The 25 biggest givers in the United States donated $27 billion to charitable causes in 2022, an increase of 35 percent from $20 billion in 2021, the latest annual list compiled by Forbes finds.

As has been the case for several years, Warren Buffett remains the largest lifetime giver, having donated $5.4 billion in 2022 for a cumulative total of $51.5 billion. Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates ranked second, having given $38.4 billion in their lifetimes and $5 billion in the past year, largely through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Among the biggest givers, 17 are signatories to the Giving Pledge, including Chuck Feeney, sixth on the list with lifetime giving of $8 billion, and T. Denny Sanford, 17th with $2 billion, who—as yet—are the only signatories on the list to have met the pledge’s goal of donating at least half their fortune during their lifetime, as has George Soros, who ranked third with $18.4 billion in giving but is not a signatory, Forbes reports.

Several givers on the list increased their lifetime giving by more than 25 percent last year, including real estate developer Donald Bren, 18th on the list with $2.1 billion, who gave $470 million in 2022 (an increase of 28 percent); Amazon co-founder Jeff Bezos, 12th with $2.79 billion, who gave $690 million (32 percent); former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and his wife, Connie, 13th with $2.9 billion, who gave $800 billion (38 percent); Facebook (now Meta) co-founder Dustin Moskovitz and Cari Tuna, 19th with $2.11 billion, who gave $670 million (46 percent); and MacKenzie Scott, fourth with $14.43 billion—in just three years—who gave $5.82 billion (an increase of 68 percent). Newcomers to the list include Google founder Sergey Brin, who gave $2.55 billion in 2022, and Citadel CEO Ken Griffin, who gave $1.56 billion.

According to Forbes, the increase in giving comes even as the aggregate net worth of the top 25 givers has fallen 15 percent from $1.1 trillion in 2021 to $936 billion in 2022. Forbes estimates that the current list of top givers has donated $196 billion over their lifetimes, measured by personal donations and foundation grants to causes and nonprofit organizations, not gifts to foundations and donor-advised funds—last year’s gifts from Buffett ($3.1 billion) and Bill Gates ($20 billion) to the Gates Foundation are not counted in their giving totals.

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