CharityMark Zuckerberg, founder of the social networking site Facebook, and his wife, Priscilla Chan, donated $992.2 million to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation in Mountain View.  The donation granted the couple the top spot among the most generous Americans in 2013.  At the ages of 29 and 28, respectively, Zuckerberg and Chan are the two youngest people on the “charitable donors” list created by Chronicle of Philanthropy, a biweekly newspaper that covers news and events in the nonprofit sector.

This is the first time that anyone under the age of 30 has topped the list.  However, this phenomenon was not indicative of a larger trend, as only seven people on the list of 69 donors were under the age of 50.  In fact, the median age for the list of donors was 72 ½ years old.  10 of the donors listed had already passed away.

A majority of donations from the top 50 philanthropists in the United States went to California charities.  This may be because 15 donors on the list were Californians.  New York was the second highest represented city on the list with 12 donors.  Texas placed third with five donors.

Colleges and universities were frequent recipients of donations.  30 institutions received donations of more than $1 million from ranked philanthropists.  Various organizations, foundations and causes, 14 exactly, also received at least $1 million in gifts.  Six hospitals and medical centers received donations of at least $1 million as well.

In total, the 50 Americans who donated the most to charity in 2013 gifted approximately $7.7 billion to various institutions, organizations, causes and foundations.  The amount donated increased 4% from the amount given to charities by the biggest donors in 2012.

For more information about Zuckerberg’s donations and other donations made in 2013 please visit http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-mo-biggest-donors-20140210,0,2016738.story#axzz2ttqwlPX1.