FYI
www.minhac.es/ief/Publicaciones/Revistas/Hacienda%20Publica/
165/165_charitable.pdf
COUNTRY................P ER CAP. GIVING
Spain................... .......122
Belgium................. .......120
U.K..................... .......117
Netherlands............. .......110
Ireland................. .......100
France.................. ........74
Finland................. ........70
Austria................. ........50
Germany................. ........39
Hungary................. ........32
Slovakia................ ........25
Czech Republic................ ..25
Romania................. .........5
U.S..................... .......278
(NOTE: amounts given are in Euros)
http://www.harrisinteractive.com/news/allnewsbydate.asp?NewsID=1131
ROCHESTER, N.Y. and LONDON – December 20, 2006 – A Financial Times (FT)/Harris Poll conducted among adults in the United States and in five European countries (France, Italy, Germany, Great Britain and Spain) shows that Americans are more likely than Europeans to believe in any form of God or Supreme Being (73%). Of the European adults surveyed, Italians are the most likely to express this belief (62%) and, in contrast, the French are the least likely (27%).
Among those adults who stated they do have religious beliefs, almost two-thirds (62%) of Italians say they have the same religious beliefs as both their parents. In stark contrast, just under two in five (39%) British adults share the same religious beliefs as either of their parents. In the U.S. about half (48%) of adults who stated they have religious beliefs say they share the same as both of their parents.
This FT/Harris Poll was conducted online by Harris Interactive® among a total of 12,507 adults (aged 16 and over), within France (2,134); Germany (2,127); Great Britain (2,090); Spain (1,991); the United States (2,078), and Italy (2,087), aged 18 and over, between 30th November and 15th December 2006.
Not a very good representative statistic as there are many factors in regards to charity such as Standard of Living. Higher standards of Living equate to to larger charitable donations for instance. Also, there is a disproportionate amount of charitable donations among socioeconomic lines meaning, the poor who also may be the most religious, give less than the wealthy.
With that said, here are the 50 most charitable individuals in the United States. Surprise, Surprise the majority are Atheists or Agnostics.
http://bwnt.businessweek.com/interactive_reports/philanthropy_individual/Special Report: Philanthropy
Slide show: Top Givers and Their Causes
Table: Top Corporate Cash Givers
The 50 Most Generous Philanthropists
How We Create The List: To measure what donors have given or pledged over the past five years, a team of reporters spends months conducting interviews and scouring databases, news reports, and foundation filings. For consistency, we count pledges in full at the time they're announced, discounting only those that are formally revoked. If a gift is in stock, we value it at the time it's announced. To avoid double-counting, the survey counts gifts to foundations at the time they're given and not when the money flows out of foundations.
Click column heading once to reorder from highest to lowest. Click twice to reorder from lowest to highest.
Rank
Name
Background
2003-07 GIVEN
OR PLEDGED (MILLIONS)
Causes
ESTIMATED LIFETIME
GIVING* (MILLIONS)
NET WORTH**
(MILLIONS)
GIVING AS A %
OF NET WORTH
1 Warren Buffett Berkshire Hathaway CEO 40,650 Health, education, humanitarian causes 40,780 52,000 78
2 Bill and Melinda Gates Microsoft co-founder 3,519 Global health and development, education 28,144 59,000 48
3 George Kaiser Oil and gas, banking, real estate 2,271 Poverty in Oklahoma 2,522 11,000 23
4 George Soros Investor 2,109 Open and democratic societies 6,401 8,800 73
5 Gordon and Betty Moore Intel co-founder 2,067 Environment, science, San Fran. Bay area 7,404 4,500 165
6 Walton Family Family of Wal-Mart founder 1,475 Education 2,015 82,500 2
7 Herbert and Marion Sandler Golden West co-founders 1,368 Medical research, education, social reform 1,389 2,400 58
8 Eli and Edythe Broad SunAmerica, KB Home founder 1,216 Public educ., arts, scientific and medical research 2,286 7,000 33
9 Donald Bren Real estate developer 915 Education, conservation, research 1,326 13,000 10
10 Jon Huntsman Huntsman chairman 800 Cancer, business education 1,233 1,900 65
11 Bernard Osher Banking, investments 780 Arts, education, social services 805 900 89
12 Alfred Mann Medical devices 698 Biomedical education and research 1,735 2,200 79
13 Michael and Susan Dell Dell founder 674 Children's health, education 1,200 17,200 7
14 Michael Bloomberg Bloomberg founder, NYC mayor 584 Health, education, arts, social services 1,045 11,500 9
15 David Rockefeller Standard Oil heir, banking 562 Biomed research, global development, arts 937 2,700 35
16 Jeff Skoll Founding president of eBay 560 Social entrepreneurs 744 3,500 21
17 T. Denny Sanford Banking and credit cards 559 Science education, medical research 559 2,800 20
18 Veronica Atkins Widow of Dr. Robert Atkins 519 Eradication of obesity and diabetes 519 60 865
19 John Templeton Investor 514 Science about life's big questions 1,003 2,000 50
20 Robert Wilson Investor 508 Environment 541 600 90
21 Pierre and Pam Omidyar eBay chairman and founder 493 Unleashing human potential 657 8,900 7
22 T. Boone Pickens Energy and investing 445 Higher education and athletics, health 445 3,000 15
23 Sandy and Joan Weill Former Citigroup chairman, CEO 435 Education, healthcare, arts, social causes 800 1,800 44
24 John Kluge Metromedia founder 401 Library of Congress, higher education 751 9,500 8
25 Ted Turner CNN founder 389 Environment, global security 1,500 2,300 65
26 Lorry Lokey Business Wire founder, chairman 373 Education, libraries, and culture 415 0 0
27 Kirk Kerkorian** Investor 365 Humanitarian and Armenian causes 696 18,000 4
28 Shelby White** Widow of investor Leon Levy 365 Ancient studies, arts, humanities 525 600 88
29 David Koch Koch Industries EVP 364 Medical care, cancer, education 500 17,000 3
30 Bernard Marcus Home Depot co-founder 351 Jewish causes, health, free enterprise, children 700 2,000 35
31 Irwin and Joan Jacobs Qualcomm co-founder 330 Education, arts 627 1,600 39
32 Frank and Jane Batten Landmark Comm. founder 314 Education, early childhood development 510 2,000 26
33 Robert Meyerhoff Real estate developer 300 Arts, higher education 305 0 0
34 Paul Allen Microsoft co-founder 283 Arts, health/human services, science 937 16,800 6
35 Oprah Winfrey Harpo chairman 263 Education; women, children, and families 303 2,500 12
36 Robert Day Trust Company of the West CEO 262 Education, health and arts 305 1,600 19
37 Ted and Vada Stanley MBI founder 254 Mental illness, crisis relief 568 0 0
38 David and Cheryl Duffield PeopleSoft co-founder 244 Animals, humane society, education 331 1,200 28
39 James Simons Investor 243 Math, science, education, autism 267 5,500 5
40 Dan Duncan and family Enterprise Products Ptnrs. co-founder 230 Medical research, education, youth 300 8,200 4
41 Frances Comer Widow of Lands' End founder 228 Environment, education, youth 268 1,000 27
42 Ira and Mary Lou Fulton Fulton Homes CEO 224 Higher education, community 266 410 65
43 Dawn Greene Widow of lawyer Jerome Greene 200 Education, medicine, arts 260 0 0
44 Marguerite Hoffman Widow of investor Robert Hoffman 199 Dallas arts and social services, science 208 0 0
45 George Lucas Lucasfilm founder 196 Education, arts, health, civil rights 213 3,900 5
46 Larry Ellison Oracle CEO 193 Research on aging and diseases 808 26,000 3
47 Thomas Siebel Siebel Systems founder 189 Education, meth prevention, community 386 1,900 20
48 Peter Lewis Progressive chairman 188 Arts, environment, youth, social reform 426 0 0
49 Leo and Kay Drey Schram Glass heir, silviculture 180 Conservation 180 0 0
50 Haim and Cheryl Saban Saban Capital Group CEO, Chairman 176 Children's healthcare, U.S. and Israeli charities 195 3,400 6
*Based on public records and interviews with donors