The quick and constant evolution in the field of technology makes it one of the most profitable playgrounds for the people with the right ideas and, while it’s a well known fact that the innovators in this field easily hit the top spots in Forbes richest people lists, not everybody knows that these people also hit the top spots in the charity givers lists. Charity donations are good indicators that these people didn’t forget where they started from and they still care about the not-so-lucky ones right next to them. Our list consists of people that donated billions of dollars along time, using their success and fortune to make our world a better place for everybody. As of 2011, these are the top givers from the field of technology:
Bill Gates
Bill Gates is not only the founder of one of the biggest software companies in the world but also one of the world’s wealthiest people and one of the biggest philanthropists of all times. Along with his wife, Melinda, Gates established the “Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation”, the largest charitable foundation in the world. Through their foundation, the Gates family donated more than $28 billion, winning the first place in the top of the most generous charity givers of all times. That’s not everything Gates did in the field of charity, however. With the help of a good friend of his, Warren Buffet, Gates also started “The Giving Pledge”, a movement that encouraged billionaires to donate large parts of their fortune to noble causes. As of 2011, “The Giving Pledge” had 69 members who agreed to donate more than 50% of their wealth to charity.
Gordon Moore
Gordon Moore is the co-founder Intel, one of the most resonant names in the field of PC hardware. With a total of approximately $6.8 billion given to charity, Moore takes the second spot in our top. Moore’s favorite field of donations is education, as proven by the $600 million donation he made to Caltech, representing the highest donation an educational institute has ever received. Another significant donation made by Gordon is a $200 million donation to Caltech and the University of California to help build the world’s largest telescope.
Azim Premji
Azim Hashim Premji is an Indian business mogul activating in the software industry. Wipro Limited, the company leaded by Premji went from manufacturing soaps to manufacturing software, a change that boosted it from a company worth $2.5 million into India’s biggest software manufacturer, currently worth approximately $7 billion. Most of Premji’s donations are oriented towards education in an attempt to fulfill his vision of a better educational system for Indians. The opening of Azim Premji University is a clear sign of his progress towards this goal. It is an institution aimed to ensure that teachers receive a proper training and professional development before they start teaching. Premji’s total donations sum up to $2.1 billion, making him the third top charity giver in the technology field.
Dietmar Hopp
Ex-IBM employee Dietmar Hopp is a German software entrepreneur and, along with five other former IBM engineers, founder of SAP AG. The company evolved to be a leading company in the field of enterprise application software manufacturing, having multiple partnerships with renowned businesses and educational institutes. Hopp donated 70% of his shares in SAP to form the “Dietmar Hopp Foundation”, one of the biggest charitable foundations in Europe. Besides the shares he donated, Hopp also made various other donations totaling $1.25 billion to support youth sports and health.
Michael Dell
Michael Dell is the founder of the highly renowned computer manufacturer, Dell Inc. Being nominated as the 44th richest person in the world in 2011, Dell is also one of the biggest charity givers. With the help of his wife he established the “Michael and Susan Dell Foundation,” a foundation focused on children causes in India and USA. His foundation also helped the establishment of three health-related foundations: “Dell Children’s Medical Center”, “Dell Pediatric Research Institute” and “Michael & Susan Dell Center for Advancement of Healthy Living”. Dell’s donations sum up to $1.2 billion.
Even though this list only includes charity givers from the technology field that donated more than $1 billion, it doesn’t mean that other donors shouldn’t receive credit for their will to do something good. In the end, it’s the gesture that matters the most.
Post written by James Lander, a contributing writer for Couponing, a site that strives to help consumers save money with coupons.