Tornado Alley (PROG)

[fuagf]

Why would they, they get away with taking much more than they give. Just like Trump and Netanyahu.

Of course (always be careful using generalization), some billionaires give more back to America than others:

America’s most generous philanthropists 2025
By Forbes Wealth Team
Published on February 4, 2025
[...]
Of course, some are more generous than others. For the fifth year in a row, Warren Buffett tops the list in terms of total giving at $62 billion over his lifetime, or 30% of his fortune. He also gave away more in the past year than anyone else, a total of $5.3 billion. As he has since 2006, Buffet donates billions of dollars annually in the form of Berkshire Hathaway stock to the Gates Foundation and to foundations run by his three children. We then give Buffett credit for some of the Gates Foundation giving and all of what his family members’ foundations give away in grants. Buffett, now 94, shocked many in the philanthropy world in June when he told the Wall Street Journal that when he dies, he will not be giving any of his Berkshire Hathaway stock to the Gates Foundation. Instead, he will leave the shares–currently worth about $145 billion–to a charitable foundation that his three children will run.

While Buffett is number one as measured by total giving, George Soros has given away a larger percentage of his net worth than anyone else on this list: 76% so far. A significant amount of his Open Society Foundations’ work over the years has gone to support democracy in places like Central and Eastern Europe. More recently his U.S. foundation has supported children’s education in Afghanistan.

Another notable donor is MacKenzie Scott. Last year Scott gave away more than $2.6 billion to a wide array of groups, further demonstrating her commitment to give “until the safe is empty,” as she wrote in a 2019 essay. In six years the novelist and former wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has made $19.25 billion in unrestricted gifts to more than 2,450 organizations ranging from Big Brothers Big Sisters Hawaii to Legal Aid DC. She’s given away more money at a faster pace over that time than everyone on this list except Warren Buffett, Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates (who have had a staff of 2,000 at the Gates Foundation to facilitate their grantmaking).

Scott’s ex-husband–now the world’s second richest person, worth an estimated $250 billion–moves up one slot to number nine among top philanthropists, having given away $4.1 billion to climate, housing and education causes. While that is admirable, Bezos also takes the prize for the smallest percentage of his wealth given away of any of the top 25–just 1.6%. Of course, the world’s richest person, Elon Musk–now worth $420 billion–doesn’t even qualify for this ranking. Forbes estimates Musk’s out-the-door lifetime giving through 2023 at about $620 million, far short of the minimum $1.9 billion in giving needed to qualify for this list.

Insert: That's the prick who says his DOGE was meant to cut the bureaucracy
to restore democracy in America, 'o return America to the American people.'

One newcomer who climbed into the ranks this year is Netflix cofounder and chairman Reed Hastings. He has dramatically stepped up gifts of his Netflix stock lately to his very active donor-advised fund–though he’s closed-mouthed about the recipients of his more recent generosity.

The importance of philanthropy became clear three days after Donald Trump took office and promptly withdrew from the Paris Agreement international climate accord, with billionaire Mike Bloomberg saying he and other climate funders would fill the void (possibly a $15 million commitment). That’s a pittance for Bloomberg, who gave away more than $3 billion just last year and $21.1 billion in his lifetime, but it will have an enormous impact on America’s ability to stay a part of the critical accord.

https://www.forbes.com.au/news/billionaires/americas-most-generous-philanthropists-2025/