Tech’s biggest philanthropists, from Azim to Zuckerberg

But who are the world’s most generous tech billionaires and how much have they given or pledged to various causes?

Bill Gates

In 2021, Bill Gates and his ex-wife Melinda French Gates accounted for more than half of the $27.7 billion pledged to charity by the 50 most generous Americans that year. Shortly before their divorce was finalised in August 2021, they announced plans to add $15 billion to their foundation’s coffers. In total, they have given more than $45 billion to charitable causes since 1994, according to the Chronicle of Philanthropy.

Not only have they committed to giving away most of their wealth, they have also encouraged other billionaires to join the Giving Pledge, a campaign they launched with billionaire investor Warren Buffet in 2010 to foster a culture of philanthropy among the world’s wealthiest to tackle the world’s biggest problems.

As of December 2021, the pledge had 231 signatories from 28 countries. Most of the signatories of the pledge are billionaires, and as of 2016 their pledges are estimated to be worth $600 billion.

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Azim Premji
The founder and chairman of Wipro has consistently been by far the biggest giver among Indian billionaires. In 2001, he established the Azim Premji Foundation, a nonprofit that started with the purpose of improving the quality education in rural India. It works with over 3.5 lakh schools. A decade later the Azim Premji University was set up to address challenges the foundation faced during its work in elementary education.

In 2013, Premji became the first Indian billionaire to sign the Giving Pledge, an initiative by Bill Gates and Warren Buffet that encourages wealthy individuals to pledge half their fortunes to philanthropy.

With a donation of Rs 9,713 crore, Premji topped the EdelGive Hurun India Philanthropy List for the umteenth time in 2021. In 2020, he donated Rs 7,904 crore to charitable causes.

Michael Dell
In 1999, the founder of Dell computers and his wife established the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation, which focuses on grants, childhood health, urban education and family economic stability. By 2010, the foundation had committed more than $650 million to children’s issues and community initiatives in South Africa, India and the US. In 2012, they donated $50 million for medical education. In March 2022, Dell said he was committing $15 million via his foundation to support Ukrainian families in dire need of help after Russia’s invasion.

Mark Zuckerberg
Mark Zuckerberg, cofounder and chief executive of Facebook, announced in December 2015 that he and his wife would give 99% of their Facebook shares – worth more than $45 billion at the time – for charitable purposes “during our lives”. They made the pledge in an open letter to their daughter Max, who had been born the previous week.

Jack Dorsey

In April 2020 Dorsey, then CEO of Twitter, announced that he would give away $1 billion, or what was then one-third of his wealth, to a new charity called Start Small, mainly for Covid relief efforts. It was by far the largest single donation to fight Covid at the time, and sparked criticism for Dorsey’s fellow billionaires for not pulling their weight during a historic crisis. Though not required to do so, Dorsey also pledged to track his giving in a publicly accessible Google spreadsheet.