(Note: The list actually runs to 17. The last eight contributors tie at $5 million.)

1. $50 million from a "team of trustees" to the MUSEUM OF MODERN ART (N.Y.). The donation enabled the Museum to buy a chunk of prime real estate abutting its midtown Manhattan location. The trustees, who wished to remain anonymous, knew the Museum wanted to expand.

2. $35 million from a "wealthy New England family with a history of philanthropic activity" to create a Massachusetts-based institute aimed at exploring and encouraging a civil society. The institute will finance research at, and award grants to, community-based organizations in support of innovative solutions to problems that undermine institutions such as families, cultural traditions, and communities that make up the "social" part of society. The institute's first project, "New Century/New Solutions," will be led by Pat Schroeder, the Colorado Democrat who has served 12 years in the U.S. House of Representatives.

3. $34 million bequest pledge from the estate of a couple to IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY. The couple has asked the university to create an endowment for the College of Agriculture from this gift.

4. $25 million challenge gift to MISSISSIPPI COLLEGE for its capital campaign. The gift is unrestricted and must be matched by gifts from other donors over five years.

5. $21 million in a charitable remainder trust to the AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR TECHNION-ISRAEL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY in Haifa, Israel.

6. $15 million to the JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY School of Medicine (Md.). Of this, $10 million will be used to create a permanent endowment for faculty development and other programs. The remainder is a challenge to encourage other donors to contribute to renovations of the school's basic research facilities.

7. $12 million in a charitable remainder unitrust to CLARK COLLEGE FOUNDATION (Wash.) for scholarships, programs, and capital improvements.

8. $8.4 million to create a faculty-recruitment program at CORNELL UNIVERSITY (N.Y.).

9. $5.5 million to CORNELL UNIVERSITY to create the Research Scholars Program to team students with faculty mentors for paid research projects.