How The Chronicle Ranked Biggest Donors of 2004

The Chronicle ‘s fifth annual list of the nation’s biggest donors is based on gifts and pledges of cash and stock to charitable institutions, as well as donations of artwork and land. The list is published in conjunction with the online magazine Slate, which began publishing such rankings in 1996.

Although The Chronicle attempted to compile all information about sizeable contributions made by individuals in 2004, not all donors disclose information about their gifts publicly.

As a starting point, The Chronicle used information it has published about gifts made in the past year. In addition, the newspaper sought information about 2004 gifts made by people on Business Week magazine’s ranking of the top 50 philanthropists, which is based on the total donations wealthy Americans made over the past five years.

The Chronicle also checked information that individuals provided on forms that the Securities and Exchange Commission requires corporate officials to file when they sell stock in their companies and plan to use the money for gifts. Summaries of the forms were provided to The Chronicle by Wealth ID, a research company in Silver Spring, Md.

The Chronicle’s list does not include donations that were made anonymously. And gifts that donors made from their family foundations were not counted, to avoid including donations twice — when the donor gave money to a foundation and when the donor decided on a beneficiary for that money.

Estate Gifts

Because the bequests of two donors on the list are still in the process of being settled, The Chronicle had to rely on estimates of how much the donors left to charity.

Susan T. Buffett, who died in July, said most of her estate should go to the Buffett Foundation, the philanthropy she created with her husband, the investor Warren E. Buffett. Based on an examination of Ms. Buffett’s will and discussions with a lawyer for her estate, it appears that at least $2.4-billion will go to her foundation.

Several charities have already filed challenges to the Buffett will. PATH-the Program for Appropriate Technology in Health, in Seattle, said Ms. Buffett had promised it $182,000 before she died and the Population Council, in New York, said it was pledged $245,000.

Caroline Wiess Law, a Texas heiress, left at least $450-million to charities, including several pieces of art. The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, initially said it expected the donation to be worth more than $200-million, but this month said it was more likely that the donation would be worth at least $400-million once Ms. Law’s estate is settled.

Several people who probably made gifts large enough to guarantee them a spot on the list were not included because they did not provide sufficient information to The Chronicle.

The financier George Soros donates millions of dollars through his Open Society Institute, in New York, but a spokesman said the organization could not provide an estimate of how much Mr. Soros had contributed.

Also not on this year’s list is Alphonse Fletcher, owner of Fletcher Asset Management, in New York.

Mr. Fletcher announced in a press release in May that he planned to mark the 50th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board of Education decision by giving $50-million to educational institutions and other organizations working to close the gap between blacks who have benefited from the civil-rights movement and those who have not. A representative for Mr. Fletcher said he would not comment on whether any of the money had been distributed last year.

The Chronicle‘s list of the biggest donors was compiled by Maria Di Mento. She was assisted by Sharnell Bryan, Leah Kerkman, Nicole Lewis, Cassie Moore, M.J. Prest, Caroline Preston, Elizabeth Schwinn, Ian Wilhelm, and Grant Williams.