Nike Co-Founder Phil Knight and Wife Penny Give USD 1.1 Billion to Providence St. Vincent

Nike co-founder Phil Knight and his wife Penny Knight will donate USD 1.1 billion to Providence St. Vincent Medical Center in Oregon and its affiliated Providence Heart Institute. The information comes from a news release issued on September 15, 2026. The release said the gift is among the largest ever made to a medical institution in US history and is the Knights' second major donation in about a year. The couple previously gave USD 2 billion to the Knight Cancer Institute at Oregon Health & Science University.

The latest donation will be used to create Oregon's first hospital focused on women's health and to fund cardiac care at Providence's eight hospitals in the state. The release showed that the Knights have donated USD 200 million to the Providence Heart Institute over the past decade. Dan Oseran, executive medical director of the Providence Heart Institute, said that with the Knights' funding, the institute launched a heart transplant program and was able to recruit staff and give doctors time for administrative or research work.

The new donation will continue to support cardiac care, including recruiting doctors for Providence hospitals, funding technological innovation and clinical trials, and supporting personalized treatment for patients. The new hospital will be built on the Providence St. Vincent Medical Center campus in Portland and will include a modern neonatal intensive care unit, with plans to provide comprehensive care covering gynecology, pregnancy, childbirth, menopause and cardiology.

Knight started out selling running shoes. A former college track athlete, he co-founded Nike in 1964 with former track coach Bill Bowerman, when the company was called Blue Ribbon Sports. Sixteen years later, Knight and his team took the company public. Knight led the brand to become one of the world's major sportswear companies and stepped down as chairman in 2016. The company has faced operating pressure in recent years from declining sales and intensifying competition in the Chinese market, and its share price fell in August 2026 to its lowest level since 2014. The Knights are estimated to have given USD 4.5 billion to charity before this donation was announced.