Slate Magazine, the online magazine published by Microsoft Corp., has released its annual compilation of the nation's top givers of 1998.
On top of the Slate 60 are James and Virginia Stowers, who gave $327 million to create the Institute for Medical Research in Kansas City, Mo. James Stowers built one of the nation's largest families of no-load mutual funds, the American Century Cos. Stowers and his wife, both cancer survivors, have told the New York Times that they plan to bequeath most of their assets to the institute, creating an endowment that could reach billions of dollars, Slate reports.
Slate's list demonstrates giving is on the rise. The people on the list, which numbers 65 due to ties for last place, gave a total of $3.7 billion. The philanthropists on the 1997 list gave $3.1 billion, which included a $1 billion pledge by Ted Turner to support the United Nations. The 1996 list included gifts totaling only $1.3 billion.
Also, it took a $15 million gift to make the 1998 list, while in 1997 a $10 million gift made the cut, Slate reports.
Colleges and universities were the most frequent recipients of gifts, Slate reports.
The magazine points out an absence of Hollywood and sports celebrities from the list and says the wealth generated by the technology revolution largely has gone untapped. The computer industry did make its marks, with the No. 2 slot on the list held by Martha Ingram, who made a $300 million gift of Ingram Micro stock to Vanderbilt University. Microsoft co-founders Bill Gates and Paul Allen also appeared on the list. Gates and his wife, Melinda, claimed the No. 6 spot and Allen was No. 35 with total gifts of $189.57 million and $26 million, respectively.
Besides the Slate 60, the magazine also compiled a list of anonymous gifts of $10 million or more and a list of 100 honorable mentions, profiling some known gifts of $1 million or more.
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