Nope. There is some strong private philanthropy. Especially for medical research.
But the US gov't spends on a huge scale: over $70 Billion (NIH, NSF, DOE) on research. There are only about 18 people in the US with that kind of net worth, and the US is spending this EVERY YEAR. (1/3)
Are there any hints that private philanthropy is stepping up to close the gap?
Feb 3, 2026 18:38Plus I haven't even included DOD R&D (I'm not sure what fraction of that is for basic research). It's huge.
So no, private philanthropy can't do it all. But they could do interesting things. A one-time $10 billion donation could endow a university to make it independent of US funding. (2/3)
That's a lot of money, about 10x the biggest modern donations (e.g., Bloomberg, Doerr). But when adjusted relative to GDP, Leland Stanford and Rockefeller were giving amounts like what would be $20 billion - $30 billion today. (3/3)
