Some of the most philanthropic companies in the United States are shunning the limelight. Philanthropy can also be known as ‘compassion’, ‘charity’, and ‘generosity’. Such figures are gathered and published by The Chronicle of Philanthropy. The list of charitable companies is topped by pharmaceutical companies, the lead of which is Johnson and Johnson; they far outstripped the number two spot of Merck, who gave $923 million to charity in 2011. This figure is up by 12% on the figure donated in the year before. The Chronicle of Philanthropy notes that on average, leading companies in the US gave 1.2% of their annual profit to a charitable cause. However, several leading companies, including Apple and Google refused to provide information on their charitable giving.