America’s most generous donors are ditching the caution that marked so much of their giving as the economy stalled and are roaring back with a bevy of multimillion-dollar contributions to colleges, hospitals, and other causes. The Chronicle’s ranking of the 50 donors who give the most to charitable causes shows that the wealthy contributed $7.7-billion last year. That’s 4 percent more than in 2012.
Because that figure includes some sizable bequests—such as $750-million for an environmental foundation—signs of a surge in donations are clearest in the giving records of living donors: The $6.2-billion they pledged last year was nearly equal to the sums such donors provided in the previous two years combined. It’s also more than living donors have given since 2008, and the $86.1-million median gift in 2013 set a record.
Mark Zuckerberg, co-founder of Facebook, and his wife, Priscilla Chan, led the philanthropic pack in 2013 with a nearly $1-billion gift to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, helping to catapult the organization to the ranks of the biggest foundations in the United States.
Full article text available via The Chronicle of Philanthropy, 02/09/14.
