the 60 largest American charitable contributions of 2002. By Laurie Snyder

The 2002 Slate 60: states that the annual list of charitable gifts and pledges from the USA's top philanthropists, totaled $4.6 billion, less than half of 2001's total of $12.7 billion. The biggest reason for the drop was the dearth of billion-dollar gifts. This year's list features just one worth over a billion bucks while last year had three nine-zero mega-gifts.