The issue of income inequality is taking center stage in Davos, Switzerland, this week, as government leaders, corporate executives and more than 100 billionaires including Michael Dell, George Soros and Ray Dalio meet in the ski town for the 50th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum.
Collectively, the top 25 givers have contributed $51.6 billion to nonprofits from 2014 to 2018 (the last year for which comprehensive data is available), supporting everything from criminal justice and education reform to scientific research and poverty alleviation.
Of course, one reason that the superwealthy dominate these ranks is that giving $1 billion for someone worth over $50 billion isn’t such a big deal. For that reason, we’ve also included their giving as a percentage of their net worth. On that measure, no one has been more generous than Duty Free Shoppers’ Chuck Feeney, the former billionaire who pledged to give so much away that he’d die broke and has now pretty much met that goal. He gave away $1.6 billion in the last five years, and more than $8 billion in total. On the opposite end, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan have so far given 1.2% of their net worth to nonprofits.
See below for the full list of top givers by dollars donated.
1 | Warren Buffett
Giving Focus: health, poverty alleviation
5-Year Total: $14.7 billion
Net Worth: $90 billion
2 | Bill & Melinda Gates
Giving Focus: health, poverty alleviation
5-Year Total: $9.9 billion
Net Worth: $109.6 billion
3 | George Soros
Giving Focus: economic development, human rights
5-Year Total: $3.1 billion
Net Worth: $8.3 billion
4 | Michael Bloomberg
Giving Focus: climate change, health
5-Year Total: $3 billion
Net Worth: $59.5 billion
5 | Walton Family
Giving Focus: education, environment
5-Year Total: $2.3 billion
Net Worth: $181.4 billion
6 | Jim & Marilyn Simons
Giving Focus: STEM research
5-Year Total: $1.65 billion
Net Worth: $21.6 billion
7 | Chuck Feeney
Giving Focus: science, human rights, youth
5-Year Total: $1.6 billion
Net Worth: n/a
8 | Hansjoerg Wyss
Giving Focus: environment, science
5-Year Total: $1.55 billion
Net Worth: $6.3 billion
9 | Pierre Omidyar
Giving Focus: poverty alleviation, human rights, disaster relief, education
5-Year Total: $1.4 billion
Net Worth: $13.3 billion
10 | Gordon & Betty Moore
Giving Focus: science, environment, education
5-Year Total: $1.4 billion
Net Worth: $11.8 billion
11 | John & Laura Arnold
Giving Focus: education, criminal justice, health
5-Year Total: $1.2 billion
Net Worth: $3.3 billion
12 | Mark Zuckerberg & Priscilla Chan
Giving Focus: science, education, criminal justice
5-Year Total: $1 billion
Net Worth: $81.8 billion
13 | Julian Robertson Jr.
Giving Focus: environment, education, medical research
5-Year Total: $881 million
Net Worth: $4.4 billion
14 | Eli & Edythe Broad
Giving Focus: education, arts, science
5-Year Total: $816 million
Net Worth: $6.8 billion
15 | Charles Koch
Giving Focus: education
5-Year Total: $797 million
Net Worth: $42.8 billion
16 | Paul Allen
Giving Focus: conservation, science
5-Year Total: $720 million
Net Worth: $20.3 billion
17 | Lynn & Stacy Schusterman
Giving Focus: education, Jewish causes
5-Year Total: $713 million
Net Worth: $3.4 billion
18 | Dustin Moskovitz & Cari Tuna
Giving Focus: health, science, criminal justice
5-Year Total: $705 million
Net Worth: $13.5 billion
19 | Ken Griffin
Giving Focus: education, arts, science
5-Year Total: $620 million
Net Worth: $13.1 billion
20 | Michael & Susan Dell
Giving Focus: poverty alleviation, education
5-Year Total: $614 million
Net Worth: $31.5 billion
21 | Bernard & Billi Marcus
Giving Focus: health, science, veterans
5-Year Total: $588 million
Net Worth: $6.4 billion
22 | Ray & Barbara Dalio
Giving Focus: education, environment, health
5-Year Total: $576 million
Net Worth: $18.7 billion
23 | W. Barron Hilton
Giving Focus: Catholic Sisters, disaster relief, foster youth
5-Year Total: $545 million
Net Worth: n/a
24 | Phil Knight
Giving Focus: education
5-Year Total: $533 million
Net Worth: $41 billion
25 | DeVos Family
Giving Focus: education, arts, health
5-Year Total: $529 million
Net Worth: n/a
