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. Here is the list:
1. Warren Buffett
Berkshire Hathaway CEO
2004-08 Giving* $40,655 million
2. Bill & Melinda Gates
Microsoft co-founder
2004-08 Giving* $2,625 million
3. George Kaiser
Oil and gas, banking, investments
2004-08 Giving* $2,377 million
4. George Soros
Investor
2004-08 Giving* $2,214 million
5. William Barron Hilton
Heir and former CEO of Hilton Hotels
2004-08 Giving* $1,700 million
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
Credit to original writer: Aili McConnon and Lawrence Delevingne
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Full story at http://finance.yahoo.com/banking-budgeting/article/106219/The-10-Top-American-Givers
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