Individual philanthropy has been at the heart of American culture since its founding. Considered the oldest charity founded in America, the St. George Society, provided aid to impoverished colonists before the Declaration of Independence was even signed.  In the mid 1800’s, The Salvation Army and the YMCA spread from England taking root in America. The American Red Cross was founded in 1881 as a means to provide a
id and disaster relief.

Alexis de Tocqueville wrote in his famous history “Democracy in America,” that charity was at the heart of American life. “The Americans make associations to give entertainment, to found seminaries, to build inns, to construct churches, to diffuse books, to send missionaries to the antipodes; in this manner, they found hospitals, prisons and schools. “  He observed that because there was no established wealthy class, associations were critical to serve the needs of the underprivileged.

There is, however, another history of philanthropy in the United States; one which is more spectacular, or at least grander, than the organizations that accumulated vast sums by collecting small amounts from hundreds of thousands of people. It is the history of the private philanthropy of America’s wealthiest people.

Andrew Carnegie’s philanthropic efforts mark a departure from de Tocqueville’s observations. Carnegie began to gift money in 1879 and over the course of his life was responsible for the building of schools and libraries across the country. He also founded the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and provided much of the funding for Carnegie Mellon University.  In his now famous essay “Gospel of Wealth,” he wrote that “Surplus wealth is a sacred trust which its possessor is bound to administer in his lifetime for the good of the community.”

Similarly wealthy moguls of the 19th century, JP Morgan and John D Rockefeller, donated millions to universities, charities and medical research. Along with Carnegie, these first premier philanthropists profited from the industries of their age: banking, steel and oil. Of course, these same industries funded each man’s philanthropic efforts.

The tradition of the very rich gifting huge sums to charity in America has grown over time. The largest amounts given have grown from the tens of millions to the billions of dollars – and in some cases the tens of billions.

Today, philanthropists come from similarly successful walks of life.  They are captains of old industries like real estate and banking, and masters of new businesses like financial publishing and technology.

The Chronicle of Philanthropy publishes the “Philanthropy 50” each year. This list ranks the top 50 largest private donations by individuals in America, both named and anonymous. Using this list, 24/7 Wall St. analyzed the gifts given to charities over the last decade and ranked the named philanthropists on the list based on the aggregate value of their donations from 2000 to 2009.

The total gifts of these ten people, or couples in some cases, amount to nearly $70 billion.

Six individuals in our initial ranking gave huge gifts during this period. Leona Helmsley donated over $5 billion to charity in the last ten years. However, she and the five other highly active philanthropists who died during the period are not on our final list.

This is the 24/7 Wall St. biggest philanthropists of the decade.