The wealthiest human is the one who believes in giving and sharing. When you contribute to someone’s success and well-being, you can have inner peace and that’s what life is. And those at the top have learned this for a long time and believe in contributing to people and the community’s well-being. These high-profile people choose to donate their money to those communities and people who need their support. And such noble people are called ‘Philanthropists’.
A philanthropist is someone who works for the benefit of the community and donates as much as they can. They often provide food resources to the starving country people and contribute to the betterment of major social and financial issues.
The money these rich people earn comes from the public and that’s why it’s their major duty to hold the responsibility for the public’s well-being. And the philanthropist not only agrees with this but also works for their people and community.
They spent some part of their earnings in the development of areas that required their help and support. And to honour and acknowledge such Nobel people around, we have brought this article for the top philanthropists. Let’s get started!
Andrew Carnegie
Bill Gates and Melinda Gates
Warren Buffet
Azim Hashim Premji
Mark Zuckerberg
J.K. Rowling
Serena Williams
FAQ
Andrew Carnegie
Net Worth: $298.3 billion
Lifetime Donations: $75 – 297.8 billion
Andrew Carnegie is known as history’s richest person. Although he is dead for almost a century still, when it comes to the biggest philanthropist, Andrew Carnegie tops the list of all time.
Andrew Carnegie donated around 90% of his total wealth. He made the largest deal in history through the U.S based burgeoning Steel Industry, which is around $298.3 billion according to the 2007 dollars value.
Andrew Carnegie was originally from Scotland and he donated almost everything he owned. He donated in every possible field, especially in the education sector (established schools and universities). Carnegie built around 300 libraries for public usage for free across the country.
Moreover, he also supported the civic institutions, established 700 Church organs and many more.
Bill Gates and Melinda Gates
Net Worth: $74 billion
Lifetime Donations: $28 billion
The co-founder and chairman of Microsoft, Bill Gates is known as the biggest entrepreneur of the tech era. Bill Gates has been honoured with the ‘World’s Richest Man’ many times.
He has been financing majorly in his Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (the world’s leading philanthropist foundation) with the coalition of Warren Buffet. This foundation focuses on global issues such as education, healthcare, poverty and increasing IT access.
Warren Buffet
Net Worth: $58.7 billion
Lifetime Donations: $25 billion
Warren Buffet is known as the most generous and wealthiest man in the world. Also, he is the most charitable and decent among the list of philanthropists. Warren Buffet is quite famous for his economic as well as successful investment advice.
Warren Buffet has an alliance with Bill Gates and Melinda Gates, in which they work for the improvement of the current financial crisis. They promote the other billionaires to donate some amount of their income for philanthropic purposes. Warren Buffet contributes around $25 billion of his wealth to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Azim Hashim Premji
Net Worth: $32.8 billion
Lifetime Donations: $21 billion
The Indian Business Tycoon, Azim Premji is also one of the biggest philanthropists in India. He is the former chairman of Wipro Limited. And now, he is the non-executive member of the board and founder.
Many know this, Azim Hashim Premji is widely famous as the Czar of the Indian IT industry.
Azim Premji took Wipro to the next level of diversification and advancement. And his determination is what took Wipro among the world’s leaders in the industry of software. In fact, according to Asiaweek, in 2010, Azim Premji was counted among the top 20 most powerful men in the world.
In 2013, Premji donated half of his total wealth through the signing of the Giving Pledge. He began with a $2.2 billion donation to the Azim Premji Foundation which focused on the Indian Education system.
Piyush Mishra
Mark Zuckerberg
Net Worth: $40.7 billion
Lifetime Donations: $1.6 billion
The youth’s inspiration, Mark Zuckerberg is the founder and CEO of Facebook. Zuckerberg is known as the youngest self-made billionaire in the world. He has signed the Giving Pledge and utter profanity that he would donate half of his lifetime wealth.
Mark Zuckerberg along with his wife Priscilla donated around $25 million in the struggle against Ebola. Also, they donated around $75 million to San Francisco General Hospital through the Silicon Valley Community Foundation.
Mark Zuckerberg has widely donated in the education sector, around $120 million to improve the condition of education.
J.K. Rowling
Net Worth: $1 billion
Lifetime donation: $160 million
J.K. Rowling is a well-known extremely successful author and generally, known as the author of the world-famous book series, Harry Potter. She is also counted among the world’s high-impact philanthropists.
She built a global charity foundation named Lumos (after a spell from her wizarding books). The foundation aimed to help children who have been dreadfully separated from their families and now live in orphanages.
J.K. Rowling is known as the boldest philanthropist who always engages in political changes and social issues.
Serena Williams
Net Worth: $120 million
Lifetime donation: $1 million
Serena Williams is known as one of the biggest superstars on the tennis court. And she is as big a superstar as a philanthropist also. Serena Williams along with her sister Venus developed a Resource Centre in their hometown- Compton and named The Yetunde Price Resource Center (after their sister who was a gang violence victim).
Their resource centre provides aids for the community members of Compton and encourages healing and resiliency for the locals.
Conclusion
The philanthropists believe in making changes and developing those things which matter and have a huge impact on society. They work together with several underground operations to prevent some major dreadful crimes around the country.
With the growing economy, the number of philanthropists on the world scale is also increasing. There has been the establishment of many foundations and charitable organisations. And the philanthropists are the true inspiration and role models of today’s generation.
FAQ
What does a philanthropist person mean?
Philanthropist is a person who donates his wealth, skills or time for the betterment of the society.
Who is the number one philanthropist in the world?
Jamsetji Tata is one of the world’s biggest philanthropists, he has donated around 104 billion.
Is philanthropy the same as charity?
No, Philanthropy involves helping people over a long term while charity focused on providing immediate relief.
