donors considering the ages of some of institutions listed below (in no particular order):

Anonymous donors are powerful, and they actually give more (on average) than their non-anonymous counterparts. Silent Donor’s donation average, for instance, is a little over 3x the US national online giving average. For all of the donors inspired by this impressive list, click the button below to send an anonymous donation of your own!

In recent years, public-philanthropy partnerships have emerged as pivotal mechanisms for addressing complex societal challenges and advancing collective well-being. Rooted in collaboration between local governments and philanthropic organizations or individuals/families (as you will see below), these partnerships represent a novel approach to mobilizing resources, expertise, and knowledge towards achieving impact.

These partnerships thrive on the synergy between the public and philanthropic sectors, leveraging their respective strengths for a shared purpose. At their core, these collaborations aim to maximize social outcomes by combining governmental stability and policy frameworks with the agility, innovation, and risk-tolerance intrinsic to philanthropy.

One notable example of a successful public-philanthropy partnership is when a single philanthropist stepped up in Chicago to transform the iconic Lakefront Trail that wraps around the edge of the city and Lake Michigan. Ken Griffin gave two donations, the first for$12 million to create wide and separate paths for bikers and pedestrians on this trail and then he gavenearly $5 milliona few years later to perform necessary structural enhancements. The result was a revitalized and improved Lakefront Trail, benefiting both Chicago residents and the millions of visitors that arrive each year – also adding an unmistakable shine to the city’s landscape.

This significant undertaking was only possible because of the generosity and vision of one donor. He wanted this project to take place, so he offered the money and assistance to make it happen. The city of Chicago, like thousands of cities across the world, was not in a strong financial position to carry out this work on its own. This is also true in areas across the world where public budgets have been slashed, or decision-making processes and outcomes relative to funding public projects can be increasingly slow-moving or have become politicized, making change sluggish and hard to achieve. There are many more examples we could cite here as well, including the Robin Hood Foundation’s“Single Stop”philanthropic partnership with New York City to combat poverty and educational disparities.

These partnerships offer many benefits:

• Accelerated Impact: Through public-philanthropy partnerships, projects can move forward swiftly and efficiently. Philanthropists can inject much-needed funds and/or expertise into public initiatives, streamlining processes and eliminating bureaucratic red tape.
• Addressing Gaps: While local and national governments play a crucial role in public development, they may not always have the capacity, speed, or resources to address every need. Philanthropists can step in to address gaps and support initiatives that might not receive immediate attention otherwise.
• Visionary Solutions: Philanthropists often have the freedom to take calculated risks and explore innovative solutions to complex problems. By collaborating with public entities, their vision and creativity can inspire transformative change.
• Community Engagement: Public-philanthropy partnerships encourage community engagement and ownership. Local stakeholders become active participants, providing valuable input and ensuring that projects align with community needs.

As we all know, not every philanthropist is willing to put their name in the public eye around donations or community impact initiatives. For more privacy-minded philanthropists, Silent Donor is perfectly positioned to facilitate public-philanthropy partnerships to the benefit of the community. By collaborating on public initiatives, philanthropists can leverage the power of Silent Donor’s platform to create tremendous change and improve their communities, while also preserving their privacy.

Public-philanthropy partnerships offer a unique advantage in enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of social interventions in this manner. These collaborations allow for more flexible funding mechanisms (especially in financially beleaguered regions), quicker decision-making processes, and increased adaptability to dynamic social needs.

At their core, public-philanthropy partnerships represent a dynamic and evolving intersection between the public and private sectors, primarily aiming to address societal challenges and advance the common good. Reach out to our team at Silent Donor to help you see a public project in your city, large or small, accomplished today with the help of your private philanthropy!

Email us at [email protected] to get in touch with our team today.

As a donation platform,Silent Donoris uniquely plugging into the growing socio-cultural movement that is seeing more and more people take measures that ensure their privacy, especially online. Courts and lawmakers around the world have also been issuing rulings in favor of, or creating laws to protect, privacy – true for donors and consumers more generally. We wanted to write this article to communicate how this privacy movement continues to develop, and also to showcase its vast, international scope. It’s also important to note that we’re still in the beginning phases of this movement, with most large-scale privacy protection laws and landmark cases happening within the past 5-10 years.

From our point of view, many people are using Silent Donor for the same reasons we will outline below, and the growing popularity of Silent Donor is a sign of the growing importance of online privacy. Namely, more and more donors want to control who has access to their personal information. Many donors are turned off by the unwanted solicitations and mail/outreach attempts that routinely follow a donation, which includes the buying and selling of donor contact information (an unfortunate but albeit commonplace activity in the nonprofit world). Many people still want to give back and have an impact, but would just like to do so in a private manner.

Quick TL;DR Summary: The huge quantity of laws and court rulings around the world (most adopted within the last decade) reveal that the overwhelming sentiment among lawmakers and governments is to protect the privacy of consumers and donors, and does not reveal a tendency to further intrude on or unnecessarily demand the disclosure of people’s personal information. The growing awareness of the importance of data privacy and protection is driving this trend, with individuals and organizations recognizing the value of safeguarding personal information in much the same way as they would protect their physical assets. The international landscape is so clearly one that values personal privacy that the adoption of privacy tools and services (including Silent Donor) is quickly growing worldwide. We are happy and excited to continue growing and helping donors give within the level of privacy they are most comfortable.

If you run a charity or NGO, allowing your donors the chance to donate to your organization anonymously through Silent Donor will increase your reach among this fast-growing, privacy-minded international demographic of individuals, as their predilection towards increased privacy also manifests itself in the way they give back to charity – anonymously!

Privacy in the United States:

For historical context, the privacy of donors has been a topic long debated. In the 1950s, the NAACP famously fought against attempts by the state of Alabama to force the organization to disclose its membership lists, arguing that such a requirement would violate the privacy rights of its donors. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the NAACP, finding that the state’s demands for disclosure were an unconstitutional burden on the organization’s right to freedom of association. Since then, the issue of donor privacy has remained a hot topic in the US. In recent years, several high-profile cases have brought the issue back into the spotlight. For example, in 2013, the IRS was accused of targeting conservative groups and demanding excessive information about their donors. This led to concerns about government overreach and privacy violations, and sparked a public debate about the rights of donors to keep their information private.

Then, there was a 2021 USSupreme Court Casethat challenged a California law that required charities to disclose the names and addresses of their major donors to the state attorney general’s office. In this case, the Supreme Court ended up striking down the California law that required charitable organizations to disclose their major donors to the state attorney general’s office. The Court ruled that the disclosure requirement violated the First Amendment’s protection of freedom of association because it would subject their donors to harassment and retaliation, and could also chill donors’ willingness to contribute to charitable organizations – especially true for charities that fundraise for more “controversial” causes. More reasons why donors turn to Silent Donor.

Overall, the US Supreme Court’s most recent decision in this case affirmed the importance of protecting donors’ privacy and freedom of association, even in the context of regulating charitable organizations – a fantastic win for the privacy of donors (please note that we are referring only to private donations made to charities/nonprofits – not political donations of any kind).

Here are some additional examples of US privacy laws for the purpose of showing the wider ecosystem of privacy protections being readily adopted:

• Data breach notification laws: All 50 US states have enacted data breach notification laws that require businesses to notify individuals if their personal information is compromised in a data breach.
• Biometric data privacy laws: Several states have passed laws regulating the collection, use, and disclosure of biometric data, such as fingerprints, facial recognition data, and iris scans.
• Internet privacy laws: Some states have passed laws regulating the collection and use of personal information online. For example, The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) was the first comprehensive consumer privacy law in the United States, and it took effect in January 2020. Virginia passed the Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act (VCDPA) in March 2021, and Colorado passed the Colorado Privacy Act (CPA) in July 2021. Both the VCDPA and the CPA are set to take effect in 2023.

Other US States that have passed or proposed additional privacy laws, further showing how this is a national movement:

• New York Privacy Act (NYPA) – This proposed law would create a comprehensive privacy framework for the collection and use of personal data by businesses operating in New York.
• Maine Internet Privacy Law – This law requires internet service providers to obtain express consent from customers before using, disclosing, or selling their personal information.
• Nevada Internet Privacy Law – This law requires website operators to provide consumers with the option to opt-out of the sale of their personal information.
• Oregon Consumer Information Protection Act – This law requires businesses to implement reasonable data security practices and notify consumers of data breaches in a timely manner.
• Vermont Data Broker Regulation – This law requires data brokers to register with the state and disclose their data collection and sales practices to consumers.

The Toughest Privacy Standard Yet: GDPR

The international scene is also one actively engaged in adopting protections of privacy. Most famous is the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which is a comprehensive privacy law that sets a high standard for the protection of personal data and came into effect in 2018. GDPR also specifically protects donors, stating that they have the right to access their personal information and can withdraw their consent for its use at any time. Some highlights that show the tremendous breadth and extend of GDPR:

• Displaying an almost shocking level of commitment to protecting privacy – in terms of enforcement, GDPR gives national data protection authorities the power to investigate and sanction organizations that violate its provisions. These sanctions can include fines of up to 4% of a company’s global annual revenue or €20 million, whichever is higher!
• GDPR grants individuals a number of rights with respect to their personal data, including the right to access, correct, and delete their data, the right to restrict or object to its processing, and the right to data portability. GDPR also requires organizations to obtain individuals’ consent for the processing of their data in most cases, and to provide clear and transparent information about how their data will be used (which is why a ton of international websites now ask you for permission to use cookies).

A Very International Movement:

• Netherlands – Falls under the EU’s GDPR, and also does not require the disclosure of the names or personal information of individual donors for charities, to respect the privacy of donors. Instead, charitable reports may simply include aggregate data on the number of donors and the total amount of donations received, which we believe still holds charities accountable as instruments of public benefit, without unnecessarily infringing on the privacy of individual donors. It is also the country home to our international charitable foundation,Silent Donor International.
• Canada – Digital Charter Implementation Act of 2022 will implement the Consumer Privacy Protection Act (CPPA) to replace the federal Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), which has regulated the collection, use and disclosure of personal information in the course of commercial activity. Under PIPEDA, donors have the right to access their personal information and can withdraw consent for its use at any time.
• Japan – Japan has the Act on the Protection of Personal Information (APPI), which regulates the handling of personal information by both the public and private sector and provides donors with the right to access and correct their personal data (enacted in 2003 and was amended in 2015 to strengthen privacy protections).
• Brazil – Brazil has the General Data Protection Law (LGPD), which was loosely modeled off of GDPR and establishes rules for the collection, use, and processing of personal data by companies and government agencies, and specifically provides protections for the privacy rights of donors. (enacted in 2018 and took effect in 2020, with enforcement beginning in August 2021).
• South Korea – South Korea has the Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA), which regulates the collection, use, and disclosure of personal information by businesses and government agencies. (enacted in 2011 and was amended in 2020 to strengthen privacy protections).
• Australia – Australia has the Privacy Act, which regulates the handling of personal information by the public and private sectors. (enacted in 1988 and has been amended several times since then, with the most recent amendments taking effect in 2014).
• India – introduced the Personal Data Protection Bill in 2019, which shares some similarities with the GDPR in terms of granting data subjects certain rights and requiring organizations to implement appropriate security measures. It has not yet passed the Indian Parliament.

We are proud to offer all international donors the option to send a fully anonymous donation through our Silent Donor International fund, which can befound here.  

As concerns about privacy and security continue to grow, more and more people are looking for ways to increase their privacy as they donate and interact online. Some are turning to privacy-focused tools and technologies, such as VPNs (virtual private networks), to protect their online activity. For example, the number of US households using VPNs had increased by 165% since 2016, and a 2020 report from Atlas VPN found that the use of VPNs had increased by 124% in the US and 160% globally since the start of the pandemic. A record number of over 750 million (Statistics and Facts about Ad blocking | Statista) users have installed ad-block software or plugins, with 73 million internet users adopting them in 2020 alone. Others are supporting organizations that prioritize privacy and data security in their operations (services like Silent Donor! and search engines such asDuckDuckGo)and are advocating for stronger privacy protections and regulations. 

Overall, it’s clear that the issue of donor and personal privacy is one that will continue to be debated and discussed. As more and more donations are made online, Silent Donor will continue to look to play an important role as individuals, organizations, and governments work together to ensure that the privacy rights of all donors are respected and protected.

We are proud to announce the official public launch ofSilent Donor International,our charitable fund based in Europe that will enable donors from all around the world to send fully anonymous international donations to the NGOs, charities, and nonprofit organizations they’re passionate about supporting. This fund is proudly located in the international city of peace and justice, The Hague.

Our goal with this fund is to help make the world a smaller place for anonymous donors. We wanted to build a global arm of our company that helps simplify private, global philanthropy for all donors. This fund represented our first institutional step outside of the US to serve global donors of all countries, as we believe that sending safe, private donations is a human right that all donors should enjoy. This privacy can also help protect many donors who live in areas of the world experiencing political/economic unrest or strife as they donate to causes or NGOs that might cause them to be unfairly targeted by those in positions of power, as we have unfortunately seen happen many times in the past.

Through Silent Donor International, donors can easily send anonymous donations to NGOs and charitable causes around the world (with a focus on organizations outside of the US). We also hope to appeal to more donors in Europe, many of whom we know hold privacy as a strong value, with access to our service as well.

The donation process is going to follow the same proven model that we have built in the US, only instead of using the AnonDo Fund for facilitating these donations (as we do for all US-based donations), we will use the Silent Donor International fund for all donations going to help charitable causes or institutions that are based outside of the US.

A breakdown of the process: all the donations submitted throughthis donation pagewill first go to Silent Donor International (officially registered as “Stichting SD International” in the Netherlands – CCI Number 88337391). Then, our fund will send your donation to the organization that you choose without including ANY of your personal information. The donation will appear to come directly from our fund. We remain firmly committed to protecting the privacy of all donors. We also, however, remain committed to conducting strict diligence for each organization that a donor chooses, and will follow all AML best practices and guidelines as they exist in European law (also monitoring FATF recommendations and OFAC/Interpol lists and guidelines).

We chose to establish this foundation in the Netherlands for a few important reasons. They have a strong history of philanthropy, the speed and ease of doing business in the Netherlands is outstanding, Dutch public benefit organizations are allowed to send grants to NGOs/charitable causes outside of the country without it affecting their status as a charitable foundation, and, most importantly, they have inculcated a strong culture of privacy for donors giving to charity. Their governing authorities do not require the disclosure of the names or personal information of individual donors to charities, for example. Instead, charitable reports may include aggregate data on the number of donors and the total amount of donations received. In our view, this still holds charities accountable as an instrument of public benefit, without unnecessarily infringing on the privacy of their individual donors.

We are also proud to have our European headquarters within theHumanity Hubcommunity and space in The Hague, which operates an international community of charities, NGOs, and other organizations aimed at spreading peace and justice across the world.

If you would like to send an anonymous donation in support of an international charity or nonprofit organization, click the donate button below!

Silent Donor is proud to offer the opportunity for donors to send an anonymous donation with Bitcoin cryptocurrency, extending the ability for thehistorically generous crypto communityto also affect positive philanthropic change in the world – anonymously!

We are always looking for ways to advance the field of philanthropy and believe that for as long as people will continue to use cryptocurrency, we should offer an easy way for donors to utilize this resource to fulfill their philanthropic wishes.

The process to anonymously donate Bitcoin is simple. We have 3 short notes below, and then some pictures of what the process will look like:

(1.) Please remember that you must donate to a charity/nonprofit organization. Any well-known charity, nonprofit, foundation, church, university etc. will be fine! We will do the diligence for you and let you know if there are any issues. 

(2.) Please note that you must donate an amount equivalent to $50 in Bitcoin at the time of your donation (if the price of BTC dips below $50 after you donate, we will still honor your donation). Also note that all donations are first sent to theAnonDo Fund, the fund we created to shield and protect the privacy of our donors. Your donation receipt will also come from the AnonDo Fund via email. 

(3.) We currently only support Bitcoin cryptocurrency donations. BTC donations will be immediately converted to fiat currency and donated to the organization you have chosen on our form. We do this because we have found (painstakingly) that the vast majority of organizations simply do not yet have the means to accept cryptocurrency donations at this time (but we did not want to let that stop donors from donating in bitcoin!)

Click the button below to donate!

The pictures below show what you will see when you click the donate with Bitcoin button. The “Payment Amount” field shown below allows for you to put in a dollar amount, and then it will automatically convert that amount into the Bitcoin equivalent.

Send an anonymous donation with Bitcoin today!

A lot of donors reach out to us with this question: “When I send a donation, there is oftentimes a little checkbox that asks me if I want to send this gift anonymously. Am I actually anonymous if I click this box?” The simple answer is no, and we will explain why below.

What does this checkbox actually accomplish? If you check the box, it is an indication that the organization will agree to keep your name private. A lot of times an organization might include the individual names of supporters (both people and corporate donors) in their annual reports, or after the conclusion of a particular fundraising campaign. If you check that box, the organization is agreeing that they will not publish your name in one of those public-facing documents or generally in a public-facing fashion.

However, checking that box does not provide you with any anonymity from the organization to which you are donating. The organization will still receive all of your personal information. You are also still going to be targeted by the organization with emails, physical mail, calls, and other messages because they have all of your information. If that nonprofit engages in the common practice of selling access to their contact list, you may now also be approached by a different nonprofit or charitable organization as a result – one that you never expressed any interest in supporting.

This does not really provide you any anonymity as a donor, as the staff members of the recipient organization will know exactly who you are! Since everyone at the nonprofit organization will know who you are, your anonymity as a donor can be undone by a simple overheard conversation or an accidental email.

Checking that box only provides you with a cursory, superficial level of anonymity. Nonprofit and charity organizations are very focused on advancing their mission; they are not built upon a very strict foundation of privacy, nor do they have processes in place designed to maximize donor privacy like we do. When you use Silent Donor, the organization to which you are donating never receives any of your personal information. Silent Donor (and the Anondo Fund) is also committed to never sharing any donor information with any third parties, and fiercely protects the privacy of all who donate through the platform. Remain fully private and still give back by using Silent Donor!

Send your fully (actually) anonymous donation with Silent Donor today!

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy launchedUnited24as the main venue for collecting charitable donations in support of Ukraine. Silent Donor is proud to announce our official partnership with United24, providing all donors with the option to send a fully anonymous, tax-deductible donation in support of Ukraine as the war continues to affect millions of people in the country and across the world. Simply write in “United24” as the recipient organization on ourdonation formsand send your anonymous donation to United24 today via card, bank transfer, or cryptocurrency. You can specify if you would like for your donation to go toward a particular United24 area of focus (all three are listed below).

United24 was created with the goal to increase donations to Ukraine and ensure the efficiency and transparency of their distribution. Funds are transferred to the official accounts of the National Bank of Ukraine and allocated by assigned ministries to cover the most pressing needs. Regarding transparency, public reporting on the funds raised is provided by the National Bank of Ukraine once every 24 hours, and reporting on the distribution of funds is also provided by the assigned ministries once a week. In addition, auditing and consulting giant Deloitte in Ukraine will monitor the general reports by the ministries.

The assigned ministries are working 24/7 to ensure donations are deployed quickly and will directly impact the areas that need it most. United24 raises funds to be distributed in three main areas: Humanitarian and Medical Aid, Rebuilding Efforts in Ukraine, and Defense and Demining. They offer in-depth reports on each category on their website as well.

A stark look at Ukraine after 100 days of war underscores their need for support :

United24 has seen the world come together in impressive ways, already garnering donations from over 90 countries in the first two months alone. It offers the unique chance for citizens, companies, foundations, and other institutions to contribute meaningful philanthropic assistance to a country in need. You can donate to help Ukraine within the levels of privacy and confidentiality that you are comfortable with. Send your anonymous donation to United24 with the button below.

“Today, the world’s attention is focused on Ukraine. Our courageous struggle against a
much larger aggressor, who invaded our land to destroy us, our European values, and
was met with a strong resistance instead, inspires people in many countries. Foreign
governments support Ukraine in this fight by providing military, humanitarian, and
political assistance. Citizens of various countries around the world go out to the squares
of their cities with blue and yellow flags to manifest their support for Ukrainians, and
keep asking: how else can we help? Everyone can donate in one click from any country.
Anybody may participate: concerned individuals, entrepreneurs, and large technology
corporations. We fight with the enemy every day for the values of freedom and
democracy. United24 is to become a digital service that will unite the entire civilized
world in supporting Ukraine.” – President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy

Silent Donoris a trusted partner and the largest anonymous donation platform in the US, allowing for people and companies to donate to any organization they are passionate about with full anonymity. The mission is to allow donors to privately donate funds wherever they like, without receiving any unwanted attention or future solicitations. If you would like to contribute a higher-value donation to this cause, please contact Silent Donor at [email protected].

This year’s Giving Tuesday, the largest single day of giving in the US, saw what has become a familiar trend: more and more donors looking to give back anonymously. Whether it was through matching gifts or single donations, anonymous donors again proved that the desire to give back, and also the desire for privacy, remain two very important ideals for philanthropic-minded people and institutions.

We wanted to highlight some of the efforts of anonymous donors that made it into the news for their generosity. You can see that these anonymous donations went to a wide-range of institutions and had a tremendous impact on Giving Tuesday campaigns. From very large, to more modest donations – everything went to a great cause.

• An anonymous donor gave $30,000 to a nonprofit, volunteer organization that advocates for the best interests of abused and neglected children within the Juvenile Court system.
• Hospice Northwest received an anonymous matching grant of $3,000 for Giving Tuesday
• An anonymous $200,000 donation was given to support arts and cultural institutions in Maine
• An anonymous YMCA donor pledged to match up to $6,000 of donations on Giving Tuesday
• The Wichita Falls Area Food Bank received an anonymous $10,000 matching gift
• William Osler Health System Foundation also received an anonymous matching gift of $10,000
• The University of Wisconsin-Madison received two different anonymous matching gifts for $10,000, and $5,000, respectfully

This tiny sampling above represent millions and millions of dollars every year that are donated anonymously. The impact of anonymous donations, within the landscape of philanthropy in the US and abroad, has become nothing short of unmistakable. This #GivingTuesday further showed that privacy has revealed itself to be a cherished ideal among donors. If you want to give back (to a charity, nonprofit, university, and more) and also remain private, please click “Donate Now” below to fill out our easy donation form! Also, if you are an institution that collects donations and you want to appeal to these growing privacy-minded donors, contact us today to find out how we work with organizations to quickly set them up to accept anonymous donations through our platform (email: [email protected]).

We have been following a sustained trend that has hit higher-education institutions for a few years now: the rise of anonymous donations to universities. The desire among donors to remain private in their gifts to universities includes everything from millennials sending small sums, to wealthy donors giving gigantic $252 million donations. Read more to see just how prevalent anonymous giving has become in donating to universities.

The choice to pursue anonymity as a donor is becoming more attractive for a variety of reasons (for more on the ‘why’ behind the choice to be anonymous, see our article here). However, the traditional way of giving “anonymously” to a university almost always means that the university actually knows who the donor is, but simply agrees to keep it confidential. Some institutions try to set up private foundations to help conceal the donors’ identities, but, as this Chronicle article reports, “In college fund raising, anonymous donors typically aren’t truly anonymous. Someone on campus — the president, or a top fund raiser who worked with the donor — knows the identity of the person who gave the gift.”

Many times this current system fails both the donors and the recipient universities, as the donor is not getting the actual anonymity they desire and now famously bureaucratic universities have to fight to keep their identity under wraps – lest they risk angering and/or exposing their anonymous donor, which is exactly what happened to a $100 million anonymous donor to Oregon Health & Science University. Or this $2 million anonymous donor to Myers University, who was outed by the Ohio Board of Regents Chancellor.

More people are turning to Silent Donor to accomplish what they want – to give back to their favorite schools, but to do so in a manner that is consistent with the level of privacy they are comfortable with. In line with this, anonymous gifts have exploded over the past few years and have in fact regularly become the largest donations that universities have ever seen. We have a few of them chronicled below, representing both large and small institutions from all across the United States:

• University of Houston $50 million anonymous donation in 2019 (largest in school history)
• UC Berkely $252 million anonymous donation in 2020 (largest in school history)
• SUNY Binghampton $60 million anonymous donation in 2020 (largest in school history)
• Xavier University of Louisiana $20 million anonymous donation in 2020 (largest in school history)
• University of Arkansas Little Rock $25 million anonymous donation in 2020 (largest in school history)
• Coastal Carolina University $95 million anonymous donation in 2020 (largest in school history)
• And there are COUNTLESS more examples

Silent Donor allows donations to universities (and nonprofits) all over the country (and world) in order to help these institutions fundraise in a way that connects with their donor-base. As we can see, a look at the US donor-base reveals a predilection towards anonymous giving, rather than following tired “ask-and-give” patterns.

We decided to launch a quick public campaign of #7DaysofAnonymousDonations on our social media pages to highlight 7 impactful anonymous donations that have taken place within the past 30 days to display the power and prevalence of anonymous giving in the world, especially in combatting some social effects of COVID-19. These anonymous donations impact many different areas – universities, the arts, hospitals, ecological preservation, small businesses, and more. Whether millions of dollars, or much less, each donation is responsible for creating impactful change in the communities they are given. These aren’t just monetary donations – they represent improvements to people’s lives and they represent opportunities for change. Be someone’s anonymous donor!

1. Day 1: UNIVERSITIES– The University of Miami received the largest donation in the school’s history, $126 million, from an anonymous donor. This gift will be given to their Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center. As an aside, we have seen many gifts given to universities anonymously. The largest gift ever given to UC-Berkeley took place this year ($252 million) and was also donated anonymously for example. Read more here: https://hrld.us/3ikwgKe
2. Day 2: HOSPITALS – A $2.5 million anonymous donation was given to French Hospital Medical Center to support a critical hospital expansion in the wake of COVID-19. Anonymous medical-related donations have skyrocketed to help combat COVID. Read more here: https://bit.ly/3jjcro7
3. Day 3: FOOD BANKS – an anonymous donor gave $100,000 to a food bank in Sarasota Florida. Since the pandemic, the food bank has “seen an overall increase in need of approximately 120%, with new clients increasing by nearly 45%.” The food bank says demand for food will remain critically high as people continue to face significant financial strain. Read more here: https://bit.ly/3cK5slw
4. Day 4: SOCIAL ORGANIZATIONS: The Boys & Girls Club of San Benito received a $65,000 anonymous donation. This donation will enable them to facilitate virtual learning assistance to children of frontline workers and otherwise busy parents. This funding will help them make sure the children in their club do not fall behind in school despite all the challenges brought on by virtual classes. Read more here: https://bit.ly/2SfBH2I
5. Day 5: NATURE PRESERVATION – an anonymous donor funded the restoration of a hiking trail in Colorado which had been in a state of disarray due to a previous lack of funding. Get involved in a cause you would like t support and send a donation anonymously! Read more here: https://bit.ly/2ERdE7a
6. Day 6: THE ARTS – an anonymous donor pledged to match up to $75,000 in donations to the Berrien Community Foundation to support ten art institutions in Michigan, including the Children’s Music Workshop, Southwest Michigan Symphony Orchestra, Citadel Dance & Music Center and more. Read more here: https://bit.ly/30mDck2
7. Day 7: JUSTICE – an anonymous donor has raised Shawnee County Crime Stoppers Reward by $20,000 for info leading to an arrest in the double homicide of a mother and her 13-year-old daughter. You can have a HUGE social impact as an anonymous donor. https://bit.ly/3cJcU0q

No matter the cause or organization you choose to support, now, more than ever, people & organizations need donations to survive. To donate anonymously to any organization you want to support, simply fill out our easy online donation form!

We have found that answers to the question of, Why send an anonymous donation? differ greatly from person to person/company to company. We get this question a lot, so we figured we would address some of the big reasons why people choose to give privately. We at Silent Donor encourage all people to donate to causes you feel strongly about – publicly if you are ok with that exposure, or privately with us.

Very quickly summarized, donors have different levels of exposure depending on which organizations they choose to send donations. Certain tax-exempt organizations must report the name and address, and the occupation and employer (if an individual), of any person that contributes in the aggregate $200 or more in a calendar year. Private Foundations must list every donor who has donated over $5,000. Even in cases where the IRS is supposed to redact the names of donors on charity tax returns, we have seen cases in the past where they instead leaked the entire donor list.

Now, we’ll get into some of the major reasons why people choose to donate anonymously.

Some items listed were originally posted in a great article written by Robert F. Sharpe Jr., which you can find here.

Whatever reason you choose, send an anonymous donation today!!