The 5 billionaires who have donated the most money

The crisis generated by the Covid 19 pandemic has considerably boosted donations, billionaires such as Zuckerberg, Bloomberg and MacKenzie Scott have disposed of part of their money for various social causes, in fact, a specialized financial medium such as Forbes, has made a list of the 25 billionaires who have donated the most money throughout their lives and according to their figures, these people have contributed an estimated 149,000 million dollars. However, this did not mean significant losses for them since their assets as a whole amount to 800,000 million dollars.

It should be noted that Forbes only considered donors with US nationality, so other foreign philanthropists do not appear. They also clarify that they only include the figures donated and used in charitable actions, so the money that has been promised – but not yet delivered – is not added, nor is the money transferred to foundations that have not yet used it.

The 5 that have donated the most money

5. Charles "Chuck" Feeney

Perhaps the most curious story in the ranking, Feeney is an 89-year-old former billionaire who is determined to die without money. How would you do it with a fortune of $ 8 billion? By donating it. According to the BBC, Feeney never used his money to have a life of luxury, instead, he wore a $ 15 watch and lived in a conventional apartment in San Francisco while making mostly anonymous donations since according to him “you don't have to explain to people why you are doing it ”, one of the phrases that marked Feeney's decisions was “ to die rich is to die in disgrace ”, this was taken from an essay called“ Wealth ”written by philanthropist Andrew Carnegie.

Feeney built his wealth on his own and was the co-founder of the popular airport Duty-Free Shoppers, which are worth billions of dollars. However, Live Mint noted that Feeney's plans are to save $ 2 million for his retirement and that of his wife, which is why he has donated an estimated $ 8 billion, mainly destined for education as well as science, Human Rights, and youth, as well as 66 million dollars that were donated to foundations in Cuba. After donating all his money, Feeney closed the foundation that he created to make these contributions.

4. Michael Bloomberg

Recently, there was buzz in the media about the 500 million dollars that Bloomberg spent in his brief campaign to try to reach the presidency of the United States in the 2020 elections. However, he retired earlier, but this figure would not affect a billionaire who, according to Forbes, has a fortune of more than 50,000 million dollars due to his dealings with Wall Street . Bloomberg pioneered the digitization of the stock market in the 1980s with a service named after him – as well as having served as mayor of New York for three terms (2002-2013), according to Vanity Fair .

However, Bloomberg is also known as one of the most "supportive" philanthropists in the world, throughout his life he has donated approximately 11.1 billion dollars, focusing on causes like stopping climate change, gun control, public health, and the reduction of tobacco use. During the pandemic, Bloomberg has allocated 330 million dollars to medical research programs and supplies to first-line doctors.

3. George Soros

This 90-year-old billionaire has been involved in conspiracy theories accusing him of creating and spreading the Covid 19 virus, to the point that a court in Peru made a formal indictment that included Soros, Bill Gates and the Rockefeller family for "managing" and "directing" the Covid 19 in the "new world order", according to La Vanguardia. Soros has an estimated fortune of $ 8.6 billion based on his work as an investor.

It may interest you: Meet the richest people in Latin America

Throughout his life, Soros has dedicated himself to financing multiple projects through his Open Society Foundations, which is estimated to have donated $ 16.8 billion, that is, more than his current fortune. Soros has dedicated most of this money to promoting democracy, recently his foundation donated 130 million dollars in the fight against the pandemic.

2. Bill and Melinda Gates

Thanks to his fortune built mainly with the foundation of Microsoft, Bill Gates created with his wife an organization called the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which is currently the largest charitable foundation in the world, since only in third-party grants it receives 5 billion dollars annually. But Bill Gates also donates his share, having allocated $ 29.8 billion throughout his life to the causes of the foundation, which often funds programs and research to reduce poverty and improve health in low-income countries.

1. Warren Buffet

The 90-year-old investor has always been among the wealthiest billionaires in the world and is also the largest contributor among philanthropists, with an estimated $ 42.8 billion given in his lifetime . Much of this money is due to annual donations to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, in addition, Buffet has assured that his goal is to donate 99% of his fortune, which is currently 91.1 billion dollars. Together with Gates, Buffet created the Giving Pledge campaign to encourage billionaires to donate 50% of their fortune.