Northeastern alumni Richard D’Amore and Alan McKim invested a combined $60 million in the university’s school of business last fall, placing them among the nation’s 50 most generous donors to nonprofit organizations in 2012.

According to a report released Monday by The Chronicle of Philanthropy, D’Amore and McKim both ranked 40^th among America’s biggest givers, with each contributing $30 million. Other notable names on the list include business magnate Warren Buffett, filmmaker Steven Spielberg, and Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg.

D’Amore is a co-founder and gen­eral partner at North Bridge Ven­ture Part­ners, a ven­ture cap­ital firm based in Waltham, Mass. McKim is the founder and CEO of Clean Har­bors, the nation’s leading provider of envi­ron­mental, energy and indus­trial services.

Their combined gift represents the largest phil­an­thropic invest­ment in Northeastern’s his­tory. As a result of their generous contribution, the university’s Col­lege of Busi­ness Admin­is­tra­tion was offi­cially named the D’Amore-McKim School of Business.

“A gift is about a passion and a partnership to make a dream come true and to leave a legacy,” said Joseph E. Aoun, president of Northeastern. “Rich and Alan’s unprecedented investment in their alma mater will advance Northeastern to new heights and will keep their legacy alive forever.”

Both D’Amore and McKim grew up in the Boston area and enrolled in Northeastern’s Col­lege of Busi­ness Admin­is­tra­tion as under­grad­u­ates. Although both dropped out, they were each drawn back to the col­lege that would later become their alma mater and, ulti­mately, bear their names. D’Amore received an under­grad­uate busi­ness degree and McKim a master’s in busi­ness administration.

Over the past five years, D’Amore and McKim have become actively engaged with the uni­ver­sity as mem­bers of the Board of Trustees. Their prior gifts focused on inno­va­tion and entre­pre­neur­ship, core values that span col­leges and dis­ci­plines at Northeastern.

“Rich D’Amore and Alan McKim are wonderful representatives of the lasting bonds created between Northeastern and the students who come here,” said Diane MacGillivray, senior vice president for university advancement. “I am not surprised that two of the top 50 philanthropists in the nation are Northeastern alumni. Nor am I surprised that Northeastern inspired them to make such generous and heartfelt gifts. It speaks directly to the kind of institution we are and the incredible community of alumni who remain committed to our success.”

In a celebration of the naming of the school of business last October, they both expressed their appre­ci­a­tion for the role North­eastern has played in their suc­cess. D’Amore char­ac­ter­ized his invest­ment as a vote of con­fi­dence in Northeastern’s stu­dents, fac­ulty, and senior leaders, all of whom, he said, have remained true to the university’s long­standing “prac­tical, prag­matic and real-world orientation.”

In his remarks, McKim noted that studying at North­eastern has “helped shaped who I am as a pro­fes­sional but more impor­tantly as an individual.”

He also chal­lenged young researchers and entre­pre­neurs to make a worldwide dif­fer­ence through class, co-op, and extra-curricular oppor­tu­ni­ties. “I know this gift will shape tomorrow’s busi­ness leaders and entre­pre­neurs who will create inno­va­tions that will improve our lives,” he said. “I hope stu­dents will take advan­tage of what this unique cul­ture has to offer.”