While many leading philanthropists were pulling back last year, Mayor Bloomberg was stepping up his giving to become the No. 2 contributor to charities in the United States.
Figures compiled by the Chronicle of Philanthropy show the mayor donated $279.2 million to 970 non-profit groups in 2010, up from $254 million in 2009.
That put him behind only financier George Soros, who donated $332 million.
Bloomberg has escalated his charitable giving every year — a trend he says will accelerate once he leaves public office in 2014 and decides how to give away his entire fortune estimated at about $20 billion.
The Chronicle reported that its top 50 contributors gave a total of $3.3 billion last year, the lowest amount since records were kept starting in 2000.
Some of the mayor’s charitable recipients include Johns Hopkins University, the Metropolitan Opera, Jewish Association for Services to the Aged, El Museo del Bario, and West Harlem Group Assistance.