Facebook users like the idea of sharing and ‘Liking’ pictures of people in need so that they can do their bit of giving back to the community. Where this sounds ridiculous, the news of Mark Zuckerberg being named the biggest donor for the year 2013 does not.
Mark has been an active philanthropist for a while now and last year in December he outdid his fellow by 1% in America when he and his wife Priscilla Chan donated 18 million Facebook shares to a nonprofit in Silicon Valley, the shares were valued at more than $970 million.
Zukerbergh was listed among the 50 biggest donors for the year 2013 by The Chronicles of Philanthropy; the magazine reported Zuckerberg’s donation as the largest charitable gift on the public record and this lavish gesture has helped both Zuckerbergh and his wife to be named the most generous billionaires in America.
Phil Knight, the chairman of Nike came in at number two with $500 million in charity and Michael Bloomberg at third with $350 million.
The charities were given to different organizations, for Zuckerberg and his wife Silicon Valley Community Foundation were the pick of the lot, Knight made his donations to Oregon Health and Science University Foundation (for Cancer research) and Bloomberg’s donations went to Johns Hopkins University to facilitate cross disciplinary work and student financial aid.
The biggest surprise on the list was the missing names of Bill Gates and wife Melinda who are renowned philanthropists; however they have given their commitment for a large charity in the near future.
Hospitals, medical centers and Foundations received roughly $6 million and $14 million. Universities and colleges were also among the top institutes for receiving charitable gifts valued at $1 million or so.
The donations for the year 2013 were totaled at $7.7 billion which was 4% more than the donations made in 2012.
