Highlighted Philanthropists
Veronica Atkins
Atkins is one of the top fifty most generous philanthropists. Newsweek also proclaimed her part of the “All-Star Team" in philanthropy.
Naveen Jain
Jain has been named one of the Top 20 Entrepreneurs by Red Herring, recognized for winning the Albert Einstein Technology Medal Winner, and received the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award in 2007.
George Soros
The Soros Foundations are an international network of local, Soros-founded foundations promoting sociopolitical activities.
Kenneth Langone
In 1978, he partnered with Bernard Marcus and Arthur Blank to found Home Depot, which today is one of the largest and most successful chains in the home improvement industry. He has contributed almost $150 million dollars to various charities.
Pierre Omidyar
Pierre Omidyar is the inventor of eBay. He is an alumnus of Tufts University and a French immigrant. Before he made his fortune with eBay he worked for Claris, an Apple Computer company. On Labor Day in 1995, Omidyar launched eBay as an online auction house, creating a market for virtually anything from lavatories to haute couture fashion. Today, there are over a million subscribers using eBay.
- Pierre Omidyar and his wife set up the Omidyar Foundation in 1998 to finance nonprofit organizations. Inspired by how eBay made its 200-million strong market “trust a complete stranger," Pierre Omidyar converted the organization into The Omidyar Network in 2004. Straddling philanthropy and investment, the new organization donates money to entities motivated to bring positive social change. Recipients include companies like Socialtext and Grassroots Media.
- The Omidyar Network has also made a foray into microfinance, imparting small loans to prospective entrepreneurs among destitute people around the world.
- Pierre Omidyar also presented a $100-million gift to Tufts University, which was used to create the Omidyar-Tufts Microfinance Fund, designed to invest in microfinance initiatives the world over.
- The Omidyar Network also contributed a $4 million grant to the Grameen Foundation. This organization specializes in underwriting loans to Third World nations.
- Pierre is looking forward to pledge $400 million in the coming years to sponsor nonprofit organizations promoting government transparency and suffrage.