America's Biggest Donors Scaled Back Their Giving in 2005

Cordelia Scaife May, Gateses Top List of 60 Most-Generous Donors

Other notable donors include NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Oprah Winfrey, and fashion designer Geoffrey Beene.

Gifts and pledges by the 60 largest contributors to charities and foundations in the United States totaled $4.3 billion in 2005, a sharp drop from 2004, when the 60 biggest donors gave more than $10 billion, according to an exclusive new survey by the Chronicle of Philanthropy and Slate magazine.

Topping the list was Cordelia Scaife May, who left a $404 million bequest, the bulk of which went to her foundation, the Colcom Foundation, in Pittsburgh. No. 2 on the list was Bill Gates, and his wife, Melinda, with a payment of $320 million of their 2004 pledge of $3.35 billion to their foundation.

Not since 2002, when the top donors contributed $4.6 billion, has the cumulative giving total dipped below $5 billion. Interestingly, of the 400 wealthiest Americans named in the Forbes 400, only 20 placed on this year's list of the biggest donors.

Following is a snapshot of the list of the most generous donors and how much they gave to charity in 2005:

1. Cordelia Scaife May, $404 million (bequest)
2. Bill and Melinda Gates, $320 million
3. Eli and Edythe L. Broad, $300 million
4. George Soros, $240.1 million
5. Boone Pickens, $229.2 million
6. David Rockefeller, $225 million
7. Michael Bloomberg, $144 million
8. Pierre and Pam Omidyar, $133.7 million
9. Ira A. and Mary Lou Felton, $122 million
10. Lawrence J. Ellison, $115 million

Also claiming rankings on the list this year: Oprah Winfrey, the entertainment mogul, donated $51.8 million and ranked No. 22; in addition, the late fashion designer Geoffrey Beene, ranked No. 57, bequeathed $20 million dollars to various animal-welfare causes.

By far, colleges and universities received more gifts from the biggest donors than any other type of charity; 44 institutions won donations or pledges from the donors on the Chronicle's list. Twenty-five of the donors contributed to their own foundations.

Money made from real estate proved the most common source of wealth among donors last year, besting technology, which took first place in 2004. Among the real estate moguls on the list: Ira and Mary Lou Felton (No. 9), head of Fulton Homes in Tempe, Ariz.; Barbara Barrow Jacobs (No. 26), wife of David Jacobs, owner of the Cleveland Indians baseball team and developer of shopping centers; and William H. and Alice T. Goodwin (No. 30), president of CCA Industries, a Richmond, Va. holding company.

The list of the top 60 donors appears in the February 23 issue of the Chronicle of Philanthropy and will be available at www.slate.com along with essays analyzing the list and its 10-year history on Monday, February 20, as well as at http://philanthropy.com.

The Chronicle of Philanthropy is an independent national newspaper covering all aspects of philanthropy and charitable organizations.

Slate Magazine is an award-winning Web site that offers fresh angles on stories in the news and innovative entertainment coverage. Slate won the 2005 EPpy award for Best Internet News Service (over 1 million monthly visitors) and the 2005 EPpy award for Best Internet Entertainment Service (over 1 million monthly visitors). Slate can be found on the Web at www.slate.com and is owned by the Washington Post Company.