In order to separate words and actual deeds, FORBES, in partnership with the Philanthropic Research Institute, decided to rank which Americans gave the most in the last calendar year–not money pledged but actual cash deployed in the field. The Philanthropic 50 was winnowed from a short list of 1,620 people, most of whom showed up in PRI’s proprietary database that denoted the 50,000-plus largest individual donations to recipients for 2012.
