The Chronicle of Philanthropy released its rankings of the top charitable givers in the U.S. for 2013.
Topping the list is Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan, who gave Facebook stock worth nearly a billion dollars to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, an organization that gives grants to address regional challenges.
Both are under 30, making them the youngest givers to top the list ever.
From the rankings…
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Even though the couple at the top of the list is the youngest
ever—Mr. Zuckerberg and Dr. Chan are both under 30—that doesn’t mean
that the list demonstrated a surge in young donors. In fact, the median
age of donors was 72.5.Most of them were men; 23 earned their wealth in either finance or
investments, 12 in real estate, six in technology, and the rest from a
mix of other pursuits or inheritances.
Following behind Zuckerberg and Chan was fracking tycoon George Mitchell, who gave $750 million to conservation efforts focused on ensuring that fracking doesn’t do serious environmental damage, and Nike chief Phil Knight, who gave a half billion to cancer research at Oregon Health & Science University, if OHSU can match the gift in two years. If not, Knight is taking his ball of cash and going home.
Also high on the list is former NYC mayor Michael Bloomberg, who launched a $53 million endeavor to replenish fish populations in Brazil, Chile and the Philippines.
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