The 50 most generous US philanthropists committed over $7bn to charity in 2007, which was also the first time in seven years that all five of the biggest donors were living.

Listed in the Chronicle of Philanthropy’s annual ranking were the top players in American philanthropy, with William Barron Hilton leading the field with his pledge of $1.2bn to the Conrad M. Hilton Foundation.

In 2006, donors made gifts of $6.6bn, not including Warren Buffett’s $43.5bn in donations. Of the £73bn committed in 2007, donors had to give at least $38.4m to be part of the list, a slight increase from the 2006 minimum of $37.6m.

Twenty donors made gifts of $100m or more last year, just short of the record 21gifts in 2006; and while anonymous gifts are not counted on the list, the number of large donations is growing with at least four donations of $100m or more made anonymously last year.

Higher education, scholarships and healthcare were the main beneficiaries, although the two largest gifts, from Hilton and Jon M. Sr. and Karen H. Huntsman, benefited their own foundations.

The arts, environmental groups, community foundations, and the hot-topic of global warming were mostly ignored.

The top 10 givers in 2007 were –

  1.  William Barron Hilton Family wealth, Hotels - $1.2bn   
  2.  Jon M. Sr. and Karen H. Huntsman Chemicals, Manufacturing -  $750m
  3.  T. Denny Sanford Finance - $474.6m / George Soros Finance - $474.6m
  5.  John W. Kluge Media and entertainment - $400m
  6.  Sanford I. and Joan H. Weill Finance - $328.5m
  7.  Michael R. Bloomberg Media and entertainment - $205m
  8.  T. Boone Pickens Investments, Oil - $200.8m
  9.  Robert Day Finance - $200m  
10. Eli and Edythe L. Broad Finance, real estate - $176m

Visit the Chronicle of Philanthropy website to read the entire list.