[ 2014-01-01 ]

Mark Zuckerberg is America's biggest philanthropist
Mark Zuckerberg, the founder and chief executive
of Facebook, was the US's biggest charity donor in
2013, according to a list of publicly-available
donations.

Mr Zuckerberg, 29, and his wife Priscilla Chan
gave $990m (£598m) to the Silicon Valley
Community Foundation, the California charity, in
December.

The donation, made up of 18m Facebook shares, made
up almost a third of the $3.4bn that America's
wealthiest philanthropists - those who gave more
than $100m - donated in 2013, according to the
Chronicle of Philanthropy.

In total, 15 Americans donated more than $100m
last year, a rebound in charitable giving after 11
donated the amount the year before. The research
does not include those who gave anonymously.

$5bn was donated by the US's most wealthy
philanthropists in 2012, although this included
$3bn given by Warren Buffett to his children's
foundations.

Mr Zuckerberg was the second-biggest donor after
Mr Buffett in 2012, giving $500m to the Silicon
Valley Community Foundation and the Breakthrough
Prize in Life Science.

After Mr Zuckerberg, last year's biggest donors
were Nike chairman Phil Knight, who gave $500m to
the Oregon Health & Science University Foundation,
and Michael Bloomberg, who donated $350m to the
Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.

Last year was the first time someone under 30 had
topped the Chronicle of Philanthropy's list.

Although total donations from those giving more
than $100m improved, they are still off 2007's
highs of $4.1bn, suggesting that even nine-figure
philanthropy is not immune to economic
conditions.

Total donations of more than $1m also rose, from
$6.1bn to $9.6bn.

The 15 who gave more than $100m

1. Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook chief executive,
$992.2m to Silicon Valley Community Foundation

2. Phil Knight, Nike chairman, $500m to Oregon
Health & Science University Foundation


3. Michael Bloomberg, businessman and former mayor
of New York, $350m to Johns Hopkins University

4 Charles Johnson, financier, $250m to Yale
University for residential buildings

5. Stephen Ross, real-estate developer, $200m to
University of Michigan for athletics and the
business school

6. Muriel Block, real-estate heiress, $160m to
Yeshiva University's College of Medicine

7. John Arrillaga, real-estate developer, $151m to
Stanford University

8. Irwin Jacobs, co-founder of Qualcomm, and his
wife Joan, $133m to Cornell University

9. Charles Munger, vice chairman of Berkshire
Hathaway, $110m to University of Michigan for
student housing

10. David Koch, businessman and political
activist, $100m to New York Presbyterian Hospital

11. Frank McCourt, real-estate developer, $100m to
Georgetown University (to create the McCourt
School of Public Policy)

12. Ronald Perelman, investor, $100m to Columbia
Business School

13. T. Denny Sanford, chairman of United National
Corporation, $100m to University of California

14. Stephen Schwarzman, financier, $100m to
Tsinghua University

15. Deborah Joy Simon, real-estate heiress, $100m
to Mercersburg Academy

Source - The Telegraph

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