Nine health systems have shattered their fundraising records in 2026, led by a $1.1 billion gift to Providence, the largest single donation to a U.S. healthcare institution in history.
Here’s how Providence and eight other systems are using their largest-ever gifts:
1. Renton, Wash.-based Providence received a $1.1 billion gift from Nike co-founder Phil Knight and his wife, Penny Knight, one of the largest gifts ever made to a U.S. healthcare institution. The gift will go to Providence St. Vincent Medical Center and Providence Heart Institute and establish Oregon’s first hospital dedicated to women’s health and accelerate investments in cardiovascular care. It will support physician recruitment and retention, expanded clinical trials, advanced cardiac imaging and infrastructure improvements.
2. Hackensack (N.J.) Meridian Health received a $125 million gift from an anonymous donor, the largest philanthropic commitment in the system’s history, which it will use to expand Jersey Shore University Medical Center in its Neptune City, N.J. Hackensack has committed more than $1 billion over 10 years to a master facility plan that includes a new critical care tower and 24 operating rooms at the hospital. The system is also spending $56 million to expand Riverview Medical Center in Red Bank, N.J., with a redesigned emergency department and a 20-room private oncology unit, expected to be complete in 2027.
3. Camden, N.J.-based Cooper University Health Care received a $100 million gift from George E. Norcross III, the largest philanthropic gift in the health system’s history. The funding will support education and community programs across Camden and Cooper’s broader South Jersey service area, with a focus on job creation, training and economic mobility. The gift arrives as Cooper pursues Project Imagine, a $3 billion expansion of its Camden campus that includes three new patient towers with up to 745 private inpatient beds, a new emergency department and an expanded MD Anderson Cancer Center at Cooper. The system is also building a $300 million multispecialty outpatient campus in Gloucester Township, N.J.
4. Chicago-based Northwestern Medicine received an anonymous philanthropic gift, among the largest in the health system’s history, to launch the Robert Havey, MD, Institute for Primary Care. The gift, for an undisclosed amount, will fund an institute dedicated to expanding access, developing team-based care models and training the next generation of primary care clinicians. Northwestern Medicine will also use the institute to advance AI-enabled tools for patient engagement, clinical documentation and care delivery.
5. Johnson City, Tenn.-based Ballad Health received a $25 million commitment from John and Ann Tickle, the largest philanthropic gift in the system’s history. The donation will support the system’s future healthcare priorities to improve health outcomes and strengthen healthcare delivery in Bristol, Tenn. Ballad Health will work with the Tickles to identify the areas where the investment will have the greatest long-term impact.
6. Boston-based Dana-Farber Cancer Institute’s $1.68 billion cancer hospital, currently under construction, will be named the Lavine Bekenstein Cancer Hospital at Dana-Farber. The hospital is being named in honor of the Bekenstein and Lavine families — Josh and Anita Bekenstein and Jonathan and Jeannie Lavine — who gave Dana-Farber the largest single gift in the institute’s history in February.
7. Lansing, Mich.-based University of Michigan Health-Sparrow received the largest gift in its history to support a new behavioral health hospital. The gift from the Alton L. and Janice M. Granger Charitable Gift Fund will help finance the construction, renovation and operation of the Janice M. Granger Behavioral Health Building. Project leaders plan to break ground in August and open the facility in 2028. The system did not disclose the amount.
8. Houston Methodist received a $110 million gift, its largest single commitment in the system’s more than 100-year history. The gift came from The Brockman Medical Research Foundation to support neuroscience, neurological care and women’s health initiatives. The funding will establish a new innovation fund supporting research and care within the Houston Methodist Academic Institute and Neurological Institute, as well as an excellence fund for women’s health initiatives in the department of obstetrics and gynecology. In recognition of the gift, Houston Methodist’s new hospital facility will be named Brockman Centennial Tower, and the tower’s entrance will be named Anna Margaret Bellows Centennial Hall.
9. Hyannis, Mass.-based Cape Cod Healthcare received a $20 million gift from Cynthia G. and John F. Fish of Osterville, Mass., the largest charitable donation in the health system’s history. The gift will support initiatives focused on elder care, patient care and expanding access to healthcare services across the system. In recognition of the donation, the Cape Cod Hospital campus will be renamed the Cynthia G. and John F. Fish Campus at Cape Cod Hospital.
