Here’s who’s not on the list of America’s top philanthropists

A version of this article first appeared in CNBC’s Inside Wealth newsletter with Robert Frank, a weekly guide for the high-net-worth investor and consumer. subscription To receive future issues, directly to your inbox.

America’s 50 largest philanthropists donated a whopping $22.4 billion to charity in 2025, according to the Chronicle of Philanthropy’s latest annual ranking. Media giant Michael Bloomberg led the Philanthropy 50 for the third year in a row, donating $4.3 billion to support the arts, public health and other causes.

Billionaire philanthropist Mackenzie Scott is noticeably absent from the rankings. Scott announced on her blog in early December that she had donated nearly $7.2 billion to about 225 organizations over the past 12 months. She has donated more than $26 billion to nonprofits since 2020, according to the website of her charitable organization, Yield Giving.

Maria De Minto, a senior editor at the Chronicle, told Inside Wealth that Scott was excluded because her representatives refused to confirm how much she contributed to donor-advised funds, which are popular financial vehicles for charitable giving. Philanthropy 50 counts donations to donor-advised funds, or DAFs, and foundations, but does not include payments from those funds to avoid double counting, De Minto said.

As Scott publicizes her giving, wealthy philanthropists have become more secretive about their charitable giving, according to De Minto, who has worked at the ratings for 21 years.

“I think the desire for privacy has increased in recent years because wealthy people are under much more scrutiny than they were before,” she said. “While I think there has always been some resentment toward the wealthy, that resentment, especially recently, has been increasing very rapidly.”

She added that philanthropists regularly tell her they worry about being hounded by nonprofits eager for funding.

“Donors tell me this all the time: When they attach their name to a gift, they’re going to be bombarded by major fundraisers from other organizations,” she said. “This is a very real concern. Some of these people, believe it or not, don’t have a lot of employees.”

Only 19 members of the Forbes 400, a list of America’s richest people, made the Philanthropy 50. Elon Musk and Larry Ellison, who were at the top of the Forbes 400 last year, did not appear in the Chronicle’s ranking despite their status as billionaires.

De Minto noted that this percentage has remained constant even as the wealth of the country’s richest people has increased.

“I think there are two ways to look at it, and both are correct,” she said. “I think a lot of wealthy people don’t donate as much as they could, but the flip side is that there’s no law that says they have to disclose their donations.”

While many members of the Forbes 400 list are likely to donate their money, the Chronicle often requires billionaires’ cooperation to verify how much they have given or to whom. For example, Musk disclosed in a regulatory filing that he gave away about $210,000 Tesla Shares worth nearly $100 million in December to “certain charities.” Without knowing the recipients and whether they belonged to lobbyists or political campaigns, the Chronicle could not count the donation on the list, De Minto said.

While Ellison has appeared on the list in the past, his representatives have not collaborated with the Chronicle in years, according to De Minto.

the oracle The billionaire pledged in 2010 to give away at least 95% of his net worth. Last summer, he revised his pledge to focus his resources on technology research rather than traditional nonprofits.

“It’s not really clear what he offers or what he has to offer anymore,” De Minto said of Ellison.