James Goodnight
American businessman
Source: Wikidata — retrieved 7/12/2026 (wikidata)
Profile Summary
James Goodnight is an American businessman based in North Carolina, born in 1943, with an estimated net worth of ~$15.3B. His wealth is associated with the technology industry. Wikidata
Philanthropy
ProPublica nonprofit filings list three related foundations for 2023 with combined assets of $143,854,275 and total grants paid of $0. The Goodnight Educational Foundation (Cary, NC) reported $143,818,333 in assets, $5,826,421 in revenue, $8,778,972 in expenses, and $0 grants paid in tax year 2023. The Chuckie Goodnight Foundation Inc (Brewster, NY) and the James C Goodnight Jr Foundation (Boone, NC) also reported $0 grants paid in 2023, with assets of $1,881 and $34,061 respectively. ProPublica 990
Political Activity
FEC data shows 100 contributions totaling $173,829.48 from 2024-09-22 to 2025-12-31. The party breakdown was $102,850.48 to Democratic recipients, $4,300 to Republican recipients, and $66,679 to PAC/Other. Top recipients by amount were DSCC ($87,100), COOPER VICTORY FUND ($61,300), COOPER FOR NORTH CAROLINA ($7,000), THOM TILLIS COMMITTEE ($3,300), and DNC Services Corp / Democratic National Committee ($2,000). FEC
U.S. Presence
Philanthropy
Political Contributions
By Party
Top Recipients
Score Breakdown
The PBS is a weighted average of 2 components. The formula is open and versioned — the weight percentages below show how much each component contributes to the final score.
Evidenced charitable giving — built on what they actually give each year, not parked assets. Dominated by generosity (annual giving relative to net worth — the share of your fortune you give), plus the absolute scale of that giving, plus a small nudge for signing the Giving Pledge (a commitment, not a realized action).
Data: ProPublica 990 charitable disbursements, net worth, The Giving Pledge registry
How much sourced, public accountability data exists — net worth, political contributions, SEC filings, foundation 990s, news coverage, and a verified profile. More public disclosure scores higher.
Data: FEC, SEC EDGAR, ProPublica 990s, GDELT / NewsAPI, Wikidata
Formula (v2): PBS = 65% x Philanthropy + 35% x Transparency
Scored on 6/23/2026 on a 0–100 scale. The score uses only the signals we have populated data for. Goal Impact, Controversy, and Community Approval are deferred until that data exists — Phase 1 goal adoption, controversy detection, and community votes respectively.
All data is sourced from public records. Each section links to its original source. View on Wikidata