No surprise here, but the Chronicle of Philanthropy reports that the names of the top givers in Arkansas are Walton and Walton — Jim and Robson, that is. The brothers, sons of Walmart founder Sam Walton, have given Walmart stock valued at $182.3 million to charity since 2000. The Chronicle does not specify if the donation was over time or a one-time gift. Jim and Robson’s sister, Alice, who lives in Texas and founded Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, did not make the Texas list. The biggest donors in Texas were John and Laura Arnold ($1.5 billion since 2008).
The Chronicle’s list doesn’t take into account gifts made anonymously. It finds that since the early 2000s, $84.7 billion in charitable gifts have been made, and more than half of that came from one person: Warren Buffett. He pledged $46 billion to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and other nonprofits in 2006. Bill and Melinda Gates have donated $13.4 billion to their foundation since 2000. Makes the Waltons look like pikers.