The 2004 Slate 60 list.

The Ninth Annual Slate 60
America's most generous philanthropists, and where they gave.
By Jodie T. Allen
Updated Monday, Feb. 28, 2005, at 2:29 AM PT

The 2004 Slate 60 list.


Philanthropists who made donations.

Philanthropists who made pledges.

In this, the ninth annual compendium of the country's 60 biggest givers, let us take stock of the State of the Turner Sweepstakes. Back in 1996, when CNN founder Ted Turner, provided the inspiration for Slate's list of top givers, he expressed the hope that the competitive juices that have nourished America's great fortunes might spill over more generously into the cup of human kindness. If you made a list, perhaps the rich would compete to top it. Turner himself has done much to set a good example. A perennial on Slate's lists of top donors, helpfully compiled for the magazine in recent years by the Chronicle of Philanthropy, he secures the No. 18 spot in 2004 with paid gifts totaling $68.1 million spread among foundations and initiatives dedicated to global causes, plus a few educational institutions. But have his fellow magnates been spurred to new heights of generosity?