Philanthropists are people who try to give something back to the world, by sharing their wealth with those in need. Following, we would like to present you with a list we have compiled of the top 25 most generous charity donors. These donors were ranked according to the amount of money they gave away to charity in the year 2012, based on figures released by Forbes Magazine and the Philanthropic Research Institute. Included for each philanthropist are estimates of the amount of money donated throughout their lifetime.
Bill Gates and Warren Buffet, the two entrepreneurs who founded the Giving Pledge, a campaign meant to encourage billionaires to donate at least half of their fortune to charity causes, emerged as the two leaders in our countdown. Throughout their lifetime, the two donated more than $25 billion each. While Buffet, who was recently awarded for his philanthropic endeavors, claimed that he is not as generous as he seems, given the fact that he never needed the money he gave away, we still believe this is pretty impressive.
Curious to see who else has made it on our list? Let’s take a look at the countdown.
Note: due to limited availability of statistics, only American philanthropists are taken into account for the purposes of this countdown.
No. 25: Pierre and Pamela Omidyar
Total donations (2012): $69 million
Lifetime donations: $1 billion
No. 24: George Kaiser
Total donations (2012): $72 million
Lifetime donations: $525 million
No. 23: Steve and Alexandra Cohen
Total donations (2012): $76.2 million
Lifetime donations: $312.9 million
No. 22: Jon Sr. and Karen Huntsman
Total donations (2012): $76.8 million
Lifetime donations: $1.3 billion
No. 21: William Barron Hilton
Total donations (2012): $83 million
Lifetime donations: $1 billion
No. 20: J. Wayne and Dolores Barr Weaver
Total donations (2012): $91 million
Lifetime donations: $145 million
No. 19: Hansjorg Wyss
Total donations (2012): $93 million
Lifetime donations: $470 million
No. 18: Michael and Susan Dell
Total donations (2012): $100 million
Lifetime donations: $914.4 million
No. 17: Stephen Bechtel Jr.
Total donations (2012): $102.5 million
Lifetime donations: $316.6 million
No. 16: Sheldon and Miriam Adelson
Total donations (2012): $144.8 million
Lifetime donations: $469.5 million
No. 15: Julian Robertson Jr.
Total donations (2012): $145.8 million
Lifetime donations: $1 billion
No. 14: David Koch
Total donations (2012): $169 million
Lifetime donations: $1.2 billion
No. 13: Carl Icahn
Total donations (2012): $200 million
Lifetime donations: estimate not available
No. 12: John and Laura Arnold
Total donations (2012): $204.4 million
Lifetime donations: $340.1 million
No. 11: James and Marilyn Simons
Total donations (2012): $213 million
Lifetime donations: estimate not available
No. 10: Gordon and Betty Moore
Total donations (2012): $250.5 million
Lifetime donations: $2.3 billion
No. 9: Chuck Feeney
Total donations (2012): $313 million
Lifetime donations: $6.3 billion
No. 8: Paul Allen
Total donations (2012): $327.7 million
Lifetime donations: $2 billion
No. 7: Michael Bloomberg
Total donations (2012): $370 million
Lifetime donations: $2.4 billion
No. 6: Eli and Edythe Broad
Total donations (2012): $376 million
Lifetime donations: $3.5 billion
No. 5: The Walton Family
Total donations (2012): $463 million
Lifetime donations: $4.6 billion
No. 4: Mark Zuckerberg
Total donations (2012): $519 million
Lifetime donations: $549 million
No. 3: George Soros
Total donations (2012): $763million
Lifetime donations: $10 billion
No. 2: Warren Buffet
Total donations (2012): $1.87 billion
Lifetime donations: $25 billion
No. 1: Bill and Melinda Gates
Total donations (2012): $1.9 billion
Lifetime donations: $28 billion
