When I was 44, I could have received a substantial inheritance.  Instead, I persuaded my dad to change his estate plans so nearly all the money went directly into a charitable foundation.  In the years before and after my father’s death... More

Our family has begun to deploy as much as 99 percent of our fortune to bring prosperity to Central America, home to some of the poorest people in the Western Hemisphere. For 20 years, beginning in 1980 in Boston, I tried my luck as a computer software... More

I inherited a half million from my parents in my early twenties, and then another $2 million from other relatives. I later received $7 million in settlements arising from my family’s losses as Jews in Nazi Germany. From an early age I was troubled... More

Fourteen years ago, when I used my money and legal expertise to start The Impact Fund, I never dreamed we’d be leading the largest class action suit in history. I was brought up in a Jewish middle class family, where we sat around the table and talked... More

I grew up in Ogdensburg New York, in a business-oriented family, where our business was one of the main employers in the small town.   My father was an executive at the Newell Company and my mother a home maker. After my father died at 48, my mother... More

When I was twenty-five, I inherited a lot of money.  I’m not sure exactly how much, but I know it would be worth millions today.  I wasn’t given any direction in how to use it.  I was literally handed an envelope filled with stock... More

Growing up in Asia, I was moved by the plight of suffering animals - a frequent sight. But I didn't know how to help them. Nobody around me cared about animals. After college in the UK, I joined animal, environmental, and human rights groups, but my... More

The world is out of balance.  We need to support the divine feminine parts of life that are much more loving and peaceful.  When it comes to giving, that means breaking through the isolation and barriers that often exist between and among donors and... More

“How do I do the most good with my philanthropic dollars?” This challenging question has guided my development as a bold giver for the past two decades. I was 21 when my parents created a family foundation so their five children could learn about... More

My father is a very successful high-tech entrepreneur, and he gave me a significant amount of wealth before I even turned 21. In fact, even as I write this, he is probably making more money, and a significant portion of that money might be headed my way.... More

In my 45 years of working as an insurance claims examiner/supervisor, I never earned more than $45,000 a year. But I lived frugally, invested well, and built up a sizable retirement account. Since retiring a few years ago, I have gleefully discovered I can... More

In 1979, my father told I had inherited many millions.  I decided to give it to social change projects. Here’s why: I had a vision of a gift economy (gift-economy.com) based on women’s values. I felt so strongly about this vision that I... More

My giving has followed a heart path, not a master plan. I was stopped in my tracks by inheriting money in 1978. I felt immobilized, unable to continue my job in international development or the life I had known. I went to the desert to ask for guidance. My... More

In 2007, at 20 years old, I got my first job as an engineer.  When I opened the offer letter from Google, I realized that my starting salary of over $100,000 would be more than anyone I’d ever been close to had made.  I knew for sure that I... More

My goal is to bring safe drinking water to 200 million people by the year 2022.  So far I’ve volunteered ten years of my full-time energy and given $7 million (half my wealth) towards that goal- -and at age 73, I’m having the most... More

As a passionate environmentalist, John Hunting believes the time to give is now. When he inherited $130M from the office furniture company his father started, he committed nearly all of it to the Beldon Fund for environmental grantmaking. Instead of paying... More

Because I have no children or family in need, I have more than enough to live on comfortably. That enables me to give away almost 2/3 of my income per year, which is about the salary of a VP at a large corporation. This is a wonderful privilege and I love... More

In 1999, I sold my company, At-A-Glance, to Mead Paper Co. for $550 million. Shortly thereafter, my wife Dorothy and I decided to pledge or give a majority of it away since most of our needs were taken care of. My first advice about philanthropy came from... More

Lili Stiefel has a big dream – to help our oil-based economy shift to renewable energy. In 2007, she and her mother committed $1 million for grantmaking to projects that are creating non-oil jobs in the Middle East. Another $1 million they are... More

To my amazement, I’m now 88 years old; I don’t know how I got here. So many elderly people sit around having their cocktails and going to Florida, not really being alive. I want to continue to count for something no matter that I do feel my... More

Growing up, I was taught to give Tzedakah, which means giving for justice (not charity). My family always had a little blue box for the United Jewish Appeal on the table. So when I inherited millions in 1995, I knew right away I would give most of it away,... More

People assume that fame and fortune came easily to me because my grandfather was Jacques Cousteau, but nothing could be further from the truth. My father died before I was born and my sister and I inherited very little except our mother’s indomitable... More

Bobby: How did we decide to start a company that gives 100% of its profits selling water in order to protect public waterways? My lifelong love of nature and animals grew into a concern for the environment. In 1984 I started working to protect the Hudson... More

I was twenty years old when I received my first inheritance of $10,000 from my grandmother. I’ve never felt so wealthy, before or since. It only took me six months to blow it all on well-meaning but ultimately foolish investments and unpaid loans. By... More

My father's life resembled a Horatio Alger story....from rags to riches. He was a modest farm boy who put himself through college during the depression. Through perseverance and hard work, he managed to amass a billion dollar fortune in his lifetime. ... More