No. 21: David Rubenstein

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Top beneficiary: John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

Other notable gifts: Columbia University Medical Center, Duke University, Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association, National Gallery of Art, Thomas Jefferson Foundation, University of Chicago Law School

Background: Mr. Rubenstein is a co-founder and co-chief executive of the Carlyle Group, a private-equity firm.

Mr. Rubenstein, 64, made large donations to at least 11 nonprofits in 2013. He pledged the biggest amount, $50-million, to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, where he serves as chairman. The money will help support the construction of new classrooms, rehearsal studios, and public areas such as gardens and outdoor performance spaces.

He donated at least $22-million to the center in previous years, and he served on the board for six years before being appointed chairman in May 2010.

The financier also committed $10-million to Columbia University Medical Center for ALS research; $10-million to Duke University, his alma mater (he also serves on Duke’s Board of Trustees), for its Sanford School of Public Policy; $10-million to the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association to build and endow a library that will house George Washington’s collection of books; $10-million to the National Gallery of Art for renovations to the museum’s East Building; $10-million to the Thomas Jefferson Foundation to reconstruct slave quarters at Monticello and restore the upper floors of the home of the third U.S. president; and $10-million to University of Chicago Law School for a scholarship program he established in 2010. Mr. Rubenstein earned a law degree there in 1973.

In addition to those donations, Mr. Rubenstein pledged $5-million to Harvard Business School for an international travel program for students; $5-million to the Library of Congress for the National Book Festival; $1-million for general operating support to WETA, a public television and radio station in Washington, D.C.; and $700,000 to the Metropolitan Museum of Art for education programs.

The Philanthropy 50: Browse the full list of America’s most generous donors in 2013.

Learn more: See this donor’s listing in our database of major gifts, America’s Top Donors.