Short Bytes: This is a list of entrepreneurs who won’t let their children inherit their entire property. They would rather donate most of their hard earned money for noble causes for the sake of the well-being of the society and environment.
While most of us would be under the impression that children of the famous billionaires of the world would inherit a huge fortune to themselves, here’s the list of a famous people and couple people who have donated most of their money for the charitable causes.
These men and women have not only made it big by their sheer hard work and dedication but also contributed in making this world a better place.
1. Bill Gates:
Bill Gates is known for philanthropy. His past donations are a proof of how much is he in serving humanity than leaving behind billions for their children. Currently, Bill Gates is the master of around 85 billion dollars but he thinks that it is not a good idea to leave behind so much money for their children. From his past donations, it’s almost evident that Bill Gates is going to donate more money to his foundation called ‘Bill and Melinda Gates foundation’.
Gates said: “I definitely think leaving kids massive amounts of money is not a favor to them.”
2. Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg:
Just like Bill and Melinda Gates foundation, Zuckerberg is also planning to open an initiative called Chan-Zuckerberg initiative. This initiative was announced after the birth of their daughter in December last year. Through this foundation, they want to serve humanity by promoting equality, accessibility to educational resources to unprivileged children, curing disease etc. Mark Zuckerberg‘s net worth is around 47 billion Dollars.
3. AOL co-founder Steve Case
Case began case foundation in 1997 by Steve Case the founder of AOL. Case initiative is not just focussed on donations rather it’s focussed more on how to make philanthropy more effective using technology. Like Zuckerberg, he has also signed the giving pledge and he is more interested in startups outside the Silicon valley through an investment firm called the revolution.
4. Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff
Through his recently launched campaign called SF Gives, Benioff was able to raise $10 million for San Francisco-based nonprofit programmes in just 60 days. Apart from raising funds for philanthropy, he has also asked other corporations to follow his 1/1/1 model, which says that a company should donate 1% of its equity, 1% of its employees’ time, and 1% of its resources to philanthropic efforts.
5. Qualcomm co-founder Irwin Jacobs
Irvin Jacobs is more into donating money for educational purposes. Jacobs has donated around $500 million to charitable causes that include the Cornell Tech Roosevelt Island campus, MIT fellowships, and the San Diego Symphony. Like Mark Zuckerberg and Steve Case, he has also signed the giving pledge promising to give away at least half of the billions he made with Qualcomm.
Omidyar and his wife Pam signed the giving pledge in 2010. 12 years after eBay went public. They have already donated more than a billion dollars towards philanthropy since eBay became public.
“In 2001, I publicly stated that we intend to give away the vast majority of our wealth during our lifetime, our view is fairly simple. We have more money than our family will ever need. There’s no need. to hold onto it when it can be put to use today, to help solve some of the world’s most intractable problems.”
– The couple say in the Pledge letter.
They are most widely known for their humanity work against Human trafficking.
7. Intel co-founder Gordon Moore:
Gordon Moore famous for Moore foundation has already donated half of his wealth towards his foundation. Besides donations, he has also given away more than $1 billion to the charitable causes. His cause towards philanthropy is also as unique as of Omidyar. His foundation works more towards environmental conservation, health measures etc. He has given billions of Dollars in charity and He also signed Giving pledge along with his wife in 2012. After signing the pledge, they said:
“We are pleased to be a part of the Giving Pledge not only because we are able to commit these funds, but because we believe they can lead to real learning and measurable change.”
8 .Tesla CEO Elon Musk:
Elon Musk has already created history by venturing into the field of space technology and electric cars. Even after having five children, he’s already donated much of his $12.9 billion fortune to renewable energy, science and engineering education, and pediatric health. Elon Musk is a big donor towards technologies which are going to benefit humanity like renewable energy sources, science, and engineering etc. He receives only $1 a year for his work with Tesla.
9. Spanx CEO Sara Blakely:
Sara is the first woman to sign the Giving Pledge in 2013. Her Pledge letter read:
“I am committed to the belief that we would all be in a much better place if half the human race (women) were empowered to prosper, invent, be educated, start their own businesses, run for office – essentially be given the chance to soar!”
10. Oracle founder Larry Ellison:
Oracle founder Ellison committed to giving away 95 percent of his wealth to charitable causes, especially to his medical foundation.
His letter to the Giving Pledge read:
“Warren Buffett personally asked me to write this letter because he said I would be ‘setting an example’ and ‘influencing others’ to give. I hope he’s right.”
Short Bytes: This is a list of entrepreneurs who won’t let their children inherit their entire property. They would rather donate most of their hard earned money for noble causes for the sake of the well-being of the society and environment.
