Facebook Founder, Mark Zuckerberg is America's Biggest Philanthropist

Mark Zuckerberg, the founder and chief executive of Facebook, was the US's biggest charity donor in 2013, according to a list of publicly-available donations.

Mr Zuckerberg, 29, and his wife Priscilla Chan gave $990m (£598m) to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, the California charity, in December.

The donation, made up of 18m Facebook shares, made up almost a third of the $3.4bn that America's wealthiest philanthropists - those who gave more than $100m - donated in 2013, according to the Chronicle of Philanthropy.

In total, 15 Americans donated more than $100m last year; a rebound in charitable giving after 11 donated the amount the year before. The research does not include those who gave anonymously.

$5bn was donated by the US's most wealthy philanthropists in 2012, although this included $3bn given by Warren Buffett to his children's foundations.

Mr Zuckerberg was the second-biggest donor after Mr Buffett in 2012, giving $500m to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation and the Breakthrough Prize in Life Science.

After Mr Zuckerberg, last year's biggest donors were Nike chairman Phil Knight, who gave $500m to the Oregon Health & Science University Foundation, and Michael Bloomberg, who donated $350m to the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.

Last year was the first time someone under 30 had topped the Chronicle of Philanthropy's list.

Lists of 15 persons who gave more than $100m

1. Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook chief executive, $992.2m to Silicon Valley Community Foundation

2. Phil Knight, Nike chairman, $500m to Oregon Health & Science University Foundation

3. Michael Bloomberg, businessman and former mayor of New York, $350m to Johns Hopkins University

4 Charles Johnson, financier, $250m to Yale University for residential buildings

5. Stephen Ross, real-estate developer, $200m to University of Michigan for athletics and the business school

6. Muriel Block, real-estate heiress, $160m to Yeshiva University's College of Medicine

7. John Arrillaga, real-estate developer, $151m to Stanford University

8. Irwin Jacobs, co-founder of Qualcomm, and his wife Joan, $133m to Cornell University

9. Charles Munger, vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, $110m to University of Michigan for student housing

10. David Koch, businessman and political activist, $100m to New York Presbyterian Hospital

11. Frank McCourt, real-estate developer, $100m to Georgetown University (to create the McCourt School of Public Policy)

12. Ronald Perelman, investor, $100m to Columbia Business School

13. T. Denny Sanford, chairman of United National Corporation, $100m to University of California

14. Stephen Schwarzman, financier, $100m to Tsinghua University

15. Deborah Joy Simon, real-estate heiress, $100m to Mercersburg Academy