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I<\/abbr>n a year when both the U.S. stock market and billionaire fortunes tumbled, charitable donations by the country\u2019s most generous philanthropists moved in the opposite direction. The nation\u2019s 25 biggest givers have donated $196 billion over their lifetimes through the end of 2022, according to Forbes\u2019<\/em> estimates. That\u2019s up from $169 billion a year ago, mostly due to ongoing giving by these big donors and some new information. The $27 billion jump in giving in the past year actually outpaced the $20 billion gain we measured in the two prior years, and was more than double the sum the top 25 gave away in 2018.<\/p>\n The increase in giving comes at a time when fortunes have fallen. These 25 philanthropists are together worth $936 billion\u2014$164 billion less than a year ago, a 15% drop. Seventeen of them have signed The Giving Pledge, promising to donate at least half their fortune during their lifetime or after they pass away. Most of them have a long way to go before meeting that goal. Three who have met it: Chuck Feeney, T. Denny Sanford and George Soros.<\/p>\n Warren Buffett tops the list of givers yet again, as measured by total amount given away. He\u2019s been handing over billions of dollars worth of Berkshire Hathaway stock annually for 17 years\u2013and continued that tradition last June. We estimate that Buffett gave away $5.4 billion in 2022 and $51.5 billion in his lifetime ; the latter sum is nearly $13 billion more than that of Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates. Bill gave $20 billion to the Gates Foundation in July 2022\u2013far more than Buffett\u2019s $3.1 billion gift of stock to the foundation last year. However, for this list, Forbes<\/em> counts the contributions paid out by those foundations, rather than gifts made to them.<\/p>\n Two newcomers joined the list of top 25 givers this year: Google cofounder Sergey Brin and hedge fund magnate <\/strong>Ken Griffin, who have given away $2.55 billion and $1.56 billion, respectively. In December, Forbes<\/em> learned that Brin had quietly donated $1.1 billion to date toward Parkinson\u2019s research, making him the largest individual donor to that disease and one of just a few people alive who\u2019ve put more than $1 billion toward a specific disease. Brin also donates to climate change and sustainability, including to a nonprofit launched in late 2021 called Climate Imperative, and to poverty alleviation and economic mobility. Griffin, who made a $150 million pledge to Harvard in 2014 for financial aid, has ramped up his giving in recent years, including donating $130 million to 40 nonprofit groups in Chicago in June, the same month he announced he was moving to Miami. These two newcomers replace Julian Robertson Jr., who died in August 2022, and Leonard Lauder, who fell short.<\/p>\n MacKenzie Scott<\/strong>, the novelist and former wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, has continued to give money to a large number of groups at an astonishingly rapid pace. In 2022 she announced that she\u2019d donated $5.8 billion to about 800 nonprofits over 17 months beginning in June 2021. In less than three years she\u2019s given away a total of $14.43 billion\u2013more than anyone except Buffett, Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates and George Soros\u2013all of whom have been at it for 15 or 20 years or more. In December, Scott published all the grants she\u2019s made so far on a searchable website called Yield Giving.<\/p>\n Scott is part of a trend among billionaire philanthropists working to be more transparent about their charitable giving. Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan\u2019s Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Steve and Connie Ballmer\u2019s Ballmer Group, George Soros\u2019 Open Society Network, Pierre and Pam Omidyar\u2019s Omidyar Network, Laura and John Arnold\u2019s Arnold Ventures and the Gates Foundation publish some or all of their grants online\u2013though the listings aren\u2019t always promptly updated with the most recent year\u2019s grants. Some of them provide details on the area of giving and the grant period of the gift.<\/p>\n Our estimates factor in the total lifetime giving of Americans, measured in dollars given to charitable recipients\u2014in other words, we are not including money parked in a foundation that has yet to do any good. To that end, we also do not include gifts that have been pledged but not yet paid out, or money given to donor-advised funds\u2014opaque, tax-advantaged accounts that have neither disclosure nor distribution requirements\u2014unless the giver shared details about the grants that were actually paid by such entities. This is a list of individuals and couples who are U.S. citizens; as a result, we excluded extended families like the Waltons, controlling shareholders of Walmart, and big givers like Hansjoerg Wyss, who lives in the U.S. but is a Swiss citizen. We also don\u2019t list deceased individuals. Net worths are as of January 19, 2023.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s the full list of America\u2019s 25 most generous givers:\n<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Tmothy Archibald for Forbes<\/small><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n In 2006, the legendary investor<\/a> pledged to give away nearly all of his fortune. Some 17 years\u2013and more than $50 billion\u2013later, he\u2019s likely the biggest philanthropist of all time. Much of Buffett\u2019s money has gone to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, where his Giving Pledge cofounders<\/a> have put it to use on poverty and healthcare initiatives in developing countries and education in America. Billions have also gone to four charities set up by his three children and his late wife, including $760 million just before Thanksgiving last November. \u201cI\u2019ve got a personal pride in how my kids turned out,\u201d Buffett told CNBC<\/a> after giving the four Buffett family foundations an extra three quarters of a billion. \u201cI feel good about the fact that they know I feel good about them. This is the ultimate endorsement in my kids, and it\u2019s the ultimate statement that my kids don\u2019t want to be dynastically wealthy.\u201d<\/p>\n Elaine Thompson\/AP<\/small><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Despite their 2021 divorce, Bill and Melinda continue to co-chair the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the world\u2019s largest private charitable foundation and the primary vehicle for their philanthropic giving. As we did last year, Forbes<\/em> is counting the former couple\u2019s donations as a combined number. Last July, Bill told Forbes<\/em><\/a> that the Gates Foundation plans to increase its grant making by 50% to $9 billion annually by 2026. To assist with that goal, that same month he donated $20 billion to the foundation; in early January, the foundation said it was increasing its 2023 budget to $8.3 billion, its largest ever. Meanwhile, Melinda is also branching out on her own. In 2019, she committed to donate $1 billion over a decade, via her company Pivotal Ventures, toward gender equality.<\/p>\n Jasper Juinen\/Bloomberg<\/small><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Soros\u2019 Open Society Foundations, active in 120 countries, support human rights, justice reform, democratic governance and more. In March 2022, the group gave $25 million to create the Ukraine Democracy Fund to support civil society in Ukraine, a month after Russia launched a war against the country; it raised an additional $20 million for the fund from other donors. Last February, Open Society awarded 16 individuals working toward racial justice and equality in the Black community in the U.S., the group\u2019s first Justice Rising awards. Soros has not made public its total 2022 grants.<\/p>\n Toni Anne Barson\/Getty Images<\/small><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n In December, Scott delivered on her promise to detail all the grants she\u2019s made so far on a website called Yield Giving; it lists the 1,600 groups to which she\u2019s donated in the past three years. On the site she explains that Yield was \u201cestablished to share a financial fortune created through the effort of many people,\u201d adding that it \u201cis named after a belief in adding value by giving up control.\u201d Scott, who was previously married to Jeff Bezos, got a 4% stake in Amazon in their divorce settlement in 2019. In 2022, she announced that she\u2019d donated $5.82 billion over 17 months starting in June 2021, including $436 million to homebuilding group Habitat for Humanity last March.<\/p>\n Michael Prince for Forbes<\/small><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n In April, the former New York City mayor announced gifts totaling $200 million to two charter schools<\/a> in his home city as part of a $750 million, five-year national effort<\/a> announced in December 2021. A month later, Bloomberg committed $242 million to accelerate clean energy transition in developing countries. Then from July to September he pledged $115 million to heart disease non-profit Resolve to Save Lives, $204 million for ocean protection, and $85 million to block construction of more than 120 new petrochemical projects. According to Bloomberg Philanthropies, he has committed the vast majority of his profits from Bloomberg L.P. which he cofounded in 1981, to philanthropy<\/a>, doling out $1.7 billion in 2022 across five key areas: the arts, education, environment, government innovation and public health.<\/p>\n David Cantwell for Forbes<\/small><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Feeney, a former billionaire and cofounder of Duty Free Shoppers, has practically given away all of his fortune in an effort to die broke. He began by donating parts of his fortune anonymously, but later went public with his donations, influencing the Gateses and Buffett to create The Giving Pledge in 2010. Feeney and his wife Helga shut down the Atlantic Philanthropies foundation in 2020 after it gave away all its assets.<\/p>\n Courtesy Of Gordon & Betty Moore Foundation<\/small><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n The cofounder and former CEO of semiconductor firm Intel and his wife launched their foundation in 2000, funding it with gifts of Intel stock. In June, the Moore foundation joined 10 other private funders\u2013including Bezos Earth Fund and Bloomberg Philanthropies\u2013in the Protecting Our Planet Challenge, a $5 billion pledge to protect 30% of the most important areas of the planet by 2030\u2013including biodiverse land and oceans.<\/p>\n Forbes<\/small><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Simons, founder of quantitative hedge fund Renaissance Technologies, has given billions towards math education and basic science research through the New York City-based Simons Foundation, which he and his wife Marilyn founded in 1994. In May 2022, the couple pledged $56.6 million to Stony Brook University\u2013where Simons formerly worked as a math professor \u2013to support STEM students from underrepresented backgrounds. SPARK, a Simons Foundation autism research initiative launched in 2016, is now the largest study of autism to date, with the participation of 100,000 people with autism and 175,000 of their family members; the goal is to understand what causes the neurodevelopmental condition.<\/p>\n Jeff Chiu\/AP<\/small><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n The Facebook (now Meta) CEO and his wife have done their giving since 2015 through the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, known as CZI, which is funding research to eradicate all disease, improve education and address community needs. CZI donated $100 million in 2022 to launch the Kempner Institute for the Study of Natural and Artificial Intelligence at Harvard University, named in honor of Zuckerberg\u2019s mother, Karen Kempner Zuckerberg, and her parents. In September 2022, CZI announced a five year, $46 million pledge to advance genomics research at the U.S.\u2019s four historically Black medical colleges\u2013Charles Drew University College of Medicine, Howard University School of Medicine, Meharry Medical College and Morehouse School of Medicine.<\/p>\n Andrew Harrer\/Bloomberg<\/small><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n In April 2022, the Nike cofounder and his wife Penny promised Stanford University $75 million to launch The Phil & Penny Knight Initiative for Brain Resilience, a multidisciplinary effort to study the causes of cognitive decline. That\u2019s on top of previous pledges of more than $2.5 billion to three universities: the University of Oregon, where Phil Knight ran track; Oregon Health & Science University, and Stanford, where Phil got his MBA.<\/p>\n Ryan Miller\/Getty Images<\/small><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Edythe is carrying on the charitable giving she did with her late husband Eli\u2013the homebuilding and insurance billionaire who died in 2021. She donates to a host of Los Angeles nonprofits, including the Partnership for Los Angeles Schools, which supports public schools in marginalized communities. The Broad Art Foundation funds The Broad, a contemporary art museum in downtown Los Angeles with free admission to its general collection. In 2004 the couple gave an initial $100 million to create The Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, which evolved from collaborations on scientific research between the two universities; to date the couple has committed $1 billion in funding to the institute to enable its biomedical research.<\/p>\n Michael Prince for Forbes<\/small><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n The Amazon founder and executive chairman gave away $690 million in 2022, including nearly $280 million in grants dispensed by the Bezos Earth Fund, a $10 billion, decade-long commitment that Bezos announced in February 2020 with the goal of driving climate solutions; in November, the Earth Fund committed $50 million to African forest restoration. He gave $115 million to Bezos Academies, tuition-free preschools for low-income families. The Bezos Day 1 Families Fund awarded $123 million in 2022 to 40 groups in 26 states and Puerto Rico that are helping homeless families get shelter and services.<\/p>\n ERIC FEFERBERG\/Getty Images<\/small><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n The Ballmers doubled their giving in 2022 to $850 million, up from $420 million in 2021. In March 2022, the former Microsoft CEO and his wife pledged $425 million in a multi-year gift to the University of Oregon to create The Ballmer Institute for Children\u2019s Behavioral Health, which is uniting the university\u2019s programs in psychology and education with Portland, Oregon public schools; he goal is to achieve early detection and prevention of mental health disorders in children and adolescents. The Ballmers announced in October that their son Sam Ballmer is leading their climate change giving, which includes a $50 million grant over five years to the ClimateWorks Foundation\u2019s Drive Electric campaign, working to reach 100% zero-emission road transportation by 2050.<\/p>\n Arturo Holmes\/Getty Images<\/small><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/h4>\n
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<\/h4>\n
Warren Buffett <\/strong><\/h2>\n
Source of wealth: <\/strong>Berkshire Hathaway<\/h4>\n
Net worth: <\/strong>$106 billion<\/h4>\n
Giving focus: <\/strong>Health, poverty alleviation<\/h4>\n
Lifetime giving: <\/strong>$51.5 billion<\/h4>\n
Change vs year ago: <\/strong>+ $5.4 billion<\/h4>\n
\nBill Gates & Melinda French Gates <\/strong><\/h2>\n
Source of wealth: <\/strong>Microsoft, investments<\/h4>\n
Net worth:<\/strong> $102 billion, $6.6 billion<\/h4>\n
Giving focus:<\/strong> Health, poverty alleviation<\/h4>\n
Lifetime giving: <\/strong>$38.4 billion<\/h4>\n
Change vs a year ago: <\/strong>+ $5 billion<\/h4>\n
\nGeorge Soros<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Source of wealth:<\/strong> Hedge funds<\/h4>\n
Net worth: <\/strong>$6.7 billion<\/h4>\n
Giving focus:<\/strong> Democracy, education, human rights<\/h4>\n
Lifetime giving:<\/strong> $18.4 billion<\/h4>\n
Change vs year ago: <\/strong>+ $300 million<\/h4>\n
\nMacKenzie Scott<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Source of wealth:<\/strong> Amazon.com<\/h4>\n
Net worth:<\/strong> $27.8 billion<\/h4>\n
Giving focus: <\/strong>Economic, racial and gender inequality<\/h4>\n
Lifetime giving:<\/strong> $14.43 billion<\/h4>\n
Change vs. year ago: <\/strong>+ $5.82 billion<\/h4>\n
\nMichael Bloomberg<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Source of wealth:<\/strong> Bloomberg LP<\/h4>\n
Net worth:<\/strong> $76.8 billion<\/h4>\n
Giving focus: <\/strong>Climate change, health, education<\/h4>\n
Lifetime giving:<\/strong> <\/strong>$14.4 billion<\/h4>\n
Change vs year ago:<\/strong> + $1.7 billion<\/h4>\n
\nCharles \u201cChuck\u201d Feeney <\/strong><\/h2>\n
Source of wealth:<\/strong> Duty Free Shoppers<\/h4>\n
Net worth: <\/strong>Under $2 million<\/h4>\n
Giving focus: <\/strong>Science, human rights, youth<\/h4>\n
Lifetime giving:<\/strong> $8 billion<\/h4>\n
Change vs. year ago:<\/strong> none<\/h4>\n
\nGordon & Betty Moore <\/strong><\/h2>\n
Source of wealth:<\/strong> Intel<\/h4>\n
Net worth:<\/strong> $7 billion<\/h4>\n
Giving focus: <\/strong>Science, environment, Bay Area<\/h4>\n
Lifetime giving:<\/strong> $5.8 billion<\/h4>\n
Change vs. year ago:<\/strong> $300 million<\/h4>\n
\nJim & Marilyn Simons <\/strong><\/h2>\n
Source of wealth: <\/strong>Hedge funds<\/h4>\n
Net worth:<\/strong> $28.1 billion<\/h4>\n
Giving focus:<\/strong> Basic science, math<\/h4>\n
Lifetime giving: <\/strong>$5.2 billion<\/h4>\n
Change vs. year ago:<\/strong> + $1.9 billion<\/h4>\n
\nMark Zuckerberg & Priscilla Chan<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Source of wealth: <\/strong>Facebook<\/h4>\n
Net worth: <\/strong>$49.3 billion<\/h4>\n
Giving focus:<\/strong> Science, education, criminal justice<\/h4>\n
Lifetime giving:<\/strong> $3.9 billion<\/h4>\n
Change vs. year ago:<\/strong> + $900 million<\/h4>\n
\nPhil & Penny Knight <\/strong><\/h2>\n
Source of wealth:<\/strong> Nike<\/h4>\n
Net worth: <\/strong>$47.3 billion<\/h4>\n
Giving focus:<\/strong> Education<\/h4>\n
Lifetime giving:<\/strong> $3.37 billion<\/h4>\n
Change vs. year ago:<\/strong> + $270 million<\/h4>\n
\nEdythe Broad & family <\/strong><\/h2>\n
Source of wealth:<\/strong> Investments<\/h4>\n
Net worth: <\/strong>$6.9 billion<\/h4>\n
Giving focus:<\/strong> Education, arts, science<\/h4>\n
Lifetime giving:<\/strong> $3.14 billion<\/h4>\n
Change vs. year ago:<\/strong> +$340 million<\/h4>\n
\nJeff Bezos <\/strong><\/h2>\n
Source of wealth:<\/strong> Amazon<\/h4>\n
Net worth:<\/strong> $116.9 billion<\/h4>\n
Giving focus:<\/strong> Environment, education<\/h4>\n
Lifetime giving:<\/strong> $2.79 billion<\/h4>\n
Change vs. year ago:<\/strong> + $690 million<\/h4>\n
\nSteve & Connie Ballmer <\/strong><\/h2>\n
Source of wealth:<\/strong> Microsoft<\/h4>\n
Net worth: <\/strong>$76.5 billion<\/h4>\n
Giving focus: <\/strong>Economic mobility<\/h4>\n
Lifetime giving:<\/strong> $2.9 billion<\/h4>\n
Change vs. year ago:<\/strong> + $800 million<\/h4>\n
\nSergey Brin <\/strong><\/h2>\n
Source of wealth:<\/strong> Google<\/h4>\n