Kroger, the Cincinnati supermarket chain, deserves to be considered one of America’s most-charitable companies, Forbes declares in an article based on The Chronicle‘s corporate-giving survey.

The company provided nearly 11 percent of its pre-tax profits to charity last year, the magazine notes. Some $40-million in cash gifts go to charities chosen by supermarket customers who carry Kroger’s loyal-shopper cards.

Macy’s comes in second, by providing 8.1 percent of its profits, followed by Safeway at 7.6 percent.

The magazine says basing generosity rankings on the share of profits that go to charity is a better measure than overall dollars donated. Wal-Mart, with $319-million in cash donations, topped The Chronicle list in terms of total cash donations, but that is only 1.45 percent of its pre-tax profits.