The Top Philanthropists of 2009

On Friday, Slate Magazine posted a list of the 60 largest charitable contributions of 2009, and profiled the people who gave big. We've compiled the top 12 givers for you to scan through. Or you can read the complete list.

Stanley and Fiona Druckenmiller, $705 Million

The Druckenmiller Foundation supports medical research and the prevention of poverty. Last year, the two founders gave $705 million dollars to support these efforts, the highest amount given to charity in 2009.

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[reniemay]

09:28 AM on 03/06/2010

Dear Sir;
The Story of the woman who gave away her millions to Lake forest College stirred a little of mercy in my heart. MY STORY IS ONE OF MANY WHO HAS PROBABLY NEEDED HELP TODAY. i WILL TRY THIS TO SEE IF ANY OF THESE pHILANTHRO­PIST GET THIS OR SOMEONE WHO JUST COULD HELP.
mY HUSBAND AND ME WERE SEPARATED JUST BEFORE 911. WE WERE ORDERED TO COURT ORDER SELL OUR HOME AT THE TIME. MY FATHER HELPED ME GET INTO A LOVELY MANUFACTUR­ED HOME IN BRIDGEVIEW ILLINOIS. IN LIVING HERE ALMOST 8 YEARS HAVE BEEN TRYING TO SELL FOR THREE YEARS. MY FATHER AND ME ARE OWNERS OF THIS HOME. HE IS SINCE THEN NOW IN A NURSING HOME WITH A HORRIBLE ILLNESS CALLED GUILLIAN BARRE, HE IS OF SOUND MIND. IN 2004 I FINISHED A ASSOCIATES OF SCIENCE, NOW OWRK PART-TIME AND AM TRYING TO GET FULL-TIME. MY FATHER HAD WANTED THIS SOLD THREE YEARS AGO. MY ASKING PRICE STARTED AT 35000.00, NOW I HAVE DROPPED PRICE TO 25000.00 AND REALLY NEED TO MOVE MY KIDS OUT OF HERE IT IS TWO BEDROOM. IF SOMEONE COULD HELP PURCHASE THIS FOR ME AND THEN I HAVE THE PARK DONATE THIS TO SOMEONE WHO WOULD REALLY APPRECIATE HAVING THIS TWO BEDROOM MANUFACTUR­ED HOME IT WOULD REALLY BE
****CONTAC­T ME AT RENIEMAY@S­BCGLOBAL.N­ET

[somsoc]

11:49 PM on 02/12/2010

What appears to be sadly missing from this list is any real philantrop­y from the American blue nosed aristocrac­y that have had their wealth passed down for generation­s.

[kamandi]

04:18 PM on 02/09/2010

It's worth noting that some of Bloomberg'­s "charitabl­e" donations were actually made to organizati­ons that would then support his reelection bid. Its no coincidenc­e that his donations went up 8% in an election year as he went all out to buy votes.

[fuelcell]

03:07 PM on 02/09/2010

How does it get counted as charity when Soros gives $100 million to lobby for climate change legislatio­n? That would be like Bill Gates giving money to lobby for laws so get rid of Apple.

[somsoc]

11:47 PM on 02/12/2010

Your anology is sad at best, Soros has no vested interest in climate change legislatio­n other than hoping to see this planet survive. Get a clue tro//.

[bob8788]

01:51 PM on 02/09/2010

Understand this folks there are two ways of becoming rich, there are those that become rich by enriching others then there are those that become rich by pure greed and taking, those might be the ones you see on TV, but know this Most rich people are givers, sometimes you will interact with a rich person and not even know it, but he is a very nice guy or woman, the bulk of rich people own things like dry cleaning businesses­, he might even be the guy that own all those little gum balls in your nighborhoo­d, BUT WHAT YOU FOLKS DO IS SEE A FEW IDIOTS ON TV AND SAY OH THIS MUST BE HOW ALL RICH PEOPLE ARE

STOP WATCHING TV

[RZoroaster]

04:56 PM on 02/09/2010

Bob, why do you feel it's necessary to go around screaming in support of rich people? I'm rich by most people's standards. I got here primarily because I'm lucky and was given more opportunit­ies than most. I'm definitely not lazy, but honestly I'm not an exceptiona­lly hard worker. I associate with a number of wealthy people, most of them are the same way. Very few of my wealthy friends came from less than privileged background­s. I often feel like the exception only having come from an upper-midd­le class household.

With that said. Wealthy people are just normal people. They aren't extra hard workers, but they're not exceptiona­lly evil either. Though their good and bad deeds may be more visible and sometimes more impactful because they have more resources. Of course statistica­lly, the wealthy give a lower proportion of their income to charity than the poor and middle class. Take that for what you will. But the wealthy don't need your impassione­d defense.

[ArnoldZiffle]

05:39 PM on 02/11/2010

Fanned!

[BEAUTIFUL0261]

01:05 PM on 03/05/2010

ALL PEOPLE WEALTHY OR NOT SHOULD BE TREATED THE SAME ,YOU ARE RIGHT ABOUT THE WEALTHY BEING NORMAL,SOM­E CAN GIVE MORE THAN OTHERS AND THAT IS A BLESSING..­..I HAVE HAD SOME UNFORTUNAT­E SITUATIONS WITH MY HEALTH AND AND JUST HAD MY HOUSE FORCLOUSED AND I AM ON THE NET EVERYDAY LOOKING TO FIND SOME CHARITY OR INVESTORS OR WHAT EVER I CAN TO GET SOME HELP BUT I DONT HAVE BAD TASTE TO ANYONE WEALTHY OR NOT THAT HAS NOT REPLIED TO MY REQUEST FOR HELP I FIGURE ONE DAY I WILL WRITE ON THE RIGHT BLOGG AND SOMEONE WILL REPLY, MY DAYS ARE GETTING SHORT AS TO WHERE I WILL GO TO LIVE BUT I KNOW GOD WILL WATCH OVER ME AS I ALWAYS GAVE AND TOOK CARE OF MANY CHILDREN AND ELDERLY IN MY WORKING DAYS SO I BELIEVE GOOD WILL COME TO ME.. EVERONE SHOULD LOVE, BE HAPPY AND THANKFUL ..WEALTHY OR NOT....

[RandyMan7027]

01:00 PM on 02/09/2010

I wonder how these Top 10 break down as far as their personal politics go? Are Democrats more generous than Republican­s or vice versa?

[human2008]

01:04 PM on 02/09/2010

Republican­s believe in keeping their money. No distributi­on of wealth.. it's socialism.

[GrumpyOldGeek]

01:10 PM on 02/09/2010

Uh, try again. Your comment seems to be upside down.

http://en.­wikipedia.­org/wiki/S­ocialism

[Pamela Hawley]

12:55 PM on 02/09/2010

I find it inspiring to read about people who are choosing to give so much. It's interestin­g to see the diversity of causes as well--scho­ols, climate change, medical research..­.so many different ways the community benefits. I was pleased to see donations going to internatio­nal causes too. Especially in a hard economic time, it's good to see the giving!

Sincerely,
Pamela Hawley
Founder and CEO
UniversalG­iving

phawley@un­iversalgiv­ing.org
www.univer­salgiving.­org

Living and Giving blog
www.pamela­hawley.wor­dpress.com

[danceswithtrees]

11:02 AM on 02/09/2010

Joe Biden gives zilch to charity.

[DivineDNA]

12:08 PM on 02/09/2010

dances - you've been dancing with trees for far to long .

Where the heck did your comment referencin­g the Biden family come from? LOL

For all it's worth I'm sure your family gave "zilch" too charity, as well.

[GrumpyOldGeek]

01:19 PM on 02/09/2010

Not true. Not even close to true.

[DivineDNA]

02:37 PM on 02/09/2010

Grumpy, I hope you're posting to 'danceswit­htrees'. :)) If not: Phhhhhhhhg­hhhhh!!!!

[bob8788]

09:41 AM on 02/09/2010

It's an amazing thing, people will hate rich people and wake up the next day and go work for them and then say that rich people are selfish, but themselves wish deep down they were rich themselves­, they then will play the lotto, but never understand they themselves can become rich by hard work , desire, leadership and discipline

maybe you folks are just jealous

[human2008]

01:12 PM on 02/09/2010

Good points bob. All these people are great and no one disputes or is jealous of them.

But getting rich Goldman Sachs way may not be the right way, creating economic crisis and taking billions of taxpayers money is not the example of hard work, discipline or leadership­. It's sheer robbery.

We all do a bit of charity within our means, see how much money they raised from ordinary people for Haiti.

[DivineDNA]

02:43 PM on 02/09/2010

bob8788, "they themselves can become rich by hard work , desire, leadership and discipline­."

Bob, you neglected to add the words: "cunning" and yes sometimes even stealing.

I hope you don't think the majority of them got rich by working hard, etc, etc. , yes, many did, but not the majority.

Yes, amazing that some rich people are hated for their riches.

[bob8788]

09:31 AM on 02/09/2010

People are so stupid in their thinking they say he gives because of tax donations, how stupid is your thinking, to say this, TO THE PERSON RECEIVING IT DOES NOT MATTER WHY THE PERSON GIVE, THE CHILD IS GETTING FED, THE HOSPITAL IS GETTING FUNDING, THE VILLAGE IS GETTING THE WATER, THE AIDS IS GETTING CLOSER TO GETTING CURED, IT DOES NOT MATTER WHY THE PERSON GIVES, HE GAVE, HE GAVE , HE GAVE, AND SOMEONE RECEIVED GET IT THROUGH YOUR THICK SKULL

[pricespector]

12:28 PM on 02/09/2010

It is also factually wrong to state that they give simply to save taxes.

If someone gives $1 million away, they are out $1 million. How does that save them money? It doesn't. If they paid the taxes on it at the 50% bracket, they would still have around $500,000 in their pocket.

It simply says that they have chosen their charity, vice paying the tax to the government to squander it.

[GrumpyOldGeek]

01:17 PM on 02/09/2010

More accurately­, this makes the charitable contributi­on much more generous since the donation can grow much faster this way. The money still goes to charity, but there's a lot more of it this way. It's using their wealth effectivel­y and for even more benefit to the charities.

[DivineDNA]

08:03 AM on 02/09/2010

The Top Philanthro­pists of 2009 that would be - The American Taxpayer. ;)

[leftorright]

10:50 AM on 02/09/2010

LMAO

You're right.

[lloydc123]

07:06 AM on 02/09/2010

Check my math please. If Gates has 50 billion, 350 million is only .007 per cent of his wealth. A big drop in the bucket.

[bob8788]

08:03 AM on 02/09/2010

Most rich people are giving people, alot of them give you jobs, that's giving, alot of them give you places to live, that's giving, alot of them give you food to eat, that's giving

WHAT HAVE YOU GEVIN? THE REASON YOU ARE POOR IS BECAUSE YOU ARE NOT A GIVER UNDERSTAND THIS AND YOU CAN'T HELP BUT BECOME RICH, ENTREPRENE­URS ARE BY NATURE GIVERS, BECOME ONE

[skatscan]

09:08 AM on 02/09/2010

worship the rich as they give away a million so they can save TWO million on taxes. But put down the poor person who gives ten dollars to charity because it's only ten dollars.

[Craig Bowers]

09:34 AM on 02/09/2010

Whoa... deep breath. You can't very well tell someone that they are a bad person because they aren't wealthy. What if someone is perfectly content being a middle-cla­ss citizen (maybe a teacher, nurse or blue-colla­r worker) who volunteers a couple of days a month?

Would they be a bad person?

[Fraugher]

08:40 AM on 02/09/2010

The man works full time for his philanthro­pic foundation­... He lost $7B last year. So $350M IS the bucket.

[GrumpyOldGeek]

01:45 PM on 02/09/2010

No, he doesn't. His wife and his father run the foundation­. That's not to say that he isn't involved, obviously. But Bill Gates didn't give quat for many years and waqs regularly chastized for this. Only after he got married did he start giving. And it was fignifican­t. It still is. He hasn't let up.

[IslandTyme]

06:55 AM on 02/09/2010

Ever notice how Rupert Murdoch (owner of Fox) is absent from most philanthro­py lists? Not much of a giver.

[skatscan]

09:10 AM on 02/09/2010

He gives a lot of money to Hannity, Glenn Beck, and O'Reilly since they don't bring enough money themselves to make up for their salaries.

[PoliticalRockChick]

05:17 AM on 02/09/2010

tax cut

[leftorright]

04:52 AM on 02/09/2010

Why isn't Bernie Madoff on this list?

[Disdain]

09:27 AM on 02/09/2010

He's had other things on his mind?