Top Modern Day Philanthropists

A proponent of philanthropy in life rather than death, Andrew Carnegie derided posthumous bequests as "... only a means for the disposal of wealth, provided a man is content to wait until he is dead before he becomes of much good in the world" and added that "... men who leave vast sums in this way may fairly be thought men who would not have left it at all had they been able to take it with them." Encouragingly, Forbes has recently released a list of the 14 most generous philanthropists following in Carnegie's footsteps and distributing their wealth while they are alive to see that their contributions are being used effectively. The list includes:

1. Bill Gates
2. George Soros
3. Gordon Moore
4. Warren Buffett
5. Eli Broad
6. James Stowers
7. Herbert and Marion Sandler
8. Michael Bloomberg
9. Li Ka-shing
10. Dietmar Hopp
11. Michael Dell
12. Klaus Tschira
13. Stephen Schmidheiny
14. Ted Turner

While most of us can't hope to contribute a billion dollars or more to our favorite charities such as the philanthropists on the list above have done, every bit helps. So if you feel inspired to give, visit Charity Navigator today to see how your donations would be managed at the charity of your choice and to view tips on giving.