Oprah Winfrey speaks on stage at the 16th Carousel of Hope presented by Mercedes-Benz benefiting the Barbara Davis Center for Childhood Diabetes at the Beverly Hilton Hotel October 23, 2004 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Frank Micelotta/Getty Images)

Television talk-show host Oprah Winfrey debuts at No. 40 on BusinessWeek's annual ranking of America's top givers. Oprah's $151 million in gifts and pledges to various charities earns her the distinction of being the first African-American on BusinessWeek's list. Another notable newcomer this year is Veronica Atkins, the widow of Dr. Robert C. Atkins, who pledged her entire $500 million fortune to end the "di-obesity" -- diabetes and obesity -- epidemic made famous by her late husband.

In addition to Oprah, this year's billion-dollar-club members include No. 1 givers Bill and Melinda Gates, the world's largest international donors, who made history this year by giving their estimated $3 billion Microsoft Corp. dividend to their foundation. It's one of the largest donations in history by a living donor. To put it into perspective, that one gift is three times bigger than the amount that America's richest family, the descendants of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. founder Sam Walton, has given during their entire lifetimes, according to the BusinessWeek ranking.

The death of Warren Buffett's wife Susie catapults America's second richest man to No. 3 on BusinessWeek's third annual ranking of the Top 50 U.S. philanthropists, up from No. 26 last year (for the purposes of the BusinessWeek rankings, married couples are generally treated as a single entity). The bulk of Susie's Berkshire Hathaway stake-$2.5 billion-is pouring into the foundation that she and Warren shared. Others donors on BusinessWeek's list include: Gordon and Betty Moore (No. 2); George Soros (No. 4); Michael and Susan Dell (No. 7); Michael Bloomberg (No. 13); and David Geffen (No. 31).

In addition to its annual ranking, this year BusinessWeek took a look at some well-known celebrity givers. In "Star Power of the Purse," BusinessWeek singles out Angelina Jolie, Steven Spielberg, Michael J. Fox and Bill Cosby for their generous donations to worthwhile causes.

And while celebrities and the extremely wealthy do give generously, BusinessWeek points out that lower and middle-income Americans are the real unsung heroes of philanthropy: Families that have household incomes of $100,000 or less contribute 59% of all philanthropic dollars, according to a study by the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University. "Ordinary People, Extraordinary Gifts" highlights a surprising number of America's non-wealthy, who take giving to an unusual extreme. Since 1991, 62-year-old Albert Lexie has donated over $90,000 to the Free Care Fund at the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, saved over the course of many years from the tips he makes polishing shoes at the hospital and at local businesses.

To suss out the new entrants on this year's list, and to create the overall ranking, BusinessWeek analyzed public records and conducted scores of interviews with community foundations, nonprofit experts, billionaires, fund-raisers, and wealth watchers. To qualify for the Top 50, philanthropists had to have given or pledged $116 million in the past five years-$21 million more than the minimum last year. BusinessWeek relied heavily on news reports, foundation filings, and interviews to compile this year's ranking. Resources included The Chronicle of Philanthropy, the Forbes 400 Richest Americans, Prospect Information Network, and nonprofit GuideStar's online database of IRS foundation filings. Using these data, the magazine ranked the 50 Most Generous Philanthropists by what they've pledged and given in the past five years (2000-2004).

BusinessWeek also ranked the most generous corporate philanthropists. The magazine polled companies in the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index and the survey depended on voluntary disclosure of data by 203 responding S&P 500 companies. Topping this year's list of cash givers are Wal-Mart Stores, Ford Motor, Altria Group, and Johnson & Johnson.

BusinessWeek's cover story, "America's Top Givers," which includes the ranking of the 50 Most Generous Philanthropists, the top Corporate Givers and methodology is available online at http://www.businessweek.com and in the Nov. 29th issue on newsstands November 22nd.

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