With a donation of nearly 18 million Facebook shares, CEO Mark Zuckerberg and wife Priscilla Chan were named the most generous philanthropists of 2013.
A report released by The Chronicle of Philanthropy Monday, stated that Zuckerberg and Chan donated Facebook shares valued at $970 million to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation last December. This also made the couple the youngest donors topping the list of 50 most generous Americans in 2013.
The country's top 50 donors donated $7.7 billion last year, 4 percent more than in 2012, the Chronicle stated. Second most generous donor was George Mitchell who gave $750 million as charity to the Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation. The organisation funds clean energy, natural gas sustainability and other environmental projects. He is known for initiating the controversial practice of hydraulic fracturing or 'fracking,' reports CNNMoney. Mitchell, 94, passed away last July.
Nike chairman Philip Knight and his wife, Penelope, were the third biggest contributors with a donation of $500 million challenge grant to Oregon Health & Science University Foundation for cancer research.
The regular generous donors did not make it to the 2013 list as their charity was taken as pledges in previous years. For instance, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and wife, Melinda, donated just over $181.3 million to their foundation last year, but they were paying off a pledge of about $3.3 billion they made in 2004, reports the Associated Press.
Major donations were made by Californians ($2.8 billion) and New Yorkers ($1.6 billion). Other big contributions came from Texas, Oregon and Washington states. The grants were mostly made for colleges and universities with around $2.6 billion for charity. CNN Money reported that foundations received $2.1 billion. Hospitals, medical centers, museums and library groups and human service groups were among the other recipients.
