The 50 Most Generous Philanthropists
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| 1 | Warren Buffett | Berkshire Hathaway CEO | 40,612 | Health, education, humanitarian causes | 40,730 | 46,000 | 89 | A monumental gift announced in June, Buffett's $31-billion commitment to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will fund efforts to improve global health and U.S. education. Buffett, the world's second-richest man, also earmarked billions for the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, and the NoVo Foundation--independent family foundations that support causes ranging from reproductive health to worldwide conservation. | | 2 | Bill and Melinda Gates | Microsoft co-founder | 3,350 | Global health and development, education | 27,976 | 53,000 | 53 | With $31 billion in assets, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is the world's largest charity. And its endowment is expected to double, thanks to a long-term gift from investor Warren Buffett, who installed the first $1.6-billion contribution over the summer. The Gateses' mission is to alleviate global poverty and find a cure for AIDS and other fatal diseases, provide access to information technology in libraries, and turn around America's schools. They will begin construction on a new headquarters for their foundation in downtown Seattle early next year. | | 3 | George Soros | Investor | 2,066 | Open and democratic societies | 5,900 | 8,500 | 69 | Investor George Soros distributes $400 million or more each year through his charitable network. In 2005, he shelled out an extra $200 million for his Central European University, a graduate school he helped found in Budapest in 1991. An immigrant from Hungary who made his first billion dollars in England, Soros has a passion for politicking, giving millions each year to promote open and democratic societies. | | 4 | Gordon and Betty Moore | Intel co-founder | 2,049 | Environment, science | 7,386 | 3,400 | 217 | With charitable gifts totaling well above $7 billion, the Moores are serious conservationalists. In 2001, the couple gave $5 billion to their San Francisco-based foundation, headquartered in an eco-friendly "Green Building," for worldwide environmental research. The Moores also fund scientific and nursing initiatives in the Bay Area, working closely with the California Institute of Technology and local hospitals. | | 5 | Herbert and Marion Sandler | Golden West co-founders | 1,379 | Medical research, education, social reform | 1,379 | 2,400 | 57 | The Sandlers have given generously to cure asthma and deadly African diseases such as malaria. The press-shy couple from California also support education, social reform and progressive government, and Jewish causes. Last year they doled out $1 million for stem cell research. | | 6 | Eli and Edythe Broad | SunAmerica, KB Home founder | 1,378 | Public education, arts, science | 2,111 | 5,800 | 36 | The Broads, who own some 800 pieces of contemporary art, are building a new 60,000-square-foot gallery at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. This year they gave $25 million to the University of Southern California for stem cell research and have given generously to other schools in the past. The Broad Foundations (yes, there are three of them) not only tackle education, science, and the arts, but they also help fund civic initiatives like the Grand Avenue Project in downtown Los Angeles and the nearby Frank Gehry-designed Walt Disney Concert Hall. | | 7 | Walton Family | Family of Wal-Mart founder | 1,250 | Education | 1,790 | 82,500 | 2 | The world's richest family is also one of the most united when it comes to philanthropy. The Waltons commit the bulk of their gifts through the Walton Family Foundation, which has given more than $1 billion to a variety of charitable causes over the past 20 years. Their areas of focus: K-12 education reform, quality of life initiatives in Northwest Arkansas (home to Wal-Mart), economic development initiatives in the Mississippi Delta region of the U.S., and most recently, marine and fresh-water fishing sustainability initiatives. | | 8 | Donald Bren | Real estate developer | 935 | Education, conservation | 946 | 8,500 | 11 | Bren's commitment to education runs the gamut from students to principals to school districts to university scholars on his Irvine Ranch. On top of a $20-million gift to fund elementary fine arts, music, and science programs at schools in Irvine, Calif., Bren quietly gave away properties worth hundreds of million of dollars this year to recipients such as schools and retirement communities. | | 9 | Bernard Osher | Banking, investments | 805 | Arts, education, integrative medicine | 805 | 900 | 89 | This year Osher funneled more than $700 million into his private foundation, which supports the arts, higher education, and integrative medicine in the San Francisco Bay area and his native Maine. Approaching his eighties, he runs a scholarship program for people over 50. | | 10 | Alfred Mann | Medical devices | 698 | Biomedical education and research | 1,735 | 2,200 | 79 | The founder of 11 biomedical companies, Mann plans to parlay his wealth into at least as many top biomedical research institutes, the first of which opened at the University of Southern California with an endowment of more than $100 million. An October agreement with the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology plants the seeds for the first of these overseas. | | 11 | Michael and Susan Dell | Dell founder | 674 | Children's health, education | 1,230 | 15,500 | 8 | Since 1999, the Dells have given more than $1.2 billion for childhood-development programs and education in Texas. After Hurricane Katrina, the Dell CEO and his wife responded personally with a $5 million check to help storm victims. And this year, the couple gave generously to microfinance lenders in India's six largest cities, an effort that could help lift millions of urban slum dwellers out of poverty. | | 12 | George Kaiser | Oil and gas, banking, real estate | 639 | Poverty in Oklahoma | 723 | 8,500 | 9 | Giving mostly in secret, Kaiser supports social services and public health campaigns that help alleviate poverty in Oklahoma. His Tulsa-based foundation has awarded millions of dollars to enhance the community and develop the local economy. But its biggest payout may be yet to come: Kaiser says he plans to increase his gifts "until I die with one dollar left, assuming I can get the timing just right." | | 13 | Ruth Lilly | Eli Lilly heiress | 560 | Poetry, libraries, culture, scholarships | 770 | 200 | 385 | Lilly, 91, made headlines four years ago when she gave stock worth $100 million to the Poetry Foundation, a tiny Chicago nonprofit that publishes Poetry Magazine, and a similarly large gift to Americans for the Arts in Washington. Giving directly instead of through a foundation, the lifelong Indianapolis philanthropist also supports health care, health education, youth programs, and historical preservation. | | 14 | David Rockefeller | Standard Oil heir, banking | 550 | Biomedical research, global development, arts | 900 | 2,600 | 35 | To mark his 90th birthday last year, Rockefeller pledged $100 million apiece to the Museum of Modern Art in New York and Rockefeller University, both family legacies. He has also supported bridge-building initiatives with foreign countries and conservation projects within America's national parks system and the Alaskan wilderness. He takes his philanthropic cues from grandfather John D. Rockefeller, whose gifts transformed New York in the early 20th century. | | 15 | Michael Bloomberg | Bloomberg founder, NYC mayor | 550 | Public health, education, arts, social services | 880 | 5,300 | 17 | Bloomberg gives about $140 million annually to New York arts, public health efforts, education, and social services. As the city's mayor, he usually gives anonymously and would not include 2006 gifts in his five-year giving total. The Johns Hopkins University alum is launching a worldwide anti-smoking campaign three years after banning smoking in New York's bars during his first term. He has given to the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation and recently purchased a townhouse on the Upper East Side for his future foundation. | | 16 | John Templeton | Investor | 511 | Science "about life's big questions" | 1,000 | 2,000 | 50 | According to its Web site, Templeton's Pennsylvania-based foundation serves as a "philanthropic catalyst for scientific discovery on what scientists and philosophers call the 'Big Questions.'" Each year it awards the Templeton Prize, worth $1.4 million, to a living individual who advances spiritual realties. The foundation, which funds 300 projects around the world, received more than a half-billion dollars from its founder two years ago. | | 17 | Veronica Atkins | Widow of Dr. Robert Atkins | 500 | Eradication of obesity and diabetes | 500 | 60 | 833 | Atkins took a seat at the head of the table this year, renaming her late husband's private charity the Dr. Robert C. and Veronica Atkins Foundation. Working to eradicate obesity and diabetes, she boosted her organization's endowed professorships around the country to eight in hopes of seeing more results during her lifetime. She has also ramped up her efforts to teach kids good nutrition earlier in life. | | 18 | Jeff Skoll | Founding president of eBay | 486 | Social entrepreneurs | 613 | 3,500 | 18 | Skoll founded a center for social entrepreneurship at the University of Oxford, where he hosts an annual world forum on using good business principles to better society. His charities include the private Skoll Foundation, which fosters social entrepreneurship, and the public Skoll Fund, which is associated with the prominent San Jose (Calif.) -based Community Foundation Silicon Valley, of which Skoll is a board member. | | 19 | Pierre and Pam Omidyar | Chairman and founder, eBay | 453 | Individual self-empowerment | 577 | 7,700 | 7 | Two years ago the Omidyars transformed their foundation into the Omidyar Network, a major microfinance engine that could stimulate more than $1 billion in microloans over the next decade. Last year the couple gave $100 million to Tufts University to establish a fund that will attract private capital and scale up the initiative. They say the goal of their work is to make a social impact, starting with the individual. | | 20 | Robert Wilson | Investor | 449 | Environment | 449 | 500 | 90 | Wilson's four challenge grants could dole out as much as $100 million each to the World Monuments Fund, Environmental Defense, the Wildlife Conservation Society, and the Nature Conservancy. He also supports the New York Public Library and the city's arts institutions. | | 21 | Irwin and Joan Jacobs | Qualcomm co-founder | 425 | Education, arts | 582 | 1,700 | 34 | A former engineering professor at UC San Diego, Jacobs with his wife have pledged $110 million to the school. The classical music lovers have also given $120 million to the San Diego Symphony (including the price of a 1708 Stradivarius violin), and support the local theater, library, and children's museum. | | 22 | Ted Turner | CNN founder | 423 | Environment, global security | 1,303 | 1,900 | 69 | On top of a $1-billion pledge to the United Nations, Turner supports the Better World Fund and the Nuclear Threat Initiative--two foundations he created to raise awareness about the UN's programs and to help reduce nuclear weapons. With his five children, he also oversees a family foundation, which funds projects on the environment and population. "We are all in this together," he says on its Web site. | | 23 | Kirk Kerkorian | Investor | 419 | Humanitarian and Armenian causes | 696 | 9,000 | 8 | Named for his daughters Linda and Tracy, Kerkorian's private Lincy Foundation supports humanitarian and entrepreneurial causes in Armenia and across the U.S. Based in Beverly Hills, the ultra-secretive foundation recently funded a high-tech cancer treatment center in Las Vegas. | | 24 | Shelby White | Widow of investor Leon Levy | 340 | Ancient studies, arts, humanities | 500 | 600 | 83 | A collector of antiquities and art, White pledged $200 million to New York University this year to establish the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World. She also supports New York's many arts and botanical institutions, funds brain research at Rockefeller University, and gives generously to Jewish culture organizations and civil rights groups. | | 25 | Bernard Marcus | Home Depot co-founder | 317 | Jewish causes, health, free enterprise, children | 650 | 1,900 | 34 | Legacies of the Marcus Foundation include Atlanta's new $290-million aquarium, the Marcus Institute for children with diabilities and learning disorders, and a state-of-the-art bioterrorism unit at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The foundation does not have an endowment but receives its funding annually from Marcus, who says he wants to give away his wealth while he's alive. | | 26 | Robert Meyerhoff | Real estate developer | 304 | Arts, higher education | 305 | NA | NA | Valued at $300 million, Meyerhoff's art collection will go to the National Gallery of Art in Washington upon his death. The collection includes works by Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Rauschenberg, and Frank Stella. Meyerhoff also funds math and science scholarships for black students to the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. | | 27 | Paul Allen | Microsoft co-founder | 287 | Arts, health/human services, science | 876 | 16,000 | 5 | Allen's new $100-million brain science institute will map out the brain to help solve mysteries of neurological disorders. His foundation is a major funder of arts and cultural events in the Pacific Northwest, including local music festivals and the Experience Music Project, a museum in Seattle. Other causes supported by the foundation include community development, social change, health and human services, and youth. | | 28 | Thomas Monaghan | Domino's Pizza founder | 283 | Catholic higher education | 454 | 450 | 101 | Monaghan's Ave Maria Foundation funds conservative Catholic causes, including a law school in Michigan and a liberal arts university under construction in southern Florida. Once completed, the $250-million Ava Maria University will boast 6,000 students and form the heart of a new community centered on Catholic values. | | 29 | T. Boone Pickens | Energy and investing | 270 | Higher education and athletics, health | 300 | 2,700 | 11 | Pickens, a football fan, has given $165 million to Oklahoma State University's athletics department, a sum expected to grow to more than $300 million along with other gifts in his hand-picked hedge fund. He has given generously to Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children and the American Red Cross. He also volunteers for Meals on Wheels. | | 30 | Dawn Greene | Widow of lawyer Jerome Greene | 260 | Education, medicine, arts | 260 | NA | NA | Greene gave $200 million to finance construction of the Jerome L. Greene Science Center at Columbia University, a brain and behaviorial research center named in honor of her late husband, a Columbia Law alumnus. The new campus building is part of a bold redevelopment project in the West Harlem neighborhood of Manhattanville, N.Y. She also supports several arts, educational, and medical causes. Says Greene: "We have a love affair with this city, even though it's changed a lot." | | 31 | James Simons | Investor | 257 | Math and science education, autism | 257 | 4,000 | 6 | The media-shy Simons has committed $100 million to fund autism research, a disorder that afflicts his daughter, and built hospitals in Nepal and a park on Long Island in honor of two deceased sons. He chairs Math for America and supports education in New York. | | 32 | Oprah Winfrey | Harpo chairman | 251 | Education; women, children, and families | 303 | 1,500 | 20 | Each year, Winfrey gives roughly $50 million personally to empower and educate women, children, and families. This fall, she opened a youth center in her Mississippi hometown. And in January, she'll open a girls academy in South Africa. The talk show host boosts her giving power through Oprah's Angel Network, a public charity through which audience members have funded scholarships and schools, youth centers, and women's shelters. | | 33 | Lewis and Dorothy Cullman | Leveraged buyouts | 250 | Arts, education | 250 | 50 | 500 | Sitting on 10 boards, the Cullmans spread their wealth and energy among some of New York's most iconic institutions, including the Public Library, the Botanical Garden, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Lincoln Center for Performing Arts. Cullman is also chair of Chess-in-the-Schools, a nonprofit he founded to teach chess to inner-city school children, and he is a donor to Yale University. | | 34 | Frances Comer | Widow of Lands' End founder Gary Comer | 246 | Environment, education, youth | 268 | 1,000 | 27 | The Comers contributed $42 million to the University of Chicago for a pediatric center before husband Gary, 78, passed away in early October. Last year the couple gave $18 million to Columbia University for research on global warming and $20 million for a youth center in Chicago. | | 35 | David and Cheryl Duffield | PeopleSoft co-founder | 246 | Animals, humane society, education | 331 | 1,200 | 28 | The Duffields are best known for their California-based foundation, Maddie's Fund, which supports private animal shelters and advocates a "no kill" agenda. David, a software entrepreneur, recently bankrolled a nanotechnology research center at Cornell University and set up a $10-million fund for PeopleSoft employees displaced when the company was acquired by Oracle. | | 36 | Ira and Mary Lou Fulton | Fulton Homes CEO | 234 | Higher education, community, cancer | 265 | 445 | 60 | Last year the Fultons pledged $100 million to Arizona State University, where Ira played football and married Mary Lou. The energetic couple from Phoenix has given $82 million to Brigham Young University (their latest project: a new alumni center) and more than $10 million to the University of Utah. "I have fun making money," Ira has said, "but I have more fun giving it away." They also fund community initiatives and cancer research. | | 37 | Frank and Jane Batten | Landmark Comm. founder | 228 | Education, early childhood development | 400 | 1,400 | 29 | A Harvard Business School grad, Frank Batten and his wife, Jane, have given $32 million to the school. The couple also supports institutions of higher education across Virginia, including Old Dominion University, the College of William and Mary, Virginia Wesleyan College, and Hollins University, and fund scholarships to area high school students. | | 38 | David Geffen | Dreamworks co-founder | 211 | HIV/AIDS, civil liberties, arts and culture | 273 | 4,600 | 6 | Geffen, an early leader in the fight against AIDS, pledged $200 million to the UCLA School of Medicine in 2002 and supports health-care, civil liberties, and Jewish causes. The media mogul also funds prominent arts institutions around Los Angeles, including his own performing arts theater, Geffen Playhouse. | | 39 | Larry Ellison | Oracle CEO | 210 | Research on aging and diseases | 790 | 19,500 | 4 | Ellison, who funds research on aging and infectious diseases, settled an insider-trading lawsuit this year by writing a $100-million check to his medical foundation--a sizeable increase over the annual $40 million it normally receives. Though the fastidious philanthropist reneged on a $115-million pledge to Harvard, he says he plans to green-light the gift once a replacement for ex-president Larry Summers has been named. | | 40 | Peter Lewis | Progressive chairman | 210 | Arts, environment, youth, social reform, education | 400 | 1,400 | 29 | Lewis has given millions to his alma mater, Princeton University, and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City. He also supports conservation groups and youth and has given generously to social reform groups like the American Civil Liberties Union and MoveOn.org. | | 41 | William and Alice Goodwin | AMF Bowling chairman | 208 | Cancer research, higher education | 270 | 100 | 270 | Over the past 10 years, the Goodwins have poured their riches into cancer research, funding centers in Texas, Maryland, New York, and Virginia. Their newest facility, an 80,000-square-foot research laboratory, opened this year at Virginia Commonwealth University. Their Commonwealth Foundation also promotes business and engineering education in Virginia. | | 42 | George Lucas | Lucasfilm founder | 203 | Education and arts, health, civil rights | 209 | 3,600 | 6 | George Lucas gave $175 million this year to his alma mater, USC, for its prestigious School of Cinematic Arts. He has poured millions into his educational foundation, which develops and distributes free teaching and training materials to schools, helped fund the Martin Luther King, Jr. memorial on the National Mall in Washington, and supported various health-related causes. | | 43 | Marguerite Hoffman | Widow of investor Robert Hoffman | 197 | Dallas arts and social services, science | 205 | NA | NA | Early last year Robert and Marguerite Hoffman announced a gift of Impressionist and post-Impressionist works worth $150 million to the Dallas Museum of Art. For years, the family has supported the arts and social services in Dallas and science initiatives at Harvard, where Robert studied. Then, the 59-year-old investor and co-chairman of Custom Food Group passed away in August. Marguerite has since made additional gifts in his name. | | 44 | John Kluge | Metromedia founder | 196 | Library of Congress, higher education | 751 | 9,100 | 8 | In honor of its 200th anniversary, Kluge gave $60 million to the Library of Congress and established the Kluge Prize for human sciences, an award comparable to the Nobel Prizes in economics and literature. Other gifts include a historic 7,400-acre estate worth $45 million to the University of Virginia and more than $110 million to alma mater Columbia University for minority scholarships and faculty diversity programs. | | 45 | H.F. (Gerry) and Marguerite Lenfest | Former Surburban Cable owner | 191 | Higher education, arts, environment | 470 | 825 | 57 | A Columbia University trustee and law school grad, Gerry Lenfest and his wife, Marguerite, have given more than $100 million to the school, including a grant for the first Millennium Village in Sauri, Kenya. Their Philadelphia-based foundation operates a boarding school in Pennsylvania, funds scholarships, and supports local arts programs. It also tackles global warming, declining fish populations, and other worldwide environmental crises. | | 46 | Leo and Kay Drey | Schram Glass heir, silviculture | 180 | Conservation | 180 | NA | NA | The Dreys gifted a Chicago-sized swath of Ozark forest land, valued at $180 million, to their St. Louis foundation for the "pioneering of proper land management and the enjoyment of outdoor enthusiasts." Beyond conservation, the thrifty Missouri give generously to support causes ranging from civil liberties to the arts. | | 47 | Charles and Helen Schwab | Charles Schwab founder | 167 | Social issues, education, arts | 233 | 4,600 | 5 | The Charles and Helen Schwab Foundation combats substance abuse, poverty, and homelessness--and operates Schwab Learning, an organization for children with learning disabilities and their parents. The Schwabs also support Stanford University and various arts institutions in the San Francisco Bay area. | | 48 | Bernard Gordon | Analogic, NeuroLogica co-founder | 160 | Engineering education, medical research | 165 | 135 | 122 | Gordon has given generously over the years to train engineers and scientists. His most recent gifts of $20 million each will support educational and medical initiatives at Northeastern University and the Museum of Science, both in Boston. The best part? Seeing kids, "eyes wide open, running around the museum" who might someday be America's leading scientists and engineers, he says. | | 49 | T. Denny Sanford | Banking and credit cards | 159 | Children, health, science, education | 159 | 2,500 | 6 | Last year Sanford gave away at least $70 million to charity, including gifts to a children's hospital in South Dakota and a Mayo clinic in Minnesota. Recently, he pledged $70 million to the South Dakota Science and Technology Authority to improve mining shafts in the state and build a science and engineering center. He also supports business education. | | 50 | Dan Duncan | Energy | 157 | Medical research, education, youth | 160 | 7,500 | 2 | A cancer survivor, Duncan and his family gave $100 million this year to the Baylor College of Medicine at the Texas Medical Center in Houston. Duncan also funds a neurodevelopmental clinic for children at the University of Texas Health Science Center and gives to the Boy Scouts of America and several Texas organizations serving orphans and underprivileged youth. His 5,000-acre Double "D" Ranch has introduced more than 250 children to the sports of hunting and fishing. | | - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - |
FOOTNOTES:
DONORS NEW FROM LAST YEAR
*Based on public records and interviews with donors
**Based on the Forbes 400 list and BusinessWeek estimates
Data: BusinessWeek, GuideStar, The Chronicle of Philanthropy, Kintera PIN Electronic Screening
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