Mayor Bloomberg opened his substantial checkbook and delivered $311.3 million to charitable causes last year — making him the fifth most generous philanthropist in the United States, according to a report released yesterday.
Bloomberg’s largesse to 1,185 not-for-profit groups tops his 2010 giving by $32.1 million, when he distributed $279.2 million to charity.
Just ahead of Bloomberg in the No. 4 spot was a fellow New Yorker, hedge-fund billionaire George Soros, who donated $335 million to his Open Society Foundations.
The top donor of 2011 was the estate of philanthropist Margaret A. Cargill of La Jolla, Calif., an agribusiness heiress who died in 2006.
Her estate put $6 billion into the two foundations she set up to support the arts, the environment, disaster relief and other causes, the Chronicle of Philanthropy reported.
Another bequest was responsible for the second- largest donation in 2011. Pittsburgh steel executive William S. Dietrich II died last year and left $500 million to a foundation set up in his name to support colleges and universities.
Third on the list was Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, who put $372.6 million into the Allen Institute for Brain Science, Seattle’s Experience Music Project and other charitable ventures.
The annual report found that the top 50 donors made pledges in 2011 to give a total of $10.4 billion — more than triple the $3.3 billion pledged in 2010.
A decade ago, the top 50 givers gave $12.5 billion.
Two people conspicuously absent from the top- 50 list this year are Bill Gates and Warren Buffett. That’s because the Chronicle doesn’t include payments on gifts promised in past years.
In order to qualify for the list, a philanthropist had to make donations totaling at least $26 million.