Move over Bill Gates.
Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan are the most generous U.S. philanthropists in 2013 after the Facebook founder and CEO along with his wife donated 18 million shares of the company valued at over $970 million, www.philanthropy.org reported on Monday.
Despite his death in July of last year, second was late businessman George Mitchell, who gave about $750 million to a foundation he set up with his wife to promote clean energy in his native Texas.
The third spot went to Nike co-founder Phil Knight with a $500 million grant for cancer research.
Well-known philanthropists like former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg only managed to place fourth with $452 million, while investor George Soros was No. 47 with just $40 million donated last year. Not included are Bill and Melinda Gates, which gave their foundation about $181 million, but the couple — like CNN founder Ted Turner and financial guru Warren Buffett — are paying off multi-year pledges made in the past, in their case a whopping $3.3 billion in 2004.
The publication that compiled the list pointed out that the total amount of $7.7 billion contributed by the top 50 is more than the previous two years combined, and they don’t feature donations that are not public record.
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About the author
Carlos Santamaria
Carlos is a former associate editor for breaking news in Devex's Manila-based news team. He joined Devex after a decade working for international wire services Reuters, AP, Xinhua, EFE ,and Philippine social news network Rappler in Madrid, Beijing, Manila, New York, and Bangkok. During that time, he also covered natural disasters on the ground in Myanmar and Japan.