America's Top Philanthropists
Despite more than 50 billionaires announcing last year they would devote at least half of their wealth to charity, few made big gifts in 2010, according to a new ranking of the 50 most-generous donors in America by The Chronicle of Philanthropy.
The three biggest names in philanthropy—Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett—don’t appear in the rankings because the money they gave in 2010 ($46.4 million and $1.9 billion, respectively) was to pay off pledges announced in previous years. The list includes only new pledges and gifts.
While many of the donors on the list are prominent philanthropists, few of them are the richest people in America. Of the 400 wealthiest Americans ranked by Forbes magazine, only 17 appeared on this year’s list of the most-generous donors.
Click ahead to see 2010's top 10 U.S. philanthropists, as ranked by The Chronicle of Philanthropy.
By Constance Parten, Senior Producer
Posted 14 Feb. 2011
Watch American Greed's A Most Generous Criminal, premiering Wednesday, Feb. 16 at 10p | 1a ET.
10. (tied) Mark Zuckerberg
Amount donated: $100 million
Beneficiary: Startup: Education
Donor’s background: Mr. Zuckerberg co-founded the social-networking Web site, Facebook, in Palo Alto, Calif.
Mr. Zuckerberg, 26, has pledged $100-million worth of Facebook stock to establish his foundation, Startup: Education, which he plans to donate over five years.
Source: The Chronicle of Philanthropy
10. (tied) Marc R. and Lynne Benioff
Amount donated: $100 million
Beneficiary: University of California at San Francisco Children’s Hospital
Donors’ background: The Benioffs’ daughter was born at the hospital, and Lynne serves on the hospital foundation’s board. Marc, 46, founded Salesforce.com, a technology company in San Francisco.
Source: The Chronicle of Philanthropy
9. Meyer and Renee Luskin
Amount donated: $100.5 million
Beneficiary: University of California at Los Angeles
Donors’ background: The Luskins are UCLA alumni and met while they were students there. Meyer Luskin, 85, earned a degree in economics in 1949, and Renee, 78, earned hers in sociology in 1953. Mr. Luskin is chairman of Scope Industries, a Santa Monica, Calif., company that manufactures an animal-feed ingredient from recycled bakery waste.
Source: The Chronicle of Philanthropy
8. T. Boone Pickens
Amount donated: $101 million
Biggest beneficiary: Oklahoma State University
Donor’s background: Pickens, 82, founded Mesa Petroleum, an oil company, and BP Capital, an energy-investment firm, both in Dallas.
Source: The Chronicle of Philanthropy
7. Frances Lasker Brody
Amount donated: Approximately $110 million
Beneficiary: The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens
Donor’s background: Brody inherited wealth from her father, Albert Lasker, widely considered to be a pioneer of modern advertising, and her husband, Sidney Brody, a real-estate magnate who built shopping centers.
Brody, who was 93 when she died in November 2009, bequeathed about $110-million to the Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens, in San Marino, Calif., where she was a member of its Board of Overseers for 20 years.
Source: The Chronicle of Philanthropy
6. Leonard Blavatnik
Amount donated: $117.2 million
Beneficiary: University of Oxford
Donor’s background: Blavatnik, 53, founded Access Industries, an international corporation with holdings in chemicals and natural resources, media and telecommunications, and real estate. Its main offices are in London, Moscow, and New York.
Source: The Chronicle of Philanthropy
5. Eli and Edythe L. Broad
Amount donated: $118.3 million
Beneficiary: Broad Foundations
Donors’ background: Eli Broad, 77, is founding chairman of KB Home Corporation, a home builder, and of SunAmerica, a financial-services company, both of which are in Los Angeles.
Eli and his wife, Edythe, 74, gave $118.3-million to the Broad Foundations, in Los Angeles. The foundations support civic programs, contemporary-art museums, efforts to improve elementary and secondary public-school education, and medical and scientific research.
Source: The Chronicle of Philanthropy
4. Irwin M. and Joan K. Jacobs
Amount donated: $119.5 million
Biggest beneficiary: University of California at San Diego Health System
Other key beneficiary: Joan and Irwin Jacobs Fund at the Jewish Community Foundation of San Diego
Donors’ background: Mr. Jacobs, 77, co-founded Qualcomm, a wireless-communications company in San Diego. Joan, 78, serves as vice chairwoman of the Jewish Community Foundation of San Diego's board of directors.
Source: The Chronicle of Philanthropy
3. T. Denny Sanford
Amount donated: $162.5 million
Biggest beneficiary: Sanford Health Foundation
Other key beneficiaries: Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute and the Florida Hospital for Children.
Donor’s background: Sanford, 75, is chairman of United National Corporation, a banking business in Sioux Falls, S.D.
Source: The Chronicle of Philanthropy
2. Michael R. Bloomberg
Amount donated: $279.2 million
Beneficiaries: Arts, human services, public affairs, and other groups
Donor’s background: Bloomberg, 68, the mayor of New York, founded Bloomberg LP, a financial-data and news-service company, in New York.
Source: The Chronicle of Philanthropy
1. George Soros
Amount donated: $332 million
Beneficiary: Open Society Foundations
Donor’s background: Soros, 80, is chairman of Soros Fund Management, a New York firm that manages hedge funds, and is the founder of the Open Society Foundations, with headquarters in New York.
Source: The Chronicle of Philanthropy