The 10 Top American Givers

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The 10 Top American Givers

by Aili McConnon and Lawrence Delevingne
Thursday, November 27, 2008provided by Business Week

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Warren Buffett

Many of America's ultra-rich continued to give big donations to charity in 2008, despite the worst financial crisis in decades. In the past year, seven philanthropists gave north of $200 million and nine gave more than $100 million to causes ranging from wilderness preservation to fighting malaria. Warren Buffett and Bill Gates remain far and away the biggest givers overall, but two of 12 newcomers to the list pledged to give more than $1 billion away: William Barron Hilton, co-chairman of the Hilton hotel chain who pledged late last year to give away 97% of his wealth -- some $1.7 billion -- to his family's humanitarian foundation and Peter G. Peterson, co-founder of the investment firm Blackstone Group, who gave $1 billion this year to establish a foundation that promotes fiscal responsibility. Read their stories -- and those of the 48 other philanthropists on BusinessWeek's list -- here.

1. Warren Buffett

Berkshire Hathaway CEO
2004-08 Giving* $40,655 million

Buffett's $31 billion commitment to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, announced in June 2006, resonated throughout the philanthropic community. The giving is aimed at funding education and global health initiatives. This year the commitment to the Gates Foundation still resonates, inspiring other donors with a new model of philanthropy. 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.

For more, visit the Warren Buffett Philanthropy.

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2. Bill & Melinda Gates

Microsoft co-founder
2004-08 Giving* $2,625 million

Bill and Melinda Gates give through their massive Seattle-based family foundation, which says it is "committed to ensuring all people have the opportunity to lead healthy, productive lives." With an endowment of nearly $36 billion, the foundation works with partners to give people a chance to lift themselves out of hunger and extreme poverty in developing countries and, in the U.S., to ensure that all people have the opportunities they need to succeed in school and life. Its endowment is eventually expected to double, thanks to a long-term $31 billion gift from investor Warren Buffett, which pays out in installments. Recent initiatives include $100 million in micro medical-research grants; a $164 million grant to the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa; and $125 million to fight global tobacco use as part of a $500 million partnership with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

For more, visit the Gates Foundation.

3. George Kaiser

Oil and gas, banking, investments
2004-08 Giving* $2,377 million

Kaiser's focus remains on early intervention in the cycle of poverty. Giving through his Tulsa-based foundation provides services that include early childhood education, pre-natal health care, public health, in-home parenting, and secondary education, as well as more generalized safety net services that deal with the symptoms of poverty. More recent initiatives have focused on women's incarceration, secondary schools, and reserving land to create an arts and entertainment district in Tulsa. The biggest payout may be yet to come: Kaiser has said he plans to increase his gifts "until I die with one dollar left, assuming I can get the timing just right."

For more, visit the George Kaiser Family Foundation.

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4. George Soros

Investor
2004-08 Giving* $2,214 million

Soros distributes $400 million or more each year through his charitable network, which aims to foster open and democratic societies around the world. This year Soros gave some $535 million to dozens of initiatives, including education in Liberia, microfinance in India, and mental health in Moldova. In 2005 he gave 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 given nearly $7 billion to support his network of foundations in more than 60 countries.

For more, visit the Open Society Institute.

5. William Barron Hilton

Heir and former CEO of Hilton Hotels
2004-08 Giving* $1,700 million

New to list Following in his father's footsteps, Hilton late last year announced his intention to leave 97% of his wealth to charity after his stakes in Hilton Hotels and Harrah's Entertainment were bought out by private equity groups for billions. Hilton's fortune will go to his family's foundation, the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, which works to alleviate the suffering of the world's most disadvantaged, with an emphasis on children and support for the work of Roman Catholic nuns. Grants go to causes such as stopping trachoma, the world's leading cause of preventable blindness in Africa; helping homeless families in the U.S.; and providing clean water in Mexico.

For more, visit the Hilton Foundation.

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6. Walton Family

Family of Wal-Mart founder

2004-08 Giving* $1,380 million

7. Herbert & Marion Sandler

Golden West Financial co-founders
2004-08 Giving* $1,329 million

8. Peter Peterson

Blackstone Group co-founder
2004-08 Giving* $1,168 million

9. Donald Bren

Real estate developer
2004-08 Giving* $908 million

10. Michael Bloomberg

Bloomberg founder, NYC Mayor
2004-08 Giving* $903 million

 

*Based on public records and interviews with donors
Data: BusinessWeek, The Chronicle of Philanthropy and the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University

http://finance.yahoo.com/banking-budgeting/article/106219/The-10-Top-American-Givers

Copyrighted, Business Week. All rights reserved.

 

Vocabulary

1. endow
verb

to give a large amount of money to pay for creating a college or hospital, etc. or to provide an income for it:
The state of Michigan has endowed three institutes to do research for industry.
This hospital was endowed by the citizens of Strasbourg in the 16th century.

2. endowment

noun
1 money that is given to a college or hospital, etc. in order to provide it with an income, or the giving of this money:
The school has received an endowment of £50 000 to buy new books for the library.
2 something that you have from birth, often a quality:
There are tests which can establish a baby's genetic endowment.

 

3. incarcerate
verb
1 FORMAL to put or keep someone in prison or in a place used as a prison:
Thousands of dissidents have been interrogated or incarcerated.
2 to keep someone in an enclosed place and prevent them from leaving it:
We were incarcerated in that broken elevator for four hours.

4. incarceration
noun

foster (ENCOURAGE)
verb
to encourage the development or growth of ideas or feelings:
I'm trying to foster an interest in classical music in my children.
They were discussing the best way to foster democracy and prosperity in the former communist countries.

5. philanthropic

adjective FORMAL
helping poor people, especially by giving them money

6. philanthropist

noun
a philanthropic person:
a donation from a wealthy 19th-century philanthropist

Questions

1. Are you familiar with the personalities mentioned in the article? What do you know about them? Have you been involved in any charitable event?  Tell me more about that experience.

2. Who are the philanthropists that you are familiar with? Who are the most famous philanthropists in Korea?  What have they done to reach out to other people?

3. If you were an advisor of one philanthropist, how would you rank these global problems according to increasing significance with number one being the most important.

medical research, poverty, war, global warming

Defend your answer.

 

4. Discuss the following and relate each to your country's situation and what your government is doing about it:

a. poverty

b. global warming

c. medical research

d. hunger

e. unemployment

f. terrorism

g. corruption