Frank, do you remember Ted Turner's call to the billionaires to give away part of their fortunes. Anyway, many of them have. The following is a link and partial article from Forbes.
Many people tithe in the US mostly giving to their churches and other philanthropic organizations. Millions others are generous with their time which is often…
Frank, do you remember Ted Turner's call to the billionaires to give away part of their fortunes. Anyway, many of them have. The following is a link and partial article from Forbes.
Many people tithe in the US mostly giving to their churches and other philanthropic organizations. Millions others are generous with their time which is often more valuable than the cash.
From Warren Buffett to newcomer Jeff Bezos, the nation's most generous billionaires have given away a collective $169 billion in their lifetimes–and are still richer than ever.
The billions keep piling up for many of America’s great philanthropists. So, too, do their charitable contributions. The nation’s 25 biggest givers have donated a total of $169 billion over the course of their lifetimes, according to Forbes’ estimates. That’s up from $149 billion last year, partly due to new information uncovered by Forbes—but mostly due to another year of huge giving by these 25 mega-donors.
Leading the pack: Warren Buffett, whose annual summer gift of Berkshire Hathaway stock topped $4.1 billion this year. The funds, as usual, went to The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation—where they are being put to work on poverty and healthcare initiatives, including research and vaccines for Covid-19—plus to foundations set up by his late wife and three children.
Not far behind (and maybe even ahead): MacKenzie Scott, whose shoestring operation—she has no foundation and gives her wealth away in stealth—donated $5.8 billion to 500 different groups across the country in 2020. Last year, she continued giving her fortune away faster than any billionaire ever, announcing in June another $2.7 billion in gifts to 286 “high-impact” groups such as the Children’s Defense Fund and the National Council of Nonprofits—pushing her estimated lifetime donations above $8.6 billion. Then, in December, Scott published a Medium post mentioning that she’d made another round of gifts—but provided no details on who got the grants or how much she doled out. She quickly clarified that she would share details about the gifts "in the year to come." In the meantime, Forbes is only crediting her with her known, public donations.
Two fresh faces have joined the top philanthropist ranks since last year: Facebook cofounder Dustin Moskovitz and his wife Cari Tuna, and Scott’s ex-husband, Jeff Bezos, who has taken to philanthropy—announcing $1 billion in gifts in 2021—since stepping down as Amazon’s CEO in July.
Other big donations: a $500 million pledge to a small liberal arts college by George Soros, a $3.4 billion initiative over ten years from Mark Zuckerberg to measure and analyze biological processes in the human body and a $5 billion, ten-year pledge toward biodiversity conservation by a handful of groups, include three top givers: Bezos, Michael Bloomberg and Gordon and Betty Moore.
Of course, with markets riding high, it’s easier to dole out billions. These 25 philanthropists are a collective $150 billion richer than they were a year ago, up 18% each on average. In all, they’re worth an estimated $1.1 trillion. Seventeen of them have signed The Giving Pledge, promising to donate at least half their fortune to charity over their lifetimes or upon their deaths. But only two—Chuck Feeney and Soros (who has not signed The Giving Pledge)—have hit the mark so far. Nearly two-thirds have yet to give away even a quarter of their wealth, meaning there are a lot more zeros earmarked for charities in the years to come.
Our estimates factor in the total lifetime giving of American billionaires, measured in dollars given to charitable recipients—in other words, we are not including money parked in a foundation that has yet to do any good. To that end, we also do not include gifts that have been pledged but not yet paid out, or money given to donor-advised funds—opaque, tax-advantaged accounts that have neither disclosure nor distribution requirements—unless the giver shared details about the grants that were actually paid by such entities. This is a list of individuals and couples who are U.S. citizens; as a result, we excluded extended families like the Waltons, controlling shareholders of Walmart, and excluded big givers like Hansjoerg Wyss, who lives in the U.S. but is a Swiss citizen. Net worths are as of January 18, 2022.
I don't think the philanthropic whims of some grossly wealthy should negate the fact that such extraordinary wealth was illicitly accumulated to begin with. Bezos paying his workers slave wages, for example.
Frank, do you remember Ted Turner's call to the billionaires to give away part of their fortunes. Anyway, many of them have. The following is a link and partial article from Forbes.
Many people tithe in the US mostly giving to their churches and other philanthropic organizations. Millions others are generous with their time which is often more valuable than the cash.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbeswealthteam/2022/01/19/americas-top-givers-2022-the-25-most-philanthropic-billionaires/?sh=4fb70eff3a6c
From Warren Buffett to newcomer Jeff Bezos, the nation's most generous billionaires have given away a collective $169 billion in their lifetimes–and are still richer than ever.
The billions keep piling up for many of America’s great philanthropists. So, too, do their charitable contributions. The nation’s 25 biggest givers have donated a total of $169 billion over the course of their lifetimes, according to Forbes’ estimates. That’s up from $149 billion last year, partly due to new information uncovered by Forbes—but mostly due to another year of huge giving by these 25 mega-donors.
Leading the pack: Warren Buffett, whose annual summer gift of Berkshire Hathaway stock topped $4.1 billion this year. The funds, as usual, went to The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation—where they are being put to work on poverty and healthcare initiatives, including research and vaccines for Covid-19—plus to foundations set up by his late wife and three children.
Not far behind (and maybe even ahead): MacKenzie Scott, whose shoestring operation—she has no foundation and gives her wealth away in stealth—donated $5.8 billion to 500 different groups across the country in 2020. Last year, she continued giving her fortune away faster than any billionaire ever, announcing in June another $2.7 billion in gifts to 286 “high-impact” groups such as the Children’s Defense Fund and the National Council of Nonprofits—pushing her estimated lifetime donations above $8.6 billion. Then, in December, Scott published a Medium post mentioning that she’d made another round of gifts—but provided no details on who got the grants or how much she doled out. She quickly clarified that she would share details about the gifts "in the year to come." In the meantime, Forbes is only crediting her with her known, public donations.
Two fresh faces have joined the top philanthropist ranks since last year: Facebook cofounder Dustin Moskovitz and his wife Cari Tuna, and Scott’s ex-husband, Jeff Bezos, who has taken to philanthropy—announcing $1 billion in gifts in 2021—since stepping down as Amazon’s CEO in July.
Other big donations: a $500 million pledge to a small liberal arts college by George Soros, a $3.4 billion initiative over ten years from Mark Zuckerberg to measure and analyze biological processes in the human body and a $5 billion, ten-year pledge toward biodiversity conservation by a handful of groups, include three top givers: Bezos, Michael Bloomberg and Gordon and Betty Moore.
Of course, with markets riding high, it’s easier to dole out billions. These 25 philanthropists are a collective $150 billion richer than they were a year ago, up 18% each on average. In all, they’re worth an estimated $1.1 trillion. Seventeen of them have signed The Giving Pledge, promising to donate at least half their fortune to charity over their lifetimes or upon their deaths. But only two—Chuck Feeney and Soros (who has not signed The Giving Pledge)—have hit the mark so far. Nearly two-thirds have yet to give away even a quarter of their wealth, meaning there are a lot more zeros earmarked for charities in the years to come.
Our estimates factor in the total lifetime giving of American billionaires, measured in dollars given to charitable recipients—in other words, we are not including money parked in a foundation that has yet to do any good. To that end, we also do not include gifts that have been pledged but not yet paid out, or money given to donor-advised funds—opaque, tax-advantaged accounts that have neither disclosure nor distribution requirements—unless the giver shared details about the grants that were actually paid by such entities. This is a list of individuals and couples who are U.S. citizens; as a result, we excluded extended families like the Waltons, controlling shareholders of Walmart, and excluded big givers like Hansjoerg Wyss, who lives in the U.S. but is a Swiss citizen. Net worths are as of January 18, 2022.
I don't think the philanthropic whims of some grossly wealthy should negate the fact that such extraordinary wealth was illicitly accumulated to begin with. Bezos paying his workers slave wages, for example.
Stinky as hell.
But compared to Trump and Musk they are at least doing something. Trump has one driving principle -- "He who dies with the most money wins."