Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, were the most generous American philanthropists in 2013, with a donation of 18 million shares of Facebook stock, valued at more than $970 million, to a Silicon Valley nonprofit in December.
The Chronicle of Philanthropy reported Monday that Zuckerberg’s donation was the largest charitable gift on the public record in 2013 and put the young couple at the top of the magazine’s annual list of 50 most generous Americans in 2013.
The top 50 contributors made donations last year totaling $7.7 billion, plus pledges of $2.9 billion.
The Chronicle’s editor says the most significant fact from the list was the amount of money coming from living donors, which totaled about the same amount as the two previous years combined.
“It’s a sure sign that the economy is getting better and people are getting a lot less cautious,” said Stacy Palmer, Chronicle editor.
Some of the nation’s biggest givers do not appear on the 2013 list, not because they stopped being generous, but because their donations in 2013 were counted as pledges in previous years.
For example, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and his wife, Melinda, gave their foundation slightly more than $181.3 million last year, but they were paying off a pledge of about $3.3 billion they made in 2004. CNN-founder Ted Turner and Berkshire Hathaway chairman Warren Buffett also made large gifts toward previous pledges.
It took gifts totaling at least $37.5 million to make the list this year. Forty-two of the top 50 made gifts of $50 million or more.
Thirty made big gifts to colleges and universities, but Palmer noted most college gifts went to science and research this year, not to buildings, as in previous years.
Ten of the 50 made the list because of bequests after their deaths, including the second biggest giver in 2013, George Mitchell, a Galveston, Texas, man who made his fortune in energy and real estate.
At No. 3 were Nike chairman Philip Knight and his wife, Penelope, of Portland, Ore., who made a $500 million challenge grant to Oregon Health & Science University Foundation for cancer research. The Knight pledge requires the university match it within the next two years.
No. 4 was philanthropist and former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, who made gifts totaling $452 million in 2013 to arts, education, environment, public health and other causes.
Nineteen people or couples on the list have signed the Giving Pledge, started by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett in 2010. More than 120 of the world’s wealthiest individuals and families have pledged to give at least half their wealth to charity since the movement began.
Although most people on the list were prominent wealthy people who have given generously in the past, Palmer said a few were surprises, including Jack MacDonald, a Seattle lawyer, who gave $139 million to three nonprofits upon his death.
(AP)
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16 Responses
While, I am all for wealthy individuals and the not so wealthy giving to worth while projects and companies, I cannot help but to be dismayed.
Marc Zuckerberg is a Jewish man and he is the product of a liberal education and childhood. While it is not a guarantee that a child sent to an Orthodox Jewish Day school will automatically hold to Torah and mitvos,the chances increase with this level of education and instruction.
The responsibility to help the day schools achieve sustainability is immense. The responsibility lies squarely on each and every Jew. It is with good character that Mr. Zuckerberg gave many millions to a non- profit start up company. In my opinion it would have been the more responsible thing to give to both.
Without a solid traditional Jewish education from the
the original mesorah one has a lesser chance of retaining one’s Jewish identity.
#1, I don’t really understand your comment. Why are you dismayed that someone who did not attend an Orthodox Jewish Day School and attended public and non-Jewish private schools would not donate a portion of his fortune to an Orthodox Jewish Day School. And would an Orthodox Jewish Day School that received such funds use them for outreach to secular families? I’m not sure what you are saying.
Paper money!!!
Has he given away anything?
Publicity!!!
We should let these people know we have a tuition crisis
#4, I’m curious why you think informing someone with secular education that there is a “tuition crisis” in the Yeshiva world will do anything.
@heretohelp, I believe comment #4 addresses what I was thinking. Why am I dismayed? He had a bar mitzvah. He knows he’s Jewish. He know’s he’s wealthy. Give to Jewish causes…
#6, why do you think that that is how he sees the world? Why would he see the world that way without the education that you want him to donate money to support?
#6, just a follow up thought- maybe he sees things like internet boycotts, etc., and decides those aren’t the people or causes he wants to donate his money to. He makes his money from facebook. He doesn’t think he’s evil and doing anything wrong.
My point- its going to take a bit more than just pointing out that there’s a tuition crisis.
Its all blood money. The world would be a better place without his filthy website.
@heretohelp, I hear you heretohelp and just like your moniker, I think it’s a wonderful point- it’s going to take a lot more than just pointing out that there’s a tuition crisis.
So, on that note you and I could “point” it out a little louder. How about you and I point it out in a letter or email to Mr. zuckerberg?
Blood money? Filthy? Have you even been there?
Pointing it out louder is still just pointing it out. Instead of telling him there’s a problem and asking for money, why not think of a way to show him the beauty of Yiddishkeit such that one day, you won’t have to ask?
Typical frummy nonsense, expecting people you despise to fund you and your institutions while spewing hatred for everything the donor stands for.
Mr Zuckerburg didn’t get to where he is by acting against his own self interest.
I’m sure he knows all about the “Asifa” and the struggle for control the “Gedolim” are facing due to the internet being a check on their power.
Free ride is over, either find a way to sustain the mess that is the “day school system” or dismantle it. Don’t expect the “frei yidden” to fall for the Fiddler On The Roof nostalgia for much longer.
@heretohelp, I wonder why you have gotten bent out of shape. I merely stated my opinion that as Jew Marc Zuckerberg could/should give to both non- profits as well as Jewish education.
Crisioftheweek suggests along with you that I “despise” and “spew hatred.” Really? To use the expression “dismayed” is not to despise or hate.
heretohelp, in your #8 comment you mention “he doesn’t think he is evil and doing anything wrong.” Correct. So, why would you initiate that type of a response when I and no one else said he was “evil” ?
Finally, down on comment #12 you mention we should “show him the beauty of yiddishkeit.” Great. Why didn’t you say that in the first place instead of inserting comments that were not made? ie: hate; despise; evil? If you check above, you were the one who wrote these…..
#14, I wonder why you think I’ve gotten bent out of shape.
As for “evil” I’ve heard plenty of people talk of the evils of facebook and the internet in general. See, e.g., comment #9, which uses the terms “blood money” and describes his website as “filthy.”
As for your last line, “hate, despise, evil…” No, if you check above, I’m not the one who wrote those. I did use the word “evil” in a different context.
But overall, it would be more dismaying if he did donate money to a Jewish educational institution, just as it would be dismaying if I were to donate money to support the Chinese Olympic figure skating team- something I have no affiliation with and no interest in, and which likewise has no interest in me.
Re read your #8 comment….no one insinuated this except you…my words were merely an opinion. If you don’t like it then ignore me and my opinions. I was expressing my sadness over our current situation to see this many millions not going to Jewish edu – especially from a yid, whether affiliated or unaffiliated. You have started in with your opinions in a negative form of questioning. Is my opinion being expressed negatively? Yes, of course they are. Are yours? Yes, of course they are. The difference? I am not aiming anything in your direction.
If you look at my original post it is more of a written emphasis to support Jewish edu. I even put whether affiliated or not. He had a bar mitzvah. He is aware of something called Jewish edu. It would have been good then and in it would be good in the future for someone who has been blessed with a good mind and business intuition to invest in the schools that are of his heritage. that’s it- nothing more than that. Other than that: nevvvvvvermind….