The 60 largest American charitable contributions of 1996.

Introduction

The 1996 SLATE 60
The 60 largest American charitable contributions of 1996.

The Also-Rans
Other known gifts of over $1 million in 1996.

Competitive Generosity 101

1. SAMUEL SKAGGS and ALINE SKAGGS--$100 million to San Diego's SCRIPPS RESEARCH INSTITUTE from this Utah grocery and drugstore magnate and his wife. The gift will be used to establish the Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology. It will also help fund the study of new approaches to pharmaceutical design. The Skaggs' donation matches the largest gift ever made for medical research, a $100 million donation to the University of Utah made by chemical-industry executive JON M. HUNTSMAN in 1995.

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2. GEORGE SOROS--$50 million to create the EMMA LAZARUS FUND to help legal immigrants become U.S. citizens. Soros was himself a legal immigrant to the United States in 1956. He now runs the Quantum Fund in New York City. Last year, he gave away $350 million through the Soros Foundation and its Open Society Institute for countries undergoing the transition to democratic regimes. ALSO--Soros has given or pledged nearly $15 million to help change the nation's drug policy. ALSO--at least $35 million in 1996 on charitable projects that benefit Russia. This includes $5 million to create a new foundation, which will work to improve Russian charities' access to the Internet. The rest of the money will be distributed by the Open Society Institute (Moscow), an organization created by Soros. TOTAL: close to $100 million. (See also Susan Soros, No. 7, below.)

3. KLAUS G. PERLS and AMELIA PERLS--at least $60 million worth of 20^th-century art to the METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART (N.Y.). The 13 works are by masters such as Picasso, Modigliani, Braque, and Leger. The Perlses have been Manhattan dealers in 20^th-century art, as well as avid collectors, for more than 60 years.

4. ROBERT W. GALVIN--$60 million pledged to the ILLINOIS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY from the chairman of the executive committee of Motorola. Galvin is a trustee of the institute.

5. PRITZKER FAMILIES--$60 million pledged (over five years) to the ILLINOIS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY from the families of ROBERT A. PRITZKER, a 1946 graduate who now serves as the chair of the board of trustees, and JAY A. PRITZKER, a Chicago attorney. Robert Pritzker is CEO of the Marmon Group, a Chicago-based international conglomerate.

6. GONDA (GOLDSCHMIED)--$45 million to UCLA for a neuroscience- and genetics-research facility which will be named the Gonda (Goldschmied) Neuroscience and Genetics Research Center. The donor's full name is being kept private. This is the largest charitable gift from an individual in University of California history. Dr. Gerald S. Levey, provost of the UCLA SCHOOL OF MEDICINE, praised the donor for "showing not only tremendous generosity, but great vision for the betterment of human health and understanding." Levey refused to give any details about the donor's identity, or to explain the unusual use of parentheses in the building's name. "There will be a lot of people in the community who will know. But I am bound to him not to say anything else. The donor feels very strongly about that." The donor was described in a UCLA statement as having long been committed to advancing medical progress against disease.

7. RICHARD FISHER, SUSAN SOROS, and LEON LEVY--a total of $42 million to BARD COLLEGE (N.Y.) from these trustees. This gift allows the college to more than double its endowment of $22 million. Fisher is chairman of the Morgan Stanley Group Inc. Levy is general partner of Odyssey Partners, an investment firm. Soros is director of Bard's Manhattan-based Graduate Center for Studies in the Decorative Arts. She is married to the financier George Soros. (See No. 2, above.)

8. ARISON FAMILY--$40 million worth of Carnival Corp. stock to the NEW WORLD SYMPHONY (Miami, Fla.) from the founders of the cruise-line concern. The gift from the Arison family, Carnival's majority shareholders, will be used to establish a New World Symphony Foundation to support the organization's education program for young musicians. The New World Symphony was established in 1987 by conductor Michael Tilson Thomas and Carnival founder Ted Arison to help top music-school graduates perfect their skills. (NOTE: Arison, like some other wealthy Americans, has given up his U.S. citizenship for tax purposes.)

9. ROBERT M. BASS and ANNE BASS--$20 million to YALE UNIVERSITY (Conn.). This donation from the 1971 Yale graduate and his wife will help renovate Yale's aging residential colleges. ALSO--$10 million to DUKE UNIVERSITY (N.C.) to enable a "sale on chairs." The Basses are giving the gift so the university can make chairs for full professorships available for only $1.1 million instead of the usual $1.5 million. According to a Sept. 29 article in the New York Times, "[The Basses] hope that like any sale, cutting the price of a chair will draw in more customers, persuading 20 to 25 other potential donors to endow professorships." The Basses will also give an additional $1.4 million to be used to bring the professors together in a group known as the Bass Fellows. Previously, the Basses have given $25 million to Stanford and $20 million to Yale (Robert Bass attended both schools), and $5 million to Smith, Anne Bass' alma mater. TOTAL: $30 million.

10. BILL GATES--$15 million to HARVARD UNIVERSITY (Mass.), part of a joint gift with Microsoft No. 2 Steve Ballmer of $25 million to benefit research and teaching in computer science and electrical engineering. Of this, $20 million will be used to construct a state-of-the-art facility for research and teaching which will be named after Gates' and Ballmer's mothers. The remaining $5 million will endow a professorship. Gates' $15 million portion of the gift is his largest gift to date to Harvard. ALSO--$12 million to the UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON (jointly with his wife, Melinda French Gates) to help pay for a proposed $52 million building for the University of Washington Law School. At the suggestion of the university, the building will be named after Gates' father, William H. Gates, who graduated from the law school in 1950. The gift was awarded in June 1995, but publicly announced only in May 1996. Bill Gates also gave the University of Washington $12 million in 1991 to establish a department of molecular biotechnology, and $10 million in 1995 to fund an endowment for undergraduate students, in honor of his mother. 1996 TOTAL: $27 million.

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