Billionaires Give Big
Dells and fellow Texas billionaires show well on Forbes list of 50 most generous Americans
A slew of Texas business leaders and philanthropists — including Austin's Michael and Susan Dell — made it on to Forbes' newly released list of America's 50 Top Givers, further solidifying our state as one of the most philanthropic in the nation.
Fort Worth's Alice Walton and the rest of the Wal-Mart heirs came in at No. 5 with $432 million in charitable giving for 2012. That brings the Walton family lifetime total to a whopping $4.6 billion in donations. The Waltons' favorite charities are education foundations, to which they donated $160 million last year.
Houston made a strong showing on the list with a handful of exceptionally charitable residents, including John and Laura Arnold (No. 12 with $204 million donated) and Texans owner Robert McNair and his wife, Janice (No. 29 with $50.3 million donated).
Michael and Susan Dell represented Austin billionaires well at No. 18. The couple chipped in $100 million in 2012, most of which went to establish a new medical school at the University of Texas.