According to Slate deputy editor Jack Shafer, the number of technology executives on the list has risen sharply since the list was launched in 1996. At the same time, the dollar amount of the gifts on the list has increased markedly. The list also supports the argument made elsewhere that today's philanthropists are turning away from traditional causes to support projects in which they can play an active role. "It seems like this time, it's personal," said Shafer. The 1999 list was compiled by Ann Castle, a philanthropy consultant, who has helped put together Slate's quarterly and annual lists of major givers since 1996. Castle, who was also the creator of the Women in Philanthropy Website, died suddenly on February 22 at the age of 48.

MIT receives $350m gift for brain research
THE Massachusetts Institute of Technology has announced the creation of the McGovern Institute for Brain Research, made possible by a gift from International Data Group founder and chairman Patrick J McGovern Jr and his wife, Lore Harp McGovern. The gift is expected to total $350 million over the next 20 years. "Creation of the McGovern Institute for Brain Research will launch one of the most profound and important scientific ventures of the next century and what surely will be a cornerstone of MIT's scientific contributions in the decades ahead," said Charles M Vest, president of MIT.

The new institute will explore human learning and communication through interdisciplinary research in the fields of neuroscience, molecular neurobiology, bioengineering, cognitive sciences, computation and genetics.Funding for the institute will be provided by the newly established McGovern Institute Foundation. A new building to house the institute will be constructed on the MIT campus in Cambridge. McGovern said that he and his wife decided to devote a major portion of their wealth to brain research because they believe neuroscience is poised to make major advances in understanding the human brain.

Intel supports computer clubhouse
INTEL Corporation, in cooperation with Boston's Museum of Science, the museum's award-winning Computer Clubhouse, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab, has announced the launch of the Intel Computer Clubhouse Network. Both a physical location and a learning model, the Clubhouse Network is designed to provide a safe, creative, after-school environment in which young people from underserved communities can work closely with adult mentors to explore their ideas, develop skills, and build confidence through the use of technology.

By 2005, 100 Intel Computer Clubhouses serving more than 50,000 young people are planned to be up and running worldwide. "Technology access is only the first step in bridging the digital divide, not the end solution," said Intel CEO Craig R Barrett. "The Intel Computer Clubhouse provides young people in underserved communities with mentors, resources, skills and experiences that will help them use technology meaningfully and succeed in life."

The goal of the network is to disseminate the successful Computer Clubhouse model and establish it as a replicable approach to technology learning. The Clubhouse model was unveiled in Boston in 1993 by the Computer Museum and the MIT Media Lab.