Big pledges lift '11 philanthropy total

Money donated by the nation's most charitable people is starting to catch up with pre-recession giving, thanks in part to some very large bequests from a few donors.

The Chronicle of Philanthropy reported Monday that the top 50 donors made pledges in 2011 to give a total of $10.4 billion.

The donors gave a total of $3.3 billion in 2010, the smallest total since the Chronicle began tracking the biggest donors in 2000. A decade ago, the top 50 givers gave $12.5 billion.

Two people are conspicuously absent from the top 50 list this year: Bill Gates and Warren Buffett. That's because the Chronicle doesn't include payments on gifts promised in past years in its spreadsheet of top givers. Both Gates and Buffett made large payments on past pledges in 2011.

It took gifts totaling at least $26 million to make the list this year. People on the list gave a median of $61 million in 2011, compared to $39.6 million in 2010.

The top donor of 2011 was philanthropist Margaret A. Cargill of La Jolla, Calif., an agribusiness heiress who died in 2006; her estate donated $6 billion to support the arts, the environment, disaster relief and other causes.

Pittsburgh steel executive William S. Dietrich II died last year and left $500 million to a foundation to support colleges and universities, coming in at second on the list.

No. 3 was Microsoft co-founder Paul G. Allen, who put $372.6 million into the Allen Institute for Brain Science, Seattle's Experience Music Project and other charitable ventures.

No. 4 was hedge fund financier George Soros, who donated $335 million to Open Society Foundations, which promote democracy around the world.

New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg is No. 5, for giving $311.3 million to 1,185 nonprofits that benefit the arts, human services, public affairs and other causes.