America’s Most Generous Billionaires

Steve Ballmer and his wife, Connie (née Snyder), derive most of their fortune from a sizeable stake in Microsoft, from which the former CEO of the Redmond, Washington-based tech giant has collected about $10 billion in dividends and stock-sale proceeds as of March 2020, according to a Bloomberg estimate. Connie runs the Ballmer Group, a charitable organization aimed at eradicating intergenerational poverty in the United States.

The 83-year-old founder of shoe giant Nike, who retired in 2016, and his wife, Penny, have been among the country’s top charitable givers in recent years, with large donations to the University of Oregon and Stanford Graduate School of Business — Phil’s alma maters — and to the private family-owned Knight Foundation the couple founded in 1997. Phil said in 2019 that he intends to give away most of his fortune within the lifespans of his grandchildren.

The 85-year-old chairman and CEO of Koch Industries, the largest privately held-company in the United States in 2020, said last year through a spokesman that his philanthropy is directed toward “individual empowerment” and “self-actualization,” reflecting his libertarian views. His primary vehicle for charitable giving is the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation.

The widow of David Koch, brother of Charles Koch (No. 25 on this list), inherited billions after her husband died in 2019. As head of the David H. Koch Foundation, she oversees grants to various causes focused on science and medical research, education, and the arts, as well as causes that further libertarian and conservative policies.

The 37-year-old founder and CEO of Facebook and his wife, a former pediatrician, have funded various causes, primarily through the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, which focuses on education, immigration, housing, and biomedical research. The couple have said they intend to give away 99% of their wealth to charities over the course of their lives.

The Dell Technologies founder and his wife give primarily through a foundation that bears their name. Their causes include childhood health, family economic stability, and urban education. Other contributions include community initiatives in South Africa and India. Last year, the foundation donated $100 million to combat Covid-19.

The founder of eBay, Omidyar has been a longtime supporter of Democratic Party and liberal causes. In 2015 he committed 10% of his company’s stock, at the time worth $269 million, toward undisclosed charities. Omidyar and his wife, Pam, have also funded various projects through their Omidyar Network.

The 88-year-old chairman emeritus and former CEO of beauty giant Estée Lauder Companies — and son of the late Lauder herself — co-founded the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation, a global organization that funds clinical trials seeking cures and treatments for the disease. Lauder is also a major patron of New York City’s Whitney Museum.

The 89-year-old California property mogul focuses his philanthropy on education and conservation, including a donation of $240 million to Southern California public schools and universities. He’s also worked to create preserved and protected open spaces in Orange County.

Jim Simons, 83, made a fortune through his quantitative-trading hedge fund Renaissance Technologies, and has devoted a portion of that toward causes backed by the Simons Foundation, founded in 1994 with his wife, Marilyn. The foundation focuses on promoting Jim’s main discipline, mathematics.

Ever since she split from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos in 2019, receiving the most expensive divorce settlement in history, Scott has been on a giving streak. With an estimated net worth of $68 billion as of late 2020, Scott has donated billions to Covid-19 emergency relief efforts and to 286 organizations she says “have been historically underfunded and overlooked,” such as historically Black colleges and universities and tribal colleges.

The 79-year-old former three-term New York City mayor and presidential candidate drives his charity through Bloomberg Philanthropies, which bills itself as a “global leader on climate change, public health, education, and other critical issues facing America and the world.” He has given special attention to promoting efforts to curb gun violence.

The 78-year-old billionaire businessman has put most of his charitable work into his George Kaiser Family Foundation, which is focused on early childhood education and healthcare. He’s also a major benefactor for projects in his hometown of Tulsa, Oklahoma, including a recent program offering people $10,000 to work remotely from the state’s second-largest city.

The May 3 announcement that Bill and Melinda Gates were getting divorced after 27 years sent ripples through the charitable organizations that depend on the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, one of the world’s largest private foundations, with an estimated $50 billion in assets, of which $36 billion reportedly came from the couple. The duo has said publicly that no changes were planned for the organization. The divorce settlement will reportedly leave Melinda with more than $60 billion once the dust settles.

Retired hedge funder Julian Robertson Jr., 87, puts most of his charity toward the Robertson Foundation, a supporter of environmental protection efforts, primarily the Environmental Defense Fund. He has also donated to a scholarship program for students to jointly attend the University of North Carolina and nearby Duke University, and actively supports charter schools.

Cable TV pioneer Hostetter, 84, donates mostly through the Boston-based Barr Foundation, which he founded in 1987 with his wife, Barbara, and which focuses on combating climate change as well as advocating for local transportation and education issues. Hostetter was one of the main financial backers of the Lincoln Project, the Republican-led super-PAC that worked to defeat Donald Trump in the ex-president’s re-election bid.

A hedge funder and former trader at Enron, the energy trading firm that collapsed in an accounting scandal in 2001, John Arnold and his wife, Laura, have focused their charitable work on initiatives to lower drug prices, end mass incarceration, and make tax policy more equitable. They have pledged to give away 5% of their net worth annually.

Billionaire businessman and Los Angeles civic leader Eli Broad died this year at 87, leaving behind his wife, Edythe, and two sons, Jeffrey and Gary. Edythe is credited with instilling a passion for arts philanthropy in her husband, and their foundation also supports education and medical research. The couple played an outsize role in funding L.A. cultural institutions, including The Broad, a contemporary art museum that opened in 2015.

The Moores derive their wealth from 92-year-old Gordon’s role as co-founder and chairman emeritus of semiconductor chip giant the Intel Corporation. The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation awards grants focused on scientific research and innovation, environmental conservation, and healthcare.

The 90-year-old “Oracle of Omaha” has said he intends to give away “more than 99%” of his wealth in his lifetime or at death, and has joined Bill and Melinda Gates in asking wealthy Americans to give away at least half of their wealth to charity. Last summer, Buffet donated $2.9 billion in Berkshire Hathaway Inc. stock to four family charities and to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Buffett has been giving away Berkshire shares since 2006.

The 82-year-old Lynn is the widow of oil magnate Charles Schusterman. Through the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies, Lynn and daughter Stacy focus their philanthropy toward left-of-center causes including LGBT rights and education policy, as well as support for Israel and Israeli liberal social advocacy.

Ted Turner may have reduced his public presence since his dementia diagnosis in 2018, but the 82-year-old cable news and television pioneer continues to be a major philanthropic force through different foundations and initiatives devoted to various global causes, including the eradication of nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons.

Karen Huntsman is the widow of Jon Huntsman Sr., co-founder of chemical products manufacturer Huntsman Corporation. Surviving family members are reportedly taking a more active role in the Jon and Karen Huntsman Foundation, focused on higher education, cancer care, and economic development.

The 85-year-old retired billionaire banker has said that he wants to die broke. But despite a recent $1 billion to nonprofit hospital group Sanford Health, Sanford says he can’t give away his money fast enough.

The 93-year-old hotel magnate announced in 2019 he was donating 97% of his wealth to his family foundation, which focuses on issues including disaster relief, treating HIV-positive children, and poverty alleviation.

The 90-year-old billionaire investor may be third behind Warren Buffet and Bill and Melinda Gates in terms of total lifetime giving, but he tops them in terms of giving as a percent of earnings, making him arguably the most charitable billionaire on this list if factoring both share of earnings and total value. His global philanthropy is channeled through his Open Society Foundations.

Feeney, the man who made duty-free airport shopping a thing, is the one billionaire on this list that has a proven commitment to giving away all of his wealth within his lifetime. He’s taken Gilded Age industrialist Andrew Carnegie’s maxim to heart, that to die wealthy is to die disgraced.