Feb. 11 (Bloomberg) -- The late Leona Helmsley and Barron Hilton, Hilton Hotels Corp. co-chairman, topped Slate Magazine's list of charitable donors in 2007 with gifts to family-related foundations.

Helmsley, the hotelier and real-estate developer who died in August, led with a $4 billion bequest to the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust last year, according to Slate's list of the top 60 philanthropists. Helmsley's will created a stir last year when it listed a $12 million gift to her dog, Trouble, and nothing to her four grandchildren.

Hilton, 80, was second with a $1.2 billion donation to the foundation set up by his father, Conrad. He made the announcement in December after Hilton Hotels was sold to the private equity firm Blackstone Group LP in the largest ever transaction for a hotel company.

Helmsley and Hilton were followed by chemical executive Jon Huntsman's $627 million to the Salt Lake City, Utah-based Huntsman Cancer Foundation and Utah State University, and billionaire George Soros's $474.6 million to the Open Society Institute, which supports democratic governance and human rights, and the Soros Humanitarian Foundation.

This decade has seen the emergence of a ``golden age of philanthropy'' in which gifts and bequests have exceeded the $1 billion mark, according to the Center for Wealth and Philanthropy at Boston College. In 2006, Berkshire Hathaway Inc.'s Warren Buffett pledged $30.7 billion in company stock to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the largest known donation in philanthropic history.

Celebrating Money

The online Slate Magazine, with joint offices in New York and Washington, has been compiling its ``Slate 60'' annual list of largest U.S. donors since its founding in 1996, said Slate spokeswoman Jennifer Lee. About 13 gifts of $1 billion or more have been made since that time, Slate said on its Web site.

``If you have a list that's a counterpoint to the Fortune 500 list, which celebrates the money that people give away, you're giving them an incentive to make large donations,'' said Emily Bazelon, a Slate senior editor in charge of its philanthropy coverage.

Denny Sanford, chief executive officer of United National Corp., ranked fifth on the list with $431 million in donations.

He was followed by former Metromedia International Chairman John Kluge's $400 million to Columbia University; Citigroup Inc. Chairman Emeritus Sanford Weill's $328.5 million to nonprofits, including the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater Foundation Inc. and Carnegie Hall; and Dallas-based hedge fund manager and former oil executive T. Boone Pickens's $200 million to his foundation.

Arts patrons Eli Broad and his wife, Edythe, ranked 11th on the list with $176 million to organizations including the Chicago public schools and Michigan State University for a new art museum. Last Thursday, Broad joined politicians and the media for a preview of the Broad Contemporary Art Museum, a new building at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, which opens on Saturday.

        Top U.S. Donors of 2007 from the Slate 60 List


   Donor               Source of Wealth         Gift/Pledge

1. Leona Helmsley      Hotels/Real Estate        $4 billion
2. Barron Hilton       Hotels                    $1.2 billion
3. Jon Huntsman        Business                  $627 million
4. George Soros        Finance                   $474.6 million
5. Denny Sanford       Finance                   $431 million
6. John Kluge          Telecommunications        $400 million
7. Sanford Weill       Finance                   $328.5 million
8. T. Boone Pickens    Oil & Investments         $200 million
9. Robert A. Day       Finance                   $200 million
10. John Morgridge     Technology                $179 million
11. Eli/Edythe Broad   Finance/Real Estate       $176 million

To contact the reporter on this story: Patrick Cole in New York at pcole3@Bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: February 11, 2008 15:13 EST