Philanthropy Facts

Jon Bon Jovi runs two restaurants in New Jersey called JBJ Soul Kitchen with no prices on the menu. Guests pay whatever they can, volunteer for an hour, or simply eat — no questions asked. Everyone gets the same chef-prepared meal in the same dining room. The idea is to fight food insecurity with dignity, not charity.

(Former) Billionaire Chuck Feeney gave away over 99% of his multi-billion dollar fortune to philanthropic endeavors, such as helping underprivileged kids go to college. He is now worth a few million dollars.

Johnny Depp used to travel with his Capt. Jack Sparrow costume to make impromptu visits to sick kids in hospitals.

Between 2007 and 2012, Bill Gates gave away $28 billion; saving 6 million lives.

Angelina Jolie bought 60,000 hectares of poacher-ravaged land in Cambodia, turned it into a wildlife reserve named after her son — and then hired the poachers themselves as its rangers. The people who were destroying the land are now the ones protecting it.

A young programmer offered a homeless man the choice between $100 cash or coding lessons. Leo Grand chose the lessons, and now his first mobile app is available to download for $.99.

As of April 2010, Bill Gates had donated $36,854,000,000 in his lifetime! That's more than half of his total net worth!

In 2007, a customer kindly gave a $10,000 tip to a Pizza Hut waitress after hearing she had financial troubles which had forced her to drop out of college.

Self-made millionaire Harris Rosen adopted a Florida neighborhood called Tangelo Park, cut the crime rate in half, and increased the high school graduation rate from 25% to 100% by giving everyone free daycare and all high school graduates scholarships.

Hockey player Jarome Iginla donates $2,000 to the children’s charity Kidsport for every goal he scores. Since 2000 it has added up to more than $700,000.

Newman’s Own foods donates 100% of its post tax profits to charity. As of June 2012 these donations have exceeded 330 million dollars.

During the 1930’s depression, Australian businessman Sidney Myer provided Christmas dinner for 10,000 unemployed people, including a gift for every child.

Chuck Feeney co-founded Duty Free Shoppers and became a billionaire. Then he secretly gave it all away. He wore a $10 Casio watch. Flew economy. He gave away $8 billion. None of the 1,000 buildings his money built bear his name. Bill Gates and Warren Buffett both credit him as their inspiration. He died at 92.

Geoffrey Holt was the quiet caretaker of a mobile home park in Hinsdale, New Hampshire. He rode a lawnmower around town, owned no TV, and had almost no furniture. When he died at 82 in 2023, his will revealed he had secretly amassed $3.8 million through decades of shrewd investing - and left every cent to his town of 4,200 people.