No. 25: Frank McCourt

Amount donated in 2013: $100-million

Beneficiary: Georgetown University

Background: Mr. McCourt founded McCourt Global, a real-estate development and private-equity firm, in New York and Los Angeles.

Mr. McCourt, 60, pledged $100-million to Georgetown University. Of the total committed, $75-million will endow the McCourt School of Public Policy and $25-million will be used to support the immediate priorities of the McCourt School.

Some of those priorities include efforts to develop a new research center devoted to using data to understand human behavior and society, expanding financial support for students and faculty, and other programs.

Mr. McCourt said he is giving the money because he thinks there has never been a greater need for a new approach to public policy than today.

“In a world where policies too often seem abstract, impersonal, and ideologically driven, the school will strive to reconnect policy with the people it impacts,” said Mr. McCourt.

The donor earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from Georgetown in 1975, and his family has a decades-long association with the university. His father, both brothers, and one of his four sons are Georgetown alumni. And he expects his family to stay involved in the years to come.

“Part of the joy of this gift is being young enough to help in additional ways to make the new school successful,” he said. “When I’m too advanced in years to be actively involved, you’ll undoubtedly see my sons and hopefully their children sustaining this new commitment.”

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.