The 10 biggest donors gave a total of US$4.6 billion in 2001 to charities in the United States, a drop of more than 50 percent from the US$11.07 billion given in 2000, according to the Chronicle of Philanthropy
Bill Gates, Microsoft's chairman, remained the top philanthropist with a gift of US$2 billion to endow the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. In 2000, Gates, the world's richest man, gave US$5 billion to the foundation.
Only three tech leaders were included in the list of the top 10 philanthropists in 2001, compared to five in 2000. Intel co-founder Gordon Moore was third on the list with a pledge of US$300 million for the education and science programs at the California Institute of Technology. Bill Coleman, founder of BEA Systems, was fourth with a US$250 million pledge to create a research institute at the University of Colorado.
In 2000, Moore was second on the list behind Gates with a US$5 billion gift to endow the Gordon E. and Betty I. Moore Foundation. Last year's list also included James Barksdale, a former Netscape executive, who gave US$100 million to establish the Barksdale Reading Institute at the University of Mississippi; Philip and Donna Berber, founders of CyBerCorp.com, who gave US$100 million toward the operating costs of the foundation A Glimmer of Hope; and Michael J. Fitzpatrick, former chairman of E-TEK Dynamics, who gave US$50 million for photonics research at Duke University and Stanford University.
The fortunes of most these tech leaders is tied to their company's stock, and almost all companies involved in the computer industry saw the value of their stocks tumble in 2001.
