topic Re: Top Five charity donors in U.S. in Community Chat

Top Five charity donors in U.S.

novamc1 — Wed, 10 Feb 2021 18:31:21 GMT

From The Chronicle of Philanthropy-- annual ranking of the 50 Americans who gave the most to charity last year.

Jeff Bezos---Amazon Founder, $10.2 billion

MacKensie Scott--Author and wife of Jeff Bezos, $5.2 billion

Michael Bloomberg--founder of Bloomberg financial news company, $1.6 billion

Philip & Penelope Knight--NIKE co-founder and wife, $1.4 billion

Jack Dorsey--co-founder of Twitter and Square $1.1 billion

also on the list:

Arthur Blank--Home Depot co-founder, Atlanta Falcons & Atlanta United owner, $65.7 million

Joseph Gebbia, Jr.--Airbnb co-founder and Atlanta native, $27 million.

Re: Top Five charity donors in U.S.

ThinkingOutLoud — Wed, 10 Feb 2021 19:45:59 GMT

Percentage of income donated is more telling/revealing than dollar amount. I also care more about what organizations were the receivers as some can be questionable.

Re: Top Five charity donors in U.S.

Love my grandkids — Wed, 10 Feb 2021 19:49:29 GMT

@novamc1 Bezos and Scott divorced in 2019. She was his ex wife in 2020.

I agree that percentage given is more important than the dollar amount.

Re: Top Five charity donors in U.S.

novamc1 — Wed, 10 Feb 2021 19:51:01 GMT

My parents always taught me to "never look a gift horse in the mouth."

If someone hands you money, do you need to ask how much money they are keeping for themselves and NOT giving to you???

Good grief, so much for gratitude.....

Re: Top Five charity donors in U.S.

ThinkingOutLoud — Wed, 10 Feb 2021 19:50:48 GMT

@novamc1 wrote:
My parents always taught me "never look a gift horse in the mouth."

If someone hands you money, do you need to ask how much money they are keeping for themselves and NOT giving to you???

Good grief.

Not the point.

Re: Top Five charity donors in U.S.

Porcelain — Wed, 10 Feb 2021 20:00:04 GMT

@novamc1 wrote:
My parents always taught me to "never look a gift horse in the mouth."

If someone hands you money, do you need to ask how much money they are keeping for themselves and NOT giving to you???

Good grief, so much for gratitude.....

None of these people are giving money to me.

I think it's great that they are giving back to the society that enabled them to amass their billions. Pure common sense. They want a nice secure place to live and enjoy their wealth. If the US went to pot with too much disease and people living in poverty and lack of innovation, where would the billionaires move to?Best to keep the US amazing and livable. If these folks didn't give back, they would be the ungrateful ones.

Re: Top Five charity donors in U.S.

Anonymous032819 — Wed, 10 Feb 2021 20:03:58 GMT

People *itch if the super wealthy don't donate, and they *itch when they do.

I think people resent that they have so much money.

Re: Top Five charity donors in U.S.

novamc1 — Wed, 10 Feb 2021 20:11:57 GMT

I'm beginning to regret posting this info, which appeared in today's Atlanta metro newspaper.

Didn't know it was going to ignite such judgmental and negative commentary.

What people do with their money, how much money they have, and for what other purposes they might want or need to use that money, is not my business and may not even be known to anyone else except their tax accountants.

Re: Top Five charity donors in U.S.

CelticCrafter — Wed, 10 Feb 2021 20:24:35 GMT

I don't know why they have to make it known to the world how much they have given.

In my opinion it's boastful, look at me, look at what I did.

Re: Top Five charity donors in U.S.

MoonieBaby — Wed, 10 Feb 2021 20:27:50 GMT

I 100% agree with every word $tated by @ThinkingOutLoud .

Ditto Kiddo!

Re: Top Five charity donors in U.S.

Porcelain — Wed, 10 Feb 2021 20:40:23 GMT

I'm noticing Elon Musk is not on that list and supposedly he is the richest.

How selfish! Sure, he has a right to be selfish and miserly with his money and I have a right to call it out and he has a right to not care what I think about him. He has freedom of speech with his words and his money. And so do I.

Re: Top Five charity donors in U.S.

novamc1 — Wed, 10 Feb 2021 22:04:04 GMT

@CelticCrafter

Charities and other nonprofit organizations constantly publish lists of their donors and even list them in certain categories depending on donation size.

Have you taken a look at a university alumni magazine lately and seen the list of "legacy" and current donors, grouped by amount given?

Even the sources of political campaign contributions are public information.

Do not assume the wealthy are publicity-seekers. If anything, they probably would prefer to have their businesses that produce the money be the focus of any publicity.

Plus, businesses, not just their owners or founders, make plenty of corporate charitable donations.

Re: Top Five charity donors in U.S.

Tinkrbl44 — Thu, 11 Feb 2021 18:18:40 GMT

@novamc1 wrote:
My parents always taught me to "never look a gift horse in the mouth."

If someone hands you money, do you need to ask how much money they are keeping for themselves and NOT giving to you???

Good grief, so much for gratitude.....

@novamc1

I am also surprised that some people think percentage is any of their business. Who gets to decide what percentage is appropriate? How do people come up with this crazy stuff, anyway?

Personally, call me old fashioned, but I think ANYONE donating large sums of money to charities is a good thing. Period.

Re: Top Five charity donors in U.S.

Anonymous032819 — Wed, 10 Feb 2021 21:35:02 GMT

@Tinkrbl44 wrote:
@novamc1 wrote:
My parents always taught me to "never look a gift horse in the mouth."

If someone hands you money, do you need to ask how much money they are keeping for themselves and NOT giving to you???

Good grief, so much for gratitude.....

@novamc1

I am also surprised that some people think percentage is any of their business. Who gets to decide what percentage is appropriate? How do people come up with this crazy stuff, anyway?

Personally, call me old fashioned, but I think ANYONE donating large sums of money to charities is a good thing. Period.

@Tinkrbl44

You got that right.

Even if the wealthy were to donate 95% of their wealth to charities, people would still bad-mouth them.

They resent the wealthy for being so wealthy.

Re: Top Five charity donors in U.S.

Tinkrbl44 — Wed, 10 Feb 2021 21:27:26 GMT

@CelticCrafter wrote:
I don't know why they have to make it known to the world how much they have given.

In my opinion it's boastful, look at me, look at what I did.

@CelticCrafter

A lot of this is public information, and people are not being "boastful". Yes, some people sometimes donate anonymously, but, hey, with all the criticism directed at the one percent, when a charity publicly thanks someone for a large donation, so what? Lots of people benefit ... and isn't that the most important thing?

Re: Top Five charity donors in U.S.

Mominohio — Wed, 10 Feb 2021 21:29:42 GMT

@Porcelain wrote:
I'm noticing Elon Musk is not on that list and supposedly he is the richest.

How selfish! Sure, he has a right to be selfish and miserly with his money and I have a right to call it out and he has a right to not care what I think about him. He has freedom of speech with his words and his money. And so do I.

Just because he isn't on the list says absolutely nothing about how much he does or doesn't give.

Has no one learned this year, that what is reported can't be fully trusted. It can be slanted on a number of levels, and just plain omitting of much information.

I won't assume that because he isn't included on this list, he isn't giving as much or more than many that are listed. I'll assume that there is a possibility the list COULD BE incomplete or incorrect and based on the agenda of whoever compiled it.

Re: Top Five charity donors in U.S.

colliemom4 — Wed, 10 Feb 2021 21:30:16 GMT

I've read that Elon Musk has a foundation that has donated billions to over 150 charities.

Re: Top Five charity donors in U.S.

novamc1 — Wed, 10 Feb 2021 21:48:59 GMT

If anyone wants to find the Chronical of Philanthropy info online, they can read about how the data was collected, as well as the names and donation amounts by other wealthy individuals who were named among the "top 50" donors for the year.

Also available are the causes to which they donated.

This story has been carried by more than one or two news outlets, so it should be easy to find if anyone bothers to look.

So stop griping about the wealthy and start learning more about where their money goes.

Re: Top Five charity donors in U.S.

Tinkrbl44 — Wed, 10 Feb 2021 21:41:52 GMT

@Porcelain wrote:
I'm noticing Elon Musk is not on that list and supposedly he is the richest.

How selfish! Sure, he has a right to be selfish and miserly with his money and I have a right to call it out and he has a right to not care what I think about him. He has freedom of speech with his words and his money. And so do I.

@Porcelain

Well, it would be nice if you actually knew what you are talking about. Just because his name isn't on a list doesn't mean he doesn't donate. Actually, he created a FOUNDATION that donates tons of money. Look it up.

Here's a small excerpt from an article about his foundations' donations:

"His foundation’s website might be sparse, but his charitable donations are anything but. Neither is the

list of where he contributes to, whether it’s trees, water filters, education, or sustainable energy, Musk has no problem letting go of his money to help others."

But please don't take that at face value, google his donations and learn something. But, oh yeah, it's just easier to criticize and call him out as being "selfish" ... right? smh

Re: Top Five charity donors in U.S.

Porcelain — Wed, 10 Feb 2021 21:41:31 GMT

@Mominohio wrote:
@Porcelain wrote:
I'm noticing Elon Musk is not on that list and supposedly he is the richest.

How selfish! Sure, he has a right to be selfish and miserly with his money and I have a right to call it out and he has a right to not care what I think about him. He has freedom of speech with his words and his money. And so do I.

Just because he isn't on the list says absolutely nothing about how much he does or doesn't give.

Has no one learned this year, that what is reported can't be fully trusted. It can be slanted on a number of levels, and just plain omitting of much information.

I won't assume that because he isn't included on this list, he isn't giving as much or more than many that are listed. I'll assume that there is a possibility the list COULD BE incomplete or incorrect and based on the agenda of whoever compiled it.

I'm just talking about the list in the original post. There's another thread about friend Elon being the richest person in America. So...you link up the two threads and there's a mismatch.

These people's spending is very much our business. They are affecting our lives in many ways with their business practices and where they spend their money. They fund organizations that affect every aspect of our lives. We can critique any of it as much as we like. They are in the public eye. Comes with the job. No such thing in America as power without responsibility and accountability. We don't have oligarchs here, nor should we.

I like having plenty of money, but I'm not jealous of these folks at all. I would not trade places with them in a million years. I would not want such a circumscribed life and to be so well known for having money. As it is, no one wants to kidnap me and I can go places without bodyguards. Not so for them.