Amount donated in 2010: $42  million

Net worth: Not available

Beneficiary: University Hospitals in  Cleveland

Background: Seidman is the retired founder and president of  the Motorcars Group, a Cleveland-based conglomerate of car dealerships. He  pledged in 2010 to  give away 90% of his wealth before the end of the  year.

Amount donated in 2010: $45.1  million

Net worth: $39.5 billion (via Forbes)

Beneficiary: Ellison Medical  Foundation

Background: Ellison, the founder of Oracle, started his  foundation in 1997 for biomedical research.

Amount donated in 2010: $49  million

Net worth: Not available

Beneficiary: Drexel  University

Background: LeBow is the chairman and CEO of Borders and  chairman of the Vector Group, a holding company for manufacturers of cigarettes.  He’s a graduate of Drexel and the university’s business school bears his  name.

Amount donated in 2010: $50  million

Net worth: $535 million (via the National  Herald)

Beneficiary: Columbia University Medical  Center

Background: Dr. Vagelos is the former CEO and chairman of  pharmaceutical giant Merck. He’s an alumnus of the medical school associated  with the hospital.

Amount  donated in 2010: $50 million

Net worth: Not available

Beneficiary: University of California at  Los Angeles

Background: Dr. Terasaki is a pioneer  in the field of organ transplant medicine. In 1946 he developed the test  that became the international standard method for tissue typing. He conducted  his research in the university’s  laboratories.

Amount donated in  2010: $50 million

Net worth: $1.6 billion (via Forbes)

Beneficiary: University of Southern  California

Background: Hsieh founded AMAX Information Technologies, a  computer server and storage systems maker, and Cogent, which develops automated  fingerprint-identification systems. He’s a graduate  of the school, as well as a trustee.

Amount  donated in 2010: $50 million

Net worth: $6.5 billion (via Boston  Magazine)

Beneficiary: Yale  University

Background: Evans, who passed away last year, was a private  investor and the chairman of publishing company Macmillan from 1979 to 1989. He  was also a well-known horse breeder, as well as an alumnus of  Yale.

Amount donated in 2010: $53.3 million (estimated bequest)

Net worth: Not available

Beneficiaries: The Pittsburgh Foundation and other  charities

Background: Kaufman, who passed away last year, was an  investor and the former director of purchasing at pharmaceutical company Merck.  His gift will support research in biology, chemistry, and  physics

Amount  donated in 2010: $59.3 million

Net worth: $700 million (via Forbes)

Beneficiary: Pershing Square  Foundation

Background: Ackman is the founder of New York-based hedge  fund Pershing Square Capital Management. Along with his wife, he created  the Pershing Square Foundation in 2006 to support education, human rights,  social entrepreneurship, and other causes.

Amount  donated in 2010: $61.5 million

Net worth: $6.2 billion (via Forbes)

Beneficiaries: HopeLab, Humanity United, Omidyar Network,  and the Ulupono Initiative

Background: Omidyar is the founder of eBay. His wife is the  chairwoman of HopeLab, a  nonprofit that develops technology to benefit chronically ill  children.

Amount donated in 2010:$67  million (bequest)

Net worth: Not available

Beneficiaries: Lawrenceville School and North Shore Country  Day School

Background: Woods is the heir to the Sahara Coal Company  fortune. The bulk of last year’s donation went to the Lawrenceville School, a  private school in New Jersey from  which he graduated and where he was a longtime teacher and chair of the  English department.

Amount donated in 2010: $80  million

Net worth: Not available

Beneficiary: Cornell University

Background: Atkinson is a former partner of Miller, Anderson & Sherrerd, a money management firm. He now runs Atkinson & Company, a  private investment business he owns with his wife. Their gift went  towards a research center focusing on energy, sustainability and the  environment.

Amount donated in 2010: $83.7 million  (estimated bequest)

Net worth: Not available

Beneficiaries: The Mayo Clinic, Saint  Joseph’s College in Indiana

Background: Waugh, who passed away last year, managed her  family’s farms and was the heir to part of their cattle, farming and banking  fortune. She and her parents had  been patients of the Mayo Clinic.

Amount donated in 2010: $88  million

Net worth: $3.1 billion (via Forbes)

Beneficiary: Pennsylvania State  University

Background: Pegula founded East Resources, an oil and gas  exploration and development company, which he sold to Royal Dutch Shell in 2010  for $4.7 billion. The donation from Pegula, an alumnus, will go towards the  university’s hockey program.

Amount donated in 2010: $100  million

Net worth: $17.5 billion (via Forbes)

Beneficiary: Startup:  Education

Background: Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, made a huge  donation to his own foundation, which will support programs that benefit the  school system in Newark, N.J. The sum will be paid out over five  years.

Amount donated in  2010: $100 million

Net worth: $1.9 billion (via Forbes)

Beneficiary: University of California at  San Francisco Children’s Hospital

Background: Benioff is the founder of Salesforce.com. His  daughter was born at the hospital, and he is a member of its  board.

Amount  donated in 2010: $100.5 million

Net worth: Not available

Beneficiary: University of California at  Los Angeles

Background: Luskin is the chairman of Scope Industries, a  major maker of animal feed. He is a graduate of UCLA and the  couple’s gift will go towards a variety of academic  programs.

Amount  donated in 2010: $101 million

Net worth: $1.45 billion (via Forbes)

Beneficiaries: Oklahoma State University and other  charities

Background: The founder of oil company Mesa Petroleum and  energy investment firm BP Capital, Pickens is a graduate of OSU. His donation  will endow need-based scholarships for  students.

Amount  donated in 2010: $110 million (estimated bequest)

Net worth: Not available

Beneficiary:The Huntington Library, Art  Collections, and Botanical Gardens

Background: Brody, who passed away in 2009, was the heir to  both the fortune of her father, an advertising pioneer, and her husband Sidney  Brody, a real estate magnate. She was a member of the library’s board of  overseers, and her donation was largely funded by the sale of her vast art  collection.

Amount  donated in 2010: $117.2 million

Net worth: $9.5 billion (via Forbes)

Beneficiary: University of  Oxford

Background: Blavatnik is the founder of Access Industries, a  major holding company. He did not attend Oxford, but decided  the university was the right choice after learning that it wanted to create  a school dedicated to “improving government and public-policy practices  globally.”

Amount  donated in 2010: $118.3 million

Net worth: $6.3 billion (via Forbes)

Beneficiary: Broad  Foundations

Background: Broad is the founder and chairman of homebuilder  KB Home Corporation and financial services company SunAmerica. The couple’s  foundation supports civic programs, contemporary art museums, education, and  medical and scientific research. Broad  is also funding a new art museum in Los  Angeles.

Amount donated in 2010:  $119.5 million

Net worth: $1.15 billion (via Forbes)

Beneficiaries: University of California at San Diego Health  System, Joan and Irwin Jacobs Fund at the Jewish Community Foundation of San  Diego

Background: Jacobs is a co-founder of Qualcomm, the wireless  communications company. The bulk of their donation went to the UCSD health  system, which is building  a new medical center to be named after the  couple.

Amount donated in 2010: $162.5  million

Net worth: $600 million (via The  Daily)

Beneficiaries: Sanford Health Foundation, Sanford-Burnham  Medical Research Institute and the Florida Hospital for  Children

Background: The noted philanthropist is chairman of United  National Corporation, a banking business in South Dakota. His most  recent gift to his foundation will establish a national institute for  research and treatment of breast cancer.

Amount  donated in 2010: $279.2 million

Net worth: $19.5 billion (via Forbes)

Beneficiaries: Arts, human services, public affairs, and  other groups

Background: The founder of Bloomberg LP and Mayor of New  York city gave to 970 different nonprofit groups in 2010. Since 2004, the first  year the Philanthropy list was published,  he has given away well over $100 million  annually.

Amount donated in 2010: $332  million

Net worth: $22 billion (via Forbes)

Beneficiary: Open Society  Foundations

Background: Soros is a financier and the chair of Soros Fund  Management, which manages hedge funds. He’s also the founder of Open Society  Foundations, which supports human rights organizations and democratic  institutions.