The Slate60

The 2001 Slate 60: Top Donations

The 60 largest American charitable contributions of 2001.

Donors Who Gave $25 Million or More

GORDON AND BETTY MOORE$5.8 billion to the GORDON AND BETTY MOORE FOUNDATION. Mr. Moore, 73, a co-founder of Intel, and his wife, Betty, 72, last year contributed more than $5.8 billion in Intel stock to their foundation in San Francisco. The majority of the foundation’s grants go to environmental causes, colleges and universities, and to finance scientific research. In addition, the Moores pledged $300 million to the CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, in Pasadena, to be matched by grants from their foundation.

WILLIAM H. III AND MELINDA GATES$2 billion to the BILL AND MELINDA GATES FOUNDATION. With this contribution, Mr. Gates, 46, a co-founder of Microsoft, and his wife, Melinda, 36, increased the foundation’s endowment to more than $23 billion by year end. In 2001 the foundation, in Seattle, distributed more than $1.1 billion in grants.

JAMES E. AND VIRGINIA G. STOWERS$1.1 billion to the STOWERS INSTITUTE FOR MEDICAL RESEARCH and other groups. Mr. Stowers, 78, who founded American Century Companies, a mutual-fund company, in Kansas City, Mo., and his wife, Virginia, 71, contributed $1.1 billion worth of the company’s stock to the Stowers Institute for Medical Research, in Kansas City, Mo., which the couple founded in 1994. That gift brought its total endowment to $1.64 billion at year end. They also donated $4.3 million to an organization established to support the institute. Other organizations received a total of $20,000 from the couple in 2001.

ELI AND EDYTHE L. BROAD$387.9 million to various Broad foundations and other groups. Mr. Broad, 68, and his wife, Edythe, 65, added $200.4 million to the BROAD FOUNDATION, in Los Angeles, which supports efforts to improve public elementary and secondary schools. The gift raised the foundation’s endowment to $410 million. They also contributed more than $168.3 million to the ELI AND EDYTHE L. BROAD FOUNDATION, in Los Angeles, $16.2 million to the BROAD ART FOUNDATION, in Santa Monica, Calif., which lends works of art to galleries and museums worldwide, and $3 million to other nonprofit groups.

ELMER RASMUSON—a $160 million bequest to the RASUMSON FOUNDATION and three BOY SCOUT COUNCILS in Alaska. Mr. Rasmuson was the retired chairman of the National Bank of Alaska, which was sold to Wells Fargo in 1999, and a former mayor of Anchorage. When Mr. Rasmuson died in 2000, at 91, he bequeathed approximately $400 million to the Rasmuson Foundation, which supports organizations in Alaska. In 2001, $150 million of that amount was transferred to the foundation, and another $10 million created a trust to benefit the Midnight Sun, Southeast Alaska, and Western Alaska Councils of the Boy Scouts of America.

SIDNEY KIMMEL$100 million to JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY and seven other nonprofit groups. Mr. Kimmel, 74, chairman of Jones Apparel Group, in Bristol, Pa., gave $54 million to the Johns Hopkins University Health System, in Baltimore, as part of a $150 million pledge for cancer research and treatment. He also gave $30 million to the KIMMEL CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS, in Philadelphia; $7 million to the SIDNEY KIMMEL CANCER CENTER, in San Diego; $5 million to the MEMORIAL SLOAN-KETTERING CANCER CENTER, in New York; and $1 million each to the JEWISH FEDERATION OF GREATER PHILADELPHIA; the RAYMOND AND RUTH PERELMAN JEWISH DAY SCHOOL, in Wynnewood, Pa.; the NATIONAL CONSTITUTION CENTER, in Philadelphia; and the THOMAS JEFFERSON UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL, in Philadelphia.

ROBERT EDWARD (TED) TURNER$91.2 million to the U.N. FOUNDATION, NUCLEAR THREAT INITIATIVE, BETTER WORLD FUND, and other organizations. Mr. Turner, 63, vice chairman of AOL Time Warner, in New York, and founder of CNN and Turner Broadcasting System, gave $74.8 million to the U.N. Foundation, in Washington, which he founded to support the work of the United Nations. He also gave $10.7 million to the Nuclear Threat Initiative, in Washington, which seeks to reduce the threat posed by nuclear arms and other weapons of mass destruction, as part of a $250 million pledge to establish that organization; $5.6 million to the BETTER WORLD FUND, in Washington; and $130,000 to other groups.

PETER B. LEWIS$72.5 million to PRINCETON UNIVERSITY and other nonprofit groups. Mr. Lewis, 68, is chairman of the Progressive Corp., an insurance company in Mayfield Village, Ohio. He gave Princeton University, in Princeton, N.J., $19.1 million for its human-genomics institute and $14.5 million as payment on a new $60 million pledge to help build a science library and support its programs. Other gifts include: $16 million to CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY, in Cleveland, to help build a new campus for its management school; $11.5 million to the SOLOMON R. GUGGENHEIM MUSEUM, in New York; and $7 million to the AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION FOUNDATION, in New York. He gave $4.4 million to other charities last year.

LEON LEVY$54.7 million to JEROME LEVY FOUNDATION, BARD COLLEGE, and other groups. Mr. Levy, 76, is a retired general partner at Odyssey Partners, a hedge fund in New York. In 2001 he gave $25.9 million to the Jerome Levy Foundation, in New York, which is named for Mr. Levy’s father, and paid $25 million of an unrestricted $50 million pledge to Bard College, where he is a member of the board. He also gave $3.8 million to other institutions, including PRINCETON UNIVERSITY and HARVARD UNIVERSITY, in Cambridge, Mass.

BERNARD MARCUS$46 million to the MARCUS FOUNDATION and other organizations. Mr. Marcus, 72, co-founded Home Depot, in Atlanta. In 2001 he contributed $24 million to the Marcus Foundation, in Atlanta, which has pledged up to $200 million to build an aquarium in Atlanta. Last year Mr. Marcus also gave a total of $22 million to other nonprofit groups.

JOHN W. KLUGE—land worth $45 million to the UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. Mr. Kluge, 87, founder of Metromedia Co., a private company in New York that owns telecommunications, media, and other holdings, donated a 7,378-acre estate in Albemarle County, Va., to the university. According to the terms of the gift, a portion of the property will be held in perpetuity by the university’s foundation. Mr. Kluge will retain use of that land and an adjacent section throughout his life. Other parts of the property are being leased and will be sold.

JEFFREY S. SKOLL$42.8 million to the SKOLL COMMUNITY FUND. Mr. Skoll, 37, is a former president of the Internet auction site eBay, in San Jose, Calif. His latest gift to the supporting foundation he created at Community Foundation Silicon Valley brought the fund’s endowment to $103 million at year end. The fund makes grants in four areas: education, micro-enterprise and economic development, philanthropy and the nonprofit world, and technology.

DAVID AND CHERYL DUFFIELD$38.4 million to MADDIE’S FUND and other groups. The $37 million contribution from Mr. Duffield, 61, chairman of PeopleSoft, in Pleasanton, Calif., and his wife, Cheryl, 51, raised the endowment of Maddie’s Fund to $240 million. The fund, which the Duffields established in 1994, supports groups that encourage the adoption of dogs and cats from animal shelters, veterinary-school programs that focus on caring for animals in shelters, and statewide efforts to spay and neuter pets. The organization is named for a dog the Duffields owned. Last year the couple also gave $1 million to the FAMILIES OF FREEDOM SCHOLARSHIP FUND, which was created to help pay for the postsecondary education of the children and spouses of those killed or severely injured in the Sept. 11 attacks. They gave an additional $400,000 to other groups.

FERN S. McALISTER$38.3 million bequest to the CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL LOS ANGELES. Mrs. McAlister, who died last year at age 93, left money to establish the McAlister Clinical Research Program, designed to bring scholars to the hospital. Her late husband, Harold, was a private investor.

ANNE C. ANDERSON$33.4 million bequest to LEHIGH VALLEY HOSPITAL AND HEALTH NETWORK. Mrs. Anderson, who died in 2000 at age 94, left money to support the hospital’s teaching activities and programs. During her lifetime, she gave the hospital $1.5 million to endow a chair in surgery. Mrs. Anderson’s late husband, Carl, was an engineer at Air Products and Chemicals, in Trexlertown, Pa.

MICHAEL E. MORITZ$30.3 million to OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY. Mr. Moritz, a partner at Baker & Hostetler, a law firm in Columbus, Ohio, made his donation to finance scholarships and professorships at the university’s law school. The gift will provide full tuition and a stipend for 10 law students in each year of law school, annual awards for the top students in each class, and will endow four professorships. Last year Mr. Moritz also gave undisclosed amounts to the UNITED WAY OF CENTRAL OHIO, in Columbus; the WEXNER CENTER FOR THE ARTS at Ohio State University; WOSU, the university’s radio station; and other nonprofit institutions. He recently founded a venture-capital company called Franklin Capital.

WILLIAM J. AND NANCY WALTON LAURIE$25 million to the UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI in Columbia. The Lauries’ donation, which will go to help build a new basketball arena, was announced in 2000 as a pledge from an anonymous donor. In 2001, when the funds were transferred to the university, the Lauries stepped forward to acknowledge their gift. Mr. Laurie, 50, owns Paige Sports Entertainment, in St. Louis, which owns the St. Louis Blues hockey club and Savvis Center, where the Blues play. Mrs. Laurie, 50, is the daughter of Bud Walton, a co-founder of Wal-Mart.