For 20 years I have given over $1 million a year to the Abraham Fund Initiatives, which I founded to support co-existence in Israel among Jews and Arabs. Of my annual giving of $4-5 million, I give 2/3 to co-existence projects and 1/3 to Jewish projects. ... 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

Rebecca: My earliest memories of giving were participating in the Walk for Hunger and the AIDS Walk in Boston with my mother. The fundraising goals that we set each year felt tangible and real. I’d imagine hungry kids eating meals that I... More

I pledge to give at least $1,000 a day away, every day, for the rest of my life.I've had the blessing of earning significant amounts of money in my career as a real estate re-developer, sustainably renovating tired and dilapidated apartment buildings into... More

When we started Ben and Jerry’s in 1978 we had no business experience and no money, so we sure weren’t thinking about philanthropy. We were worried about making the business successful. We had both failed at other things we had tried: Ben at being... More

When I married Justin he had a dog and I had a car; neither one of us had any money. Justin had been a monk at the Christian Brothers Winery, so he went to work as a vineyard and winery consultant. He had a client who agreed to match our meager income with... More

After working 17 years in the financial markets, I began to realize a difference between trading value (what I was doing) versus creating value. Creating value represented the opportunity to make an improvement and provide a long-term benefit to this world... 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 certificates.... More

Deciding to give it all was easy. I was an early partner in RSVP, the first tour company to give gay and lesbian people a spectacular and harassment-free vacation. After 16 years in the business I sold my share to one of the partners. The very day I... More

I discovered my life’s special purpose by stumbling upon it. This journey led me to open my heart and wallet to help those less fortunate by founding the Inti Raymi Fund and Adrenaline Philanthropy. In 1992, you would have found me in a suit and tie,... More

Our giving is grounded in our Christian faith. We have been blessed to learn from wise people, starting with our parents, who know how to incorporate sound values into all money practices. Every budget is really a moral statement highlighting... More

My life, philanthropy, work as an entertainer, and non-profit pursuit have been guided by the belief that the future is in our hands and thus open to our influence, that we have the power to impact culture with important implications for ourselves, our... More

I am an only child, born in 1922. I attended a Quaker school, was a conscientious objector in WW2, and joined the Quakers in 1942, sharing Quaker concerns for social harmony and social justice. My father built up a successful grocery business from 1907, which... More

My wife and I have given $3 million – almost all our business profits over the past 13 years – in loans that help poor people start businesses. Living happily on our Social Security checks gives us the slack to give away more. In mid-life, my... More

The network technology company I founded went public in 1990. Previously, my wife Carol and I had not given much beyond $100 checks to direct mail appeals; now we could give in the thousands and tens of thousands. The breakthrough in our philanthropy in both... More

As I was completing my degree in Civil Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania, I realized that I wanted to do something for mankind instead of working for the family business which was involved in the heavy construction industry. After completing my... More

It is a powerful thing, watching people come together to move the needle toward greater justice; even more so to participate. When I have done so, faith has always played a part. I call myself a follower of Jesus Christ. No one cared more for the poor than... More

I never used the word philanthropy, but I grew up with its finest traditions disguised in plain sight as Black culture. My grandfather was the abstract impressionist painter Norman Lewis, and his legacy to our family has many complexities, shaping my... More

A funny thing happened on the way to creating a foundation. While working at the Center for Community Change, my good lawyer friend Tom Asher called. He was completing IRS paperwork to setup my new foundation, but we had no name. To complete the form, all... More

Fighting injustice has always been a part of my life. Witnessing first hand the racial and religious bigotry of the Deep South in the 60’s and 70’s, and frequently hearing about the atrocities of the holocaust, my path towards a life of service... More

In 1982, I was 25 years old, living in NYC, doing international banking in the Asia Pacific region for Chase Manhattan. I didn’t love banking – nor was I particularly good at it. One day a friend invited me to something called “The Ending... 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 interesting... More

When I was quite young, my father found $100 by a roadside. He brought the money home. Over dinner he asked the family, “How should we give it away?” I’ve been tremendously fortunate to grow up with inherited wealth in a philanthropic... More

All my adult life, I’ve woven together three passions – cutting edge philanthropy, socially responsible venture capital, and building networks to support innovation. I follow my instincts and move toward people and ideas that excite me, whether I... More

Home. I help people find them and let them go. On paper, it’s a business transaction, but the journey literally hits home in a deeply personal way. My own childhood home was in Scottsdale, Arizona. I was the 9th of 10 children, and one of only two... 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

“Are you kiddin me? You haven’t been to jail and none of your family’s on crack?” Damien, a mouthy, bright fourteen year old wanted to know who I was, where I came from, and why I was there. It was tougher to prove myself to street... More

It all started with an “aha” moment. I remember it as if it was yesterday, I was volunteering at a homeless shelter when a man came up to me and said: “Thank you so very much for being here…for helping me!” His thanks gave me a... More

Every year our Bay Area office supplies company, Give Something Back, allocates money for our customers to donate, for our employees to donate, and for my co-founder Sean Marx and myself to donate. We don't give a fixed percentage of the profits. We make a... More

Following in my dad’s footsteps, I started a business that made me a millionaire by age 29. I was ruthless at making money and proud to be able to buy anything imaginable. I didn’t realize the downside, until my wife and kids left me for taking... More

I was involved with the corporate world for over 40 years, as CEO in several companies, management consultant, and college lecturer. In 2001, a little company I had a stake in became successful and began paying dividends. Five years later the company was... More

I came to the U.S. when I was five, fleeing France with my family two hours ahead of the German army. This experience may have helped to shape my social conscience. As a young man, my father pushed me toward sciences and engineering, so I became a mechanical... 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 am a retired businessman who has spent most of my last 20 years as a social entrepreneur in building nonprofits, personal service, and philanthropy. In the early 1980s I got the idea that I would devote half my time and resources to helping other people,... More

Out of the blue a friend said to me, “Roxanne, why have you never thought of studying theology?” Neither she nor I had any idea what possessed her to say that, but it was it was like getting hit over the head with a 2x4. I immediately knew this... More

“Mom, I want to do community service in Africa this summer and I really want you to come with me.” My daughter had been doing community service in San Francisco for years and was ready to take her passion to a global level and she wanted me to... More

Tom: I’ve been in retail for decades and started our company Zumiez in 1978. We sell fun-- surf, skate, snowboarding and action sports to teenagers, ages 12-18--you know, a group that typically has problems with authority. I’m really... More

I met Paul Farmer in 1983. Project Bread asked if I’d build an oven in Haiti, which saved women from walking 20 miles for bread. When I went to see the oven in Cange I met Paul. He was 23; I was 63. Our meeting was cooked up in heaven. Paul was still... More

Justice is realized through moments in time – something you must see or experience to understand. There are two defining moments in my life that have shaped my view of social justice. When I was just about 5 years old, my family emigrated from... More

I always wanted to to be a philanthropist and to give part of my body away to help others. Now at age 54, I am pleased to say I have done both. I have had a successful real estate business. In 2003, I reached a point when I had provided for my kids and had... More