Wealth
Visualized: The Biggest Donors of the 2022 U.S. Midterm Elections
Visualized: The Biggest Donors of the 2022 U.S. Midterm Elections
This year’s midterm election is expected to set a new spending record, with over $9 billion being raised. This is significantly higher than the previous record of $7 billion, which was set in 2018.
According to a recent analysis by the Washington Post, $1 billion of these funds can be attributed to the top 50 donors. In typical Visual Capitalist style, we’ve illustrated this data to provide you with better insight.
Overview of the Data
The following table lists the top 10 individual donors of the 2022 midterm elections.
| Rank | Name | Affiliation | Total Donation (USD millions) |
|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | George Soros | Democrat | $129 |
| #2 | Elizabeth & Richard Uihlein | Republican | $70 |
| #3 | Kenneth Griffin | Republican | $66 |
| #4 | Jeffrey Yass | Republican | $48 |
| #5 | Sam Bankman-Fried | Democrat | $39 |
| #6 | Stephen Schwarzman | Republican | $33 |
| #7 | Timothy Mellon | Republican | $33 |
| #8 | Larry Ellison | Republican | $31 |
| #9 | Peter Thiel | Republican | $30 |
| #10 | Patrick & Shirley Ryan | Republican | $27 |
Sorting this top 10 donor list by party, we can see that $168 million was raised for the Democrats, and $338 million for the Republicans.
Continue reading below for some interesting background info on all 10 of these individuals. Net worth values were gathered from Forbes on November 1, 2022.
George Soros (Net worth: $7B)
George Soros is a Hungarian-born American billionaire, widely known for his philanthropical efforts and for “breaking” the Bank of England. He has had an illustrious career as a hedge fund manager, founding Soros Fund Management in 1970. Visit this page to see the top 100 holdings of Soros Fund Management’s portfolio.
Soros has donated over $30 billion of his fortune to various causes and charities. He is the founder and chairman of two Super PACs (political action committees) named Democracy PAC and Democracy PAC II.
Unlike regular PACs, Super PACs face no limits in terms of fundraising or political spending.
Elizabeth & Richard Uihlein (Combined net worth: $7B)
Elizabeth & Richard Uihlein are the founders of Uline, one of North America’s largest distributors of logistics supplies (boxes, tape, gloves, etc.). The company makes several billion in sales per year.
The couple have gained media attention for making substantial donations to the Republican party. According to Forbes, the Uihleins have donated a total of $194 million since the 1990s.
Kenneth Griffin (Net worth: $31B)
Kenneth Griffin is the founder and CEO of Citadel, a hedge fund based in the U.S. He also owns Citadel Securities, which is the largest market maker on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).
Market makers act as a middleman in financial markets by facilitating buy and sell orders for investors. Using equities (stocks) as an example, when a market maker receives an order from a buyer, it sells shares from its own inventory. This enables the stock market to run smoothly.
Griffin found himself in the spotlight during the GameStop short squeeze when his firm provided emergency funding to Melvin Capital Management.
Jeffrey Yass (Net worth: $30B)
Once a pro gambler, Jeffrey Yass is a cofounder of Susquehanna International Group (SIG), a successful trading firm based in Philadelphia. SIG specializes in quantitative research and trading, which involves the use of computer algorithms to identify opportunities.
Yass is frequently cited as the richest person in the state of Pennsylvania and has gained media attention for his large political contributions.
Sam Bankman-Fried (Net worth: $17B)
Sam Bankman-Fried is the founder and CEO of FTX, which is currently the world’s third largest cryptocurrency exchange behind Binance and Coinbase. The company is based in the Bahamas and offers trading in more than 300 cryptocurrencies.
In May 2022, Bankman-Fried declared that he was willing to donate “north of $100 million” in the upcoming 2024 presidential election. He has since backtracked this comment.
At some point, when you’ve given your message to voters, there’s just not a whole lot more you can do.
– Sam Bankman-Fried
Stephen Schwarzman (Net worth: $35B)
Stephen Schwarzman is the chairman and CEO of The Blackstone Group, a globally recognized private equity firm. Blackstone’s portfolio of companies includes Ancestry.com, a well-known family history service, and Bumble, a popular online dating platform.
Shown below, Schwarzman’s wealth has increased substantially since 2020.
The bulk of Schwarzman’s political contributions have gone towards the Senate Leadership Fund, an independent Super PAC which aims to build a Republican Senate majority.
Timothy Mellon (Family net worth: $11B)
Timothy Mellon was the chairman and majority owner of Pan Am Systems, a privately held company with operations in transportation, manufacturing, and energy. In November 2020, CSX Corporation announced it had signed an agreement to purchase Pan Am. The sale was approved in April 2022.
Mellon made headlines in 2021 when it was revealed that he made a whopping $53 million donation to the Texas border wall fund. At the time of reporting, this represented 98% of total funding.
Larry Ellison (Net worth: $102B)
Larry Ellison is the chairman and cofounder of Oracle, one of the world’s largest software companies. Oracle is listed on the NYSE and has a market cap of over $200 billion. Ellison was also a Tesla board member from December 2018 to August 2022.
The vast majority of his political contributions have gone towards the Opportunity Matters Fund, which supports candidates who promote the Opportunity Agenda. It calls for enhanced financial literacy, apprenticeships, and education options.
Peter Thiel (Net worth: $4B)
Peter Thiel is a successful entrepreneur and venture capitalist, perhaps best known for cofounding PayPal. He also cofounded Palantir Technologies, a data analytics company, and is a general partner of Founders Fund, a venture capital firm with investments in major names such as SpaceX.
Thiel is one of the Republican Party’s largest donors, a position that sets him apart from many other Silicon Valley figures. In February 2022, it was reported that he would be stepping down as a Meta board member.
Patrick and Shirley Ryan (Patrick’s net worth: $9B)
Patrick Ryan is the founder and retired CEO of AON Corporation, one of the world’s largest insurance companies. In 2010, he founded another company known as Ryan Specialty Group, which provides services to insurance brokers.
Together with his wife Shirley, the Ryans have made large donations towards the Senate Leadership Fund and other Republican groups.
Wealth
Ranked: The World’s Top 50 Endowment Funds
Endowment funds represent the investment arms of nonprofits. See the worlds top 50, which collectively have over $1 trillion in assets.
Ranked: The World’s Top 50 Endowment Funds
What do Harvard, the Church Commissioners for England, the NYC Metropolitan Museum of Art, and an entity on behalf of Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah all have in common? They all have endowment funds.
An endowment fund is the investment arm of nonprofit institutions like universities, charities, and churches. The purpose of the fund is to invest the organization’s assets to fuel future operations and other important projects.
The world’s largest endowment funds have billions in investable assets, making them sizable players in the finance sector. Here, using data from Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute, we take a closer look at the world’s largest endowment funds by total assets.
Types of Endowment Funds
Overall, there are four main types of endowment structures.
- Unrestricted Endowment: A fund structure where assets are used at the full discretion of the institution
- Term Endowment: A fund structure with a fixed term time period before the principal can be spent
- Quasi Endowment: A donation to an endowment with a specific purpose to deploy that capital
- Restricted Endowment: A fund structure where the principal value from donations is held forever and only returns generated on the principal can be used
In addition, each endowment fund has different structures in regards to withdrawals, use of funds, and their general investment philosophy.
The Largest Endowment Funds
The largest endowment funds can be compared on a grand economic scale, in terms of assets.
To put it all into perspective, the largest 50 endowment funds represent over a trillion dollars in assets. Or for a more singular example, look at Harvard’s fund, which has an endowment greater than the entire GDP of countries like Serbia, Bolivia, or Slovenia.
Here’s how the top 50 rank.
| Rank | Endowment Fund | Total Assets | Region |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ensign Peak Advisors, Inc | $124,000,000,000 | North America |
| 2 | Japan Science and Technology Agency | $80,700,000,000 | Asia |
| 3 | Stanford University | $75,143,751,000 | North America |
| 4 | Harvard Management Company | $72,781,329,000 | North America |
| 5 | Yale University | $56,223,259,000 | North America |
| 6 | Princeton University | $44,460,038,000 | North America |
| 7 | MIT Investment Management Company | $42,526,492,000 | North America |
| 8 | Duke University | $30,385,835,000 | North America |
| 9 | New York University | $27,840,535,000 | North America |
| 10 | Columbia University in the City of New York | $24,698,782,000 | North America |
| 11 | University of Notre Dame | $24,599,541,000 | North America |
| 12 | KAUST Investment Management Company | $23,500,000,000 | Middle East |
| 13 | Emory University | $20,458,905,000 | North America |
| 14 | Johns Hopkins University | $18,037,751,000 | North America |
| 15 | Church Pension Fund | $17,773,649,171 | North America |
| 16 | University of Chicago | $17,276,136,000 | North America |
| 17 | Ohio State University | $16,006,851,000 | North America |
| 18 | Northwestern University | $15,855,683,000 | North America |
| 19 | Washington University in St Louis | $15,103,569,000 | North America |
| 20 | Penn State University, Office of Investment Management | $15,017,272,000 | North America |
| 21 | Notre Dame of Maryland University | $14,938,580,253 | North America |
| 22 | Cornell University | $14,850,618,000 | North America |
| 23 | University of Southern California | $14,495,427,000 | North America |
| 24 | Vanderbilt University | $13,883,495,000 | North America |
| 25 | University of Virginia Investment Management Compnay | $13,811,076,000 | North America |
| 26 | University of Tokyo | $13,285,270,000 | Asia |
| 27 | National University of Singapore | $12,626,100,000 | Asia |
| 28 | UNC Management Company | $11,986,857,000 | North America |
| 29 | University of Michigan Office of Investments | $11,900,000,000 | North America |
| 30 | General Authority of Awqaf | $11,238,371,192 | Middle East |
| 31 | Church Commissioners for England | $11,197,700,000 | Europe |
| 32 | J.Paul Getty Trust | $10,778,927,000 | North America |
| 33 | Trinity Wall Street Episcopal Church | $9,932,419,000 | North America |
| 34 | Unitersity of Utah | $9,827,602,000 | North America |
| 35 | Brown University | $9,793,108,000 | North America |
| 36 | Kamehameha Schools | $9,326,013,000 | North America |
| 37 | Dartmouth College | $9,078,340,000 | North America |
| 38 | Hong Kong Jockey Club | $8,603,580,000 | Asia |
| 39 | Rice University | $8,424,555,000 | North America |
| 40 | The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust | $8,313,588,000 | North America |
| 41 | University of Pittsburgh | $8,011,856,000 | North America |
| 42 | Nature Conservancy | $7,870,380,000 | North America |
| 43 | University of Toronto Asset Management Corporation | $7,329,730,000 | North America |
| 44 | University of Rochester | $7,149,025,000 | North America |
| 45 | Virginia Commonwealth University | $6,985,495,306 | North America |
| 46 | Purdue University | $6,755,500,000 | North America |
| 47 | University of Miami | $6,582,600,000 | North America |
| 48 | University of Minnesota | $6,304,508,000 | North America |
| 49 | Caltech Investment Office | $6,252,584,000 | North America |
| 50 | Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City | $5,588,554,000 | North America |
The largest endowment fund, Ensign Peak Advisors, is based in Salt Lake City, Utah, and manages the assets for the Mormon Church (officially known as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints). The church itself has over 16 million members worldwide and is the fourth largest church in America.
The Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) is a national research and development agency that plays a core role in promoting technology, innovation, and science within society. In 1995, Japan’s government passed the Science and Technology Basic Plan and the JST came to life and now has over $80 billion in assets as well as offices in Paris, Washington, Singapore, and Beijing.
Just two funds come from the Middle East. The King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) with $23.5 billion and the General Authority of Awqaf. KAUST is ranked 95th amongst universities in the world and made history in the country by being Saudi Arabia’s first mixed-gender university.
The General Authority of Awqaf has $11 billion in assets and was established as a public authority to manage endowments and enhance Saudi Arabia’s various goals for societal development. “Awqaf” in Arabic loosely translates to assets that are donated or purchased for general or specific charitable causes that are socially beneficial.
On the environmental side is the Nature Conservancy, which has $7.8 billion in assets. The charity is estimated to have protected more than 100 million acres of land.
American Universities Dominate
Universities are one leading category from the world of endowment funds, particularly those from the United States. In fact, universities make up 39 of the top 50 endowment funds, with 35 of them based in America.
Historically, Harvard has been the largest, but Stanford has edged ahead in recent years. Stanford has $75 billion in assets compared to Harvard’s $73 billion. These vast amounts of money have not gone unnoticed, and elite universities are facing mounting criticism in some circles.
“When Harvard’s total admitted freshman class is 1,400 people—and they have an endowment that is the GDP of El Salvador—they’re not a nonprofit, they’re a hedge fund educating the children of their investors.” – Professor Scott Galloway
With student debt rising to $1.6 trillion, it’s likely these universities may face greater criticism around how they use the wealth available to them in endowment funds.
Sizable Influence
The top endowment funds carry considerable influence within the world of finance. While they all have billions to invest, each has very different objectives and intentions on how to deploy their capital.
And despite being non-profit organizations, endowment funds are seeing their overall assets exceed those held by many other investment funds, such as sovereign wealth funds, hedge funds, and private equity firms.
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