How the Wealthy Use Their Charitable Foundations for Good

How the Wealthy Use Their Charitable Foundations for Good

How the Wealthy Use Their Charitable Foundations for Good

What do Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Paul Allen, Gordon Moore, and Michael Bloomberg have in common? Of course, they are all among the world’s wealthiest individuals, but these men also have something else in common. They’re all on the list of the world’s most generous people. All of them have achieved great success and huge financial wealth, but they’ve also been very generous in sharing their fortunes with others and putting that money towards good causes. While most of the world’s most generous people have used many different methods to share their wealth, in most cases they have created private charitable foundations to distribute that wealth. Let’s look at some of the top philanthropists and how they’ve shared their wealth.

Bill Gates

The chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, has reportedly given away more than $21 billion to charitable causes in his lifetime, but he’s not stopping there. Ten years ago, Buffett pledged to give away 85 percent of his remaining wealth to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, among others. He also joined with Gates in 2011 to form the Giving Pledge, which focuses on committing the richest people to donate a large portion of their money to charity.

Michael Bloomberg

The former mayor of New York City and the CEO of Bloomberg Media is said to be worth more than $37 billion. He has also donated a reported $3 billion of his wealth to charitable causes via his Bloomberg Foundation. That money has been used to target several initiatives, including many in environmental causes, education, and health care.

Paul Allen

The other half of the tandem that founded Microsoft, Allen has donated about $2 billion to several causes through his Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, which helps global health causes, such as Alzheimer’s research among other initiatives.

Mark Zuckerberg

The founder of Facebook has not yet donated as much as some of the others on the list, although the estimated $1.6 billion he’s given away is nothing to scoff at. Plus, Zuckerberg is much younger than most of the people on this list so he has a lot more time to still give his money away. And, he has already signed the Giving Pledge and plans to donate at least half his wealth during his lifetime. 

Gordon Moore

The co-founder of Intel has now turned his attention to helping the less fortunate and in doing so has donated a reported $5 billion of his personal wealth. He and his wife formed the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, which focuses on environmental conservation, advancements in science and patient care, among other things. 
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Alan Olsen, CPA

Alan Olsen, is the Host of the American Dreams Show and the Managing Partner of GROCO.com.  GROCO is a premier family office and tax advisory firm located in the San Francisco Bay area serving clients all over the world.

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