Forbes’ Most Generous Billionaires

While 2009 has been a challenging year even for the savviest of financial whizzes, nonprofit organizations take perhaps one of the hardest hits during  stressed economic times. Reports of reduced spending have plagued us throughout the year, with Americans cutting back on everything from summer vacations to charitable giving.

Fortunately, our world is not only full of 739 billionaires, according to Forbes, but 14 of whom have given away at least $1 billion throughout their lifetime in nonprofit gifts. Many expected names show up on Forbes’ list of “Billion-Dollar Donors” such as Bill Gates, George Soros, Warren Buffet, and Ted Turner. The complete list of billionaires who Forbes identifies as “the most generous people on the planet” is as follows:

1. Bill Gates, $28 billion donated.
2. George Soros, $7.2 billion
3. Gordon Moore, $6.8 billion.
4. Warren Buffett, $6.7 billion.
5. Eli Broad, $2 billion.
6. James Stowers, $1.9 billion.
7. Herbert and Marion Sandler, $1.5 billion.
8. Michael Bloomberg, $1.5 billion
9. Li Ka-shing, $1.37 billion
10. Dietmar Hopp, $1.25 billion
11. Michael Dell $1.2 billion
12. Klaus Tschira, $1.1 billion
13. Stephen Schmidheiny $1 billion
14. Ted Turner, $1 billion

Via Wall Street Journal