1. Bill and Melinda Gates
Lifetime donations: $27 billion
The Gates Millenium Scholars Program provides opportunities for outstanding minority students who do not have financial means to attend college. Hence, Bill and Melinda Gates give money to individuals (but through this specific program) as well as various companies and foundations. Individuals who are eligible for this scholarship have to have minimum 3.3 GPA and have to belong to one of the following ethnicities: African American, American Indian (or Alaska Native), Hispanic American or Asian Pacific Islander American. Each year 1,000 students are selected to receive this scholarship and average scholarship between 2000 and 2014 was $12.750 (total of $934,092,630 in this time period). Bill Gates and his wife, Melinda Gates, donated money to various organizations as well, including the GAVI Alliance; the World Health Organization; The Rotary Foundation; The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria; and UNICEF which made them take the number one spot on Business Insider’s list of most generous people in the world. Regardless of the amount of money each of these men and women donate, we can definitely say that each one of them deserves to be part of our list of the biggest philanthropists who give to individuals because their donations, grants and various scholarships can help young men and women to change their lives for the better. They show, by example, that sharing is caring.
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