Can You Guess How Much Billionaires Contribute To Charitable Causes? It's Less Than You Think

There's certainly no shortage of billionaires today, with Forbes revealing that there are 2,781 billionaires in the world in 2024. But while there are more billionaires worldwide, they're also much more stingy. Here are some surprising facts about how much some of the wealthiest billionaires give away to charity. 

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Forbes has revealed its list of the stingiest billionaires, and the names might shock you. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk are currently running for the title of World's Stingiest Billionaire. Bezos and Musk are worth big bucks and are known for their ongoing feud. The latest fight between the two billionaires is the space race between Bezos's Blue Origin and Musk's SpaceX. But now, these billionaires are fighting for another title, one they don't even know they're competing in. 

Despite the surging of the stock market post-COVID-19 pandemic, Forbes has discovered that the wealthy have slowed down on their charitable giving, especially Musk and Bezos. To summarize their findings, the clever folks at Forbes have categorized their findings into five tiers of charitable giving: less than 1%, between 1% and 5%, between 5% and 10%, between 10% and 20%, and 20% or higher. Bezos and Musk are in the 1% tier, meaning they have only donated about 1% of their wealth to charity. So Musk, who is worth $195 billion and Bezos, who is worth $194 billion, are some of the world's wealthiest and stingiest people. This ranking has not included any private foundations or donor-advised funds. 

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Business Insider reported that earlier in the year, Bezos did make a generous donation of $400 million in gifts to Van Jones, the Smithsonian and Jose Andres. He also pledged a further $865 million to fight climate change, just a tiny fraction of the $22 billion he made in a year. Forbes explained that if the median American household donated $1,200 to charity throughout their life span, this would still be more generous than Bezos and Musk. 

Musk has always had a rocky relationship with donating his money to charitable causes. For example, the New York Times analyzed the billionaire Musk Foundation's record of donations and failed to find anything to justify the tax breaks gained from the foundation. CNN Business reported that the analysis revealed that the foundation is "haphazard and largely self-serving," and has "failed in recent years to give away the bare minimum required by law."   

So what about the billionaires who donate a good portion of their wealth? While Musk and Bezos may be particularly stringent in sharing their money, others like Bill Gates and George Soros are known to be some of the most generous donors. Fox News reported on Forbes’ list of the most generous billionaires, and Warren Buffett, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, holds the title of being the most generous. Buffett, with a net worth of $133 billion, focuses on charities dealing with health and poverty alleviation. So far, the billionaire has given away $56.7 billion within his lifetime. In second place is Bill Gates and his Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which has a total donation of $42.5 billion. George Soros, a hedge fund founder, has a lifetime donation amount of $21 billion, more than his net worth of $6.7 billion. When you compare these figures with two of the world's wealthiest men, it's clear that Musk and Bezos have some serious catching up to do.     

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