Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife have topped the list of biggest givers for 2013, donating almost $1 billion for the year, the Chronicle of Philanthropy reported.
That’s almost an eighth of all the money donated by the top 50 American givers that year — a total of $7.7 billion, the Chicago Tribune reported. The $7.7 billion is 4 percent higher than what the top charitable donors gave in 2012.
The Chicago Tribune said living donors pledged $6.2 billion in 2012.
Ms. Zuckerberg and wife, Priscilla Chan, headed up the list with their donation to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation.
Second on the list: George Mitchell, who helped develop fracking before he died in July, the Chronicle of Philanthropy said. He left $750 million to his family foundation to help research fracking techniques that don’t cause environmental damage.
Nike Inc. co-founder Phil Knight and his wife, Penelope, donated $500 million to the Oregon Health & Science University Foundation to research cancer — but that gift has to be matched within two years, or it can’t be tapped, The Chicago Tribune said.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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