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American casino and hotel magnate Sheldon Adelson has been dishing out generous donations to Jewish causes over the past week.

On Tuesday, he doubled his overall contribution to Yad Vashem in the past decade by announcing a $25 million gift to the Holocaust museum in Jerusalem.

A week earlier, Adelson increased his annual contribution to Birthright-Taglit — the program that brings Jews aged 18 to 26 from the Diaspora on a free trip to Israel — twofold, to $10 million

Take a look at Forbes' 13th annual list of the 200 Largest U.S. Charities. They aren’t even 2/100th of 1 precent of the country’s 1.2 million tax-exempt organizations. Yet in their most recent fiscal year the Forbes Charity 200 collectively received $41 billion in gifts — one-seventh of all charitable contributions.

The rankings are based on the amount of private gifts (as opposed to government grants, fee for service or investment revenue) received in the latest fiscal period.

With its economy on the rise, India is now, more than ever, a country with money to spend, and give. As shoppers flood markets looking for gifts, it's clear that many Indians are indeed spending big on friends and family. But research suggests that charitable giving is not necessarily keeping pace.

India's superrich have been relatively slow to give. Bain & Co.'s 2011 India Philanthropy Report found that India's wealthy are giving away between 1.5% and 3% of their yearly income.

At an age when most guys still hone their skateboard moves, Jason Franklin got a call from his grandfather’s secretary, asking him if he’d like to get involved in the family foundation.

Just 22, Franklin began a life-changing journey into philanthropy. Today he gives away one-fourth of his income and serves as executive director of Bolder Giving at the tender age of 31. And like many other young philanthropists, Franklin has benefited from new resources that didn’t exist a generation ago. As he has learned, philanthropy is about more than just giving a check, and that some training is involved.

Billionaire investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, often referred to as India's Warren Buffet for his investment strategy, has decided to pledge one-fourth of his wealth for charity — marking yet another common-ground with the legendary American investment guru.

Replying to e-mailed queries from media, 51-year old Jhunjhunwala said that he would donate 25 percent of his wealth and the inspiration has come from his father, who was an income tax official.

In a country that spent the last three decades getting rich, Yang Lan wants to show that giving back is glorious.

Yang, a television host and one of China's wealthiest women, is leading a movement to encourage the growth of philanthropy.

She aims to gather some of the best resources from the U.S. nonprofit sector to help China build a modern system of philanthropy, and bring Chinese philanthropists here for exchanges with American foundations.

Donations by wealthy individuals has significantly increased private giving by at least 50 percent since 2006 as a percentage of GDP to approximately $5 billion to $6 billion in India in 2010, says a study.

"The future of giving is poised to rise further, as the rich population in India grows and as the philanthropic system becomes more advanced," the study, "India Philanthropy Report 2011," by Bain & Co. said. The report also finds that 40 percent of wealthy individuals in India plan to increase philanthropic donations over the next five years.