Not interested in merely being an heiress of a fortune from her father, William L. McKnight (who earned it from 3M — the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Co.), Binger was the head of the family’s charitable foundation.
When she took it over in 1974, its assets were $8 million. When she retired just 14 years later, she had built its assets to almost $800 million, while at the same time it gave grants worth $235 million, mostly for scientific research, the arts, and low-income housing projects in Minnesota. The McKnight Foundation is now the 24th-largest charitable foundation in the United States. Binger died December 22 at her home in Minnesota. She was 86.