Every year, Philanthropy.com ranks the American men and women who donate the most money to charity.

This year, Portland Trail Blazers owner Paul Allen ranked No. 3 on the list, donating an astonishing $372.6 million in 2011. He was the No.1 American giver who is still alive.

Allen trailed only Margaret Cargill and William S. Dietrich III. Cargill left billions in her will to two nonprofits while Dietrich left more than $500 million in his will to numerous nonprofits.

Allen's giving is detailed here.
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Mr. Allen, 59, gave $295-million to endow his Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, which supports arts and culture, education, and social-service programs, primarily in the Pacific Northwest. The foundation gave nearly $4-million last year, including $500,000 to the Historical Society of Seattle and King County, for a new museum; $400,000 to the Lake Washington School District, in Redmond, Wash., for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics programs; $250,000 to the Urban Institute, in Washington, to conduct an evaluation of low-cost housing and human-services in Portland, Ore.; $240,000 to the Shorebank Enterprise Group Pacific, in Ilwaco, Wash., for computer support, and a loan program for Native American entrepreneurs; and $225,000 to FareStart, a Seattle food bank, to expand the group’s job-training program for homeless adults.

On top of the donation to his foundation, Mr. Allen gave $70-million last year to the Allen Institute for Brain Science to support the Seattle institute’s neuroscience and genomics-research programs. Mr. Allen established the brain institute in 2003.
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Allen was ranked No. 31 for 2010 giving. He's been ranked in the top-50 for the last nine years. His previous high was No. 6 in 2003.

-- Ben Golliver | benjamin.golliver@gmail.com | Twitter