Every year, the Chronicle of Philanthropy highlights the top donors in the United States. In 2019, the top fifty American donors gave $15.8 billion to various causes. This is nearly double the $8 billion given in 2018 by the top fifty. Here’s the list of the top ten American donors from last year:

  1. Michael Bloomberg ($3.3 billion)
  2. Barron Hilton ($2.4 billion)
  3. Eric and Wendy Schmidt ($1.3 billion)
  4. Jim Walton ($1.2 billion)
  5. Thomas Lord ($1.04 billion)
  6. Stewart and Lynda Resnick ($787 million)
  7. Bill and Melinda Gates ($589 million)
  8. Denny Sanford ($533 million)
  9. Pierre and Pam Omidyar ($470 million)
  10. John and Laura Arnold ($350 million)

Over the past twenty years of reporting, Warren Buffet has been the most generous American, giving $255 billion since 2000. Two interesting trends over the past twenty years: the number of generous Americans who made their money from tech and finance has greatly increased. Back in 2000, one-fifth of the list of top donors made their money in media and entertainment. Today, only three individuals on the list made their money that way.