What a strange person. I would leave all that money to real causes like improving cancer treatment, solving Alzheimer’s / Parkinson’s, and helping foster kids rather than an athletic department that is essentially Ohio State lite.
He has donated a ton of money to other causes both at Oregon and elsewhere. Oregon Health Sciences is a huge beneficiary of Knight's largesse, so there's the healthcare piece. He also gives a ton of money to Stanford GSB, which doesn't exactly need it, but nobody cares about the fighting MBA trees. He's given the university a ton of academically related money because, like here, it's not really a state school anymore in that the state's share of the operating budget is a laughable percentage. Government-run shit at its best.
I think the deal with athletics, they do have a large endowment as it stands, but PK has been mostly pay as you go (build it and I'll pay for it). But, yes, on some good authority there is supposedly a massive amount set up for after his death for both the school and the athletic department. If that's true, the annual earnings on the AD endowment will approximate or exceed what is in GG's financial statement as football operative revenue.
I know it's hate season all year around, but I have never understood the issue with Phil. He just unloads money he made the American way on his alma mater. If we? all insisted that gifted money were clean of any second or third world exploitation, we'd all starve.
Re Balmer, they've given to UW (early childhood ed, etc.), but his wife's a Duck so they've sent a lot their school donation money south - just sent $425 million a couple of years ago. He probably sends money to Harvard, they of the $50 billion endowment Harvards.
Rich people always gonna rich. It's the American way.