Nike cofounder Phil Knight makes largest known donation to public flagship university, made over an unscheduled call, University president calls the ‘extraordinary gift an endorsement of …’
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. It gives us the ability to scale innovation, accelerate impact, and meet the demand for skilled engineering required by the industries of tomorrow, all without placing that financial burden on state taxpayers.”
Nike co-founder has given billions to Oregon causes
The couple has also made major donations linked to University of Oregon athletics. They have previously given $100 million to build the university’s basketball arena, named in honour of their late son, Matthew Knight.Phil Knight’s support has also helped create strong ties between the university and Nike. Oregon athletes have access to new and exclusive Nike gear, along with support related to name, image and likeness (NIL) deals. Because of the close relationship, some people call Oregon the “University of Nike.”
Phil Knight’s donation comes as US university funding faces uncertainty
Phil Knights’ donation comes as federal support for universities faces uncertainty. In early 2025, the Trump administration laid off thousands of workers at federal science agencies, delayed some grant payments to universities and sought cuts to funding for research overheads. The administration also withdrew some DEI grants.Additionally, the White House’s fiscal 2026 budget proposal called for a nearly 36% cut in non-defense science research and development funding. It also proposed cuts of nearly 57% at the National Science Foundation (NSF) and more than 40% at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). However, Congress largely rejected those proposed cuts and kept science funding mostly unchanged.
