Have you ever thought of how would you spend your money if you were Richie-Rich rich? How about giving it all away like these generous philanthropists did?
You have heard of how Mark Zuckerberg pledges to give all of his money away. Or that Bill Gates and Warren Buffett have donated most of their fortune for charity. Yes, those stories are incredible. But these fifteen generous philanthropists on our list have done beyond what those popular billionaires did.
These people might not have given as much, but they have given it all away and chosen to live without their fortune. Their stories should be told loud and clear. So that the world would know that being rich means nothing if that brings you unhappiness. Don’t get me wrong, I agree that money can’t buy you happiness but money sure does buy you the things that make you happy.
The bottom line is what you can do with your money to make you happy. And if living a casual, simple live brings you enough happiness, so be it.
There are more than these generous philanthropists who have done such an amazing thing for others. But we decided to pick these fifteen because of their stories, background, and where they are today. So, in no particular order, here are fifteen inspirational stories of generous people.
15. Chris & Colin Weir
We have talked about people who won lottery but lost them all in other article. It may seem like winning a lottery is a bad thing. But hopefully the story of Chris and Colin Weir will change that perspective a little bit.
Five years ago, the couple won nearly $250 million from EuroMillions lottery. And they have given 80% of that winning money away. That is around $200 million they could have spent on a luxury yacht or most expensive house.
The Scottish couple is not just generous, they care about their country as well. They donated that instant fortune to Scotland’s pro-independence campaign. Is it possible that they might have thought of changing their mind after Trump‘s victory? Oh well.
What the Weirs did might have been the start of gradual change in Scottish independence. The campaign is still active until today with more supporters and donors of the movement.
14. Yu Panglin
The next story comes from Yu Panglin, a former Chinese real estate and hotel tycoon turned generous philanthropist. Panglin donated a total of $1.2 billion of his wealth to his charity foundation.
This decision affected not just those in need, but also his two sons. They were left with nothing. Panglin did that for the sake of his sons. Of course, this raised criticism, but Panglin explained that money may corrupt them and they should learn to handle themselves without his fortune. And that is a message Panglin wanted all billionaires to hear.
This might have something to do with the fact that Panglin grew up in poverty. He witnessed the hardships the poor had to endure throughout their entire life. And that is an important value in terms of achieving in life.
Panglin designated HSBC to look after all of his money with explicit instructions. Also, he gave them restrictions for others (his family) to invest or inherit the funds. This generosity put Panglin on top of China’s most generous philanthropist list.
13. Chuck Feeney
While most billionaires will give their wealth away when they die, Chuck Feeney did not wait that long before sharing his wealth. What he has done is so inspiring not just to people like us, but also to Bill Gates and Warren Buffett in terms of starting their own charity foundation.
You may not have heard about Feeney despite the fact that he has donated more than $6 billion in his entire philanthropic life. That is because unlike most public figures like celebrities with their charity acts, Feeney prefers doing it discreetly.
He has been donating most of his earning for various charities and causes worldwide. In fact, he turned nearly 40% of his stake in DFS (Duty Free Shoppers) Group to his Atlantic Philanthropies Foundation. That is worth around $1.6 billion.
While we sit here wishing we would get wealthy before we die, it seems like Feeney wishes to be penniless before his time comes. Regardless the reason behind his generous acts, Feeney has been an inspiration to date.
12. Roy Cockrum
The Weirs couple from Scotland is not the only one who won a lottery and gave it for charity. Roy Cockrum did the same thing after his Powerball Jackpot win. He won the largest jackpot in history of Tennessee. It was a staggering $259 million.
Two years ago, Cockrum was sitting in University of Tennessee Medical Center’s waiting room with the winning ticket inside his wallet when he found out that he won the jackpot. And he was there for his mother’s medical appointment.
He set aside a small portion from the jackpot so that he could return to his hometown to take care of his elderly parents. He had been away for decades to work prior to that.
And the rest of his money, he gave it away for charities. He made donations to several organizations to help those in need.
The win knocked him to his knees, he said during an interview. He believed that his prayer was finally answered. “Lord have mercy!”, he said that morning on the day he won.
11. George Carroll
Generosity of billionaires does not exist in our time only. It dates back to centuries before today. And this story will tell you exactly that.
George Carroll was born in 1855. He was in fact a nominee for Vice President of the United States from the Prohibition Party in 1904 election. Besides that, he was running an oil and lumber company in Texas.
He inherited the company from his father, but in 1892, he made the breakthrough investment in oil-drilling company. And that made him vastly rich. But in the other hand, that also made him realize that it influenced people toward a life of excess, and worse, vice.
That triggered him to make huge donations to local universities and Baptist churches, including Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA). In 1935, Carroll died in peace inside a room of the YMCA building he founded. So, it was speculated that he had given away all of his money and lived a simple life until the day he died by the age of 80.
10. Percy Ross
Seventeen years from 1983, there was a column in more than 800 newspapers called Thanks a Million. That column was made for people in United States to write to Percy Ross and ask him for money.
Thousands of people did exactly that. Some of them had their wishes granted, some of them did not. Ross chose those whom he felt genuinely in need and gave them money from his wealth. He claimed that he had given around $30 million through this column.
Some would argue that he did all of those for publicity sake. But hey, let’s not speak bad of the dead. Percy Ross gave away most of his money he earned. And he did help many people through this charity column, regardless the motive.
His philanthropic life has overshadowed his successful life as a self-made multi-millionaire. Not many people know that he successfully revived Poly-Tech from bankruptcy as he purchased it in 1959. It is a polyethylene plastic bag manufacturing company. And it is still up and running today.
9. Brian Burnie
If you live in Newcastle, UK, you might have come across a fun-painted ambulance with “Daft as a Brush Patient Cancer Care” written on its side. It refers to the foundation Brian Burnie built out of inspiration from his wife who was a cancer patient herself. Ironically though, the couple has split up.
Burnie wants to make life easier for other cancer patients. One of his unique ways is by making their trip to hospital better on that bright ambulance. And even until today, he is still working and fighting for that cause despite the fact that he has been suffering from Parkinson’s.
Unlike most generous millionaires, Burnie does not want to wait until the day he dies to share his wealth. He wants to witness and see how his wealth makes others’ life better.
The former British grocer did not just give away his fortune. He also sold his luxury houses. The first one was a $26-million estate in Doxford Hall, Northumberland in 2010. And four years ago, he sold another one for $1 million. Today, he is living frugally yet happily.
8. Zell Kravinsky
Zell Kravinsky makes his fortune from real estate development. And not many people know that he was a lecturer at University of Pennsylvania before he embarked on his business journey.
He became even more well-known to the world when he made a non-directed kidney donation to any lower-income African-American. He was inspired after learning that many African-Americans have difficulty in getting kidneys from family members.
Kravinsky’s journey in philanthropy world began sometime around 2001 as he made donations to many charities. It is believed that he has made a total of $45 million contribution in this case.
Unfortunately, his philanthropic life is considered to be too impulsive by his family and friends. Rumor has it, even his wife threatened to leave him. But those did not stop Kravinsky from earning more to give more. And he said that he would give any of his body parts for those in need.
7. Hamdi Ulukaya
Hamdi Ulukaya is one of the generous billionaires who joined The Giving Pledge officially. Through this pledge, billionaires promise that they will give away at least half of their wealth to charity.
And Ulukaya intends to do exactly that. Today, his net worth is estimated around $1.4 billion. This means he will donate at least $700 million under his foundation which will be called Tent.
Refugees of any kinds are some of the people who are mostly in need. And it is the worst case when it comes to war refugees. Ulukaya wants to help Syrian refugees in particular. With $700 million, so many food and houses can be provided for these people.
Ulukaya is Turkish-born billionaire from United States. He started to make his fortune from the popular Chobani Yogurt. To date, he is still working hard to earn more and give more to this cause.
You can read more about Hamdi Ulukaya in this article.
6. Tom Shadyac
Tom Shadyac was living in the fast lane of Hollywood. He knows how it feels like to live the life of rich and famous. He lived that life. But he decided to leave that lifestyle behind and give most of his fortune away.
Shadyac is an actor, writer, producer, and director. His most world-renowned work is Ace Ventura” Pet Detective, The Nutty Professor franchise, and Bruce Almighty franchise.
In 2007, Shadyac suffered from a bicycle accident in Virginia. The accident might have made him suffered physically, but as he got better, he came to a realization that he did not want to go back to that fast lane.
So, Shadyac decided to sell his house and all of his luxury things and dedicated all of them to charity. He opened a homeless shelter and made several key donations. He traded his 17,000-square-foot mansion in Los Angeles with a trailer in Paradise Cove, Malibu. And he has been living a simple life ever since.
5. Karl Rabeder
Some of us have been dreaming about living in a lake house with spectacular Alpen mountain views. Karl Rabeder was living that dream. Yet, the wealth from where he could afford that luxury house did not make him happy.
He sold his luxury houses and gave all of the money away to his non-profit organization called the MyMicroCredit. Since 2009, this organization has been fighting to reduce poverty in Central and South America.
During an interview with The Daily Telegraph, the Austrian businessman said that he does intend to have nothing left. He said money is counterproductive and it prevents happiness to come.
To really understand what drives Rabeder in his philanthropic actions, let him take you back to his holiday in Hawaii. “It was the biggest shock in my life, when I realized how horrible, soulless and without feeling the five star lifestyle is. In those three weeks, we spent all the money you could possibly spend. But in all that time, we had the feeling we hadn’t met a single real person – that we were all just actors. The staff played the role of being friendly and the guests played the role of being important and nobody was real.”
4. Frane Selak
Frane Selak might not have given as much as other generous philanthropists on this list have. But his story deserves to be told in our list.
Selak is known as the world’s luckiest and unluckiest man at the same time. The Croatian music teacher has escaped death seven times throughout his entire 87 years of life.
It all started back in 1962 when he was the lone survivor of a train crash which killed all of its passengers. Then about a year later, he said he was again the lone survivor of his one and only plane ride. However, there is no report about plane crash in Croatia that year.
His unlucky luck continues in the following years when he survived from a drowning bus, blown up car, flaming car, bus strike, and truck collision. Then, it all stops. In fact, his luck finally came to his life without death tagging along.
In 2003, he won a $1-million lottery. He bought himself a house. But seven years later, he sold it and gave the rest of his winning money to his family and friends. He only used a small portion of the overall money to build a Virgin Mary memorial and also to give himself hip surgery.
3. Manoj Bhargava
Manoj Bhargava is gaining his fortune from the 5-Hour-Energy drink his company produces. The brand became so popular that its value grew rapidly to $1 billion.
Thus, Bhargava started to bag his estimated $4 billion of net worth. However, he is not planning to splurge with all the money he has. He joined other billionaires in The Giving Pledge. But he is not going to give just a half of his wealth. He pledges to give 99% of them!
Bhargava does not want to wait until the day he die to finally change others’ life with his fortune. He is working with his team of inventors in a Billions in Change movement. Through this movement, Bhargava is funding inventors and other professionals to work together with unlimited budget in manufacturing things for the poor.
He emphasizes on the need of electricity. There are more than three billion people in the world who don’t have any access to electricity.
“Service to others seems the only intelligent choice for the use of wealth. The other choices especially personal consumption, seem either useless or harmful.” – Manoj Bhargava.
2. Yevgeny Pushenko
As the Soviet Union broke up in the 1990s, Yevgeny Pushenko built a clothing factory in Vladivostok, Russia. This is how his money-making machine started to grow. But even with such success, he felt empty inside.
He did not join any exclusive pledge. He did not make donations and let the world know either. All Pushenko did was handing over the key to his factory to his friends and left. He did not just leave the town. He walked thousands of miles to Jerusalem as a pilgrim and left all of his wealth behind.
It took him three years to complete the journey. He walked through several countries before finally reaching his destination. We could only imagine that it was not an easy journey. Extreme weather change is the least thing came up to mind.
Upon completing his journey, Pushenko changed his name to Athanassios. And since then, he has been residing at a monastery in Mount Athos, Greece.
1. Jon Pedley
People say that a near-death experience could change someone completely. That is probably the case for Jon Pedley. He had the experience after suffering from a car accident in 2002. He was in a coma and it could go either way, life or death. It was considered a miracle that he survived.
Before the accident, Pedley was living an alcoholic life. Drinking and womanizing are probably the least worst things he did. But after that, he had a profound change of heart and became closer to God.
However, only until eight years later that he made a brave move. He sold his luxury farmhouse, his business, and gave the money away. And that’s not all. Pedley moved to Uganda to follow his friend on a charity work.
To experience the real life in Uganda, Pedley decided to live in a mud hut. He has been helping local orphans there. He also helps troubled children in UK by sending them to work with him in Uganda. Eventually, those children will help themselves by helping others.
So, which of these amazing people’s story touches your heart the most? Or do you know anyone else who deserves to be on this list? Let’s talk about it on the comment section!
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