The world's most generous billionaires: Mark Zuckerberg isn't the only one to give away a large chunk of his fortune

As Mark Zuckerberg announces plans to donate 99 per cent of his Facebook shares, who are the other big beasts with deep pockets? Simon Usborne charts the most generous

Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan announced the birth of their daughter, Max, with a pledge to give away, gradually, 99 per cent of their shares in Facebook

It's tough being insanely minted. You've got it all and more, with plenty left to keep your dogs and their heirs in the manner to which you have become accustomed. So what do you do with the rest? You give it away. "No man can become rich without himself enriching others," said the Scottish-American industrialist Andrew Carnegie, who handed out about £10bn in today's money, or about 90 per cent of his fortune. "The man who dies rich dies disgraced."

Now Mark Zuckerberg has taken on Carnegie's marble mantle. He and his wife, Priscilla Chan, announced the birth of their daughter, Max, with a pledge to give away, gradually, 99 per cent of their shares in Facebook. To put that in perspective, note that the remaining shares on which they must now subsist are worth about $450m (£300m). They've redefined the 1 per cent. So little Max will be OK but where does that put her parents in the gallery of the generous? Here we ignore those worthy rankings to present a selection of big givers of note.

Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan

How much?! $45bn (£30bn)

And the rest. The Facebook power couple have already given away over a billion quid, including $25m to help take on Ebola. The new gift will be dispensed during their lifetimes via the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. Its web page (a Facebook page, of course) includes a snazzy new logo and heart-warming plans to "advance human potential and promote equality".

A long letter to their daughter makes sober bedtime reading and includes a focus on health research, education and digital access. An attached video includes a series of Hallmark-ready expressions of mom-and-pop goodwill. The initiative is a company rather than a charity but a spokesperson reiterated its noble aims yesterday. We should measure our cynicism (they didn't have to do this) but we're also wondering if Facebook might extend its founder's generosity to its (perfectly legal!) corporate-tax arrangements.

Bill and Melinda Gates

How much?! $27bn (£18bn)

Bill and Melinda Gates spew cash like it's confetti at a paper magnate's wedding (Getty Images)

The original tech mogul and his wife spew cash like it's confetti at a paper magnate's wedding. And why not when you're worth $84bn? Five years ago, the founder of Microsoft and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation announced he would commit 95 per cent of his wealth to do-goodery. They also have an ally in Warren Buffet, the equally rich investor known as the "Oracle of Omaha". This year the 85-year-old donated about $2.84bn of stock to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and four family charities as part of his plan to give away his wealth.

But this American style of big giving, in a country where the tax system means philanthropy plays a huge role in public life, has its critics. In 2010, the German shipping magnate Peter Krämer told Der Spiegel: "You can write donations off in your taxes to a large degree in the USA. So the rich make a choice: would I rather donate or pay taxes? The donors are taking the place of the state."

Charles Francis Feeney

How much?! $6.3bn (£4.2bn)


 Forbes described Charles Francis Feeney in 2012 as the "James Bond of philanthropy" 
 (UCSF/YouTube)

No billionaire has displayed such a commitment to offloading cash. Forbes described the Irish-American duty-free magnate in 2012 as the "James Bond of philanthropy. Over the last 30 years he's crisscrossed the globe conducting a clandestine operation to give away a $7.5bn fortune derived from hawking cognac, perfume and cigarettes". The magazine added: "While the business world's titans obsess over piling up as many riches as possible, Feeney is working double time to die broke."

Feeney's Atlantic Philanthropies foundation is due to run out of cash in 2020 after supporting causes as diverse as peace in Ireland and Vietnam's healthcare system. He's now down to his last million pounds, give or take, and has been described by Bill Gates as a role model "and the ultimate example of giving while living". Now 84, he rarely gives interviews and is definitely not on Facebook.

George Soros

How much?! $8bn (£5.4bn)

George Soros the Hungarian-born American financier has become a model of progressive liberal giving (AFP/Getty Images)

When not speculating controversially on currencies including the pound (in 1992 he was named "the man who broke the Bank of England) after he netted an estimated profit of $1bn on Black Wednesday), the Hungarian-born American financier has become a model of progressive liberal giving.

Now 85, he has piled huge funds into causes including the fight against Apartheid and the emergence of democracy behind the iron curtain. His Open Society Foundations promote justice, public health and a free press and he's political, too. He backed Barack Obama to the tune of millions and, before that, piled even more cash into trying to oust George W Bush, promising to give away his whole fortune for the cause "if someone guaranteed it". He's now taking on Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose general prosecutor last week banned the charity on the grounds that it posed a threat to state security and the Russian constitution.

JK Rowling

How much?! £100m+

JK Rowling has given away over £100m to charity, including her own Volant Charitable Trust, which targets social deprivation as well as disaster relief and multiple sclerosis research (AP)

In 2012 the Harry Potter novelist suffered the ignominy that many billionaires would feel after being knocked off the Forbes rich list for those with nine zeros to their name because – horror – she was giving away too much in taxes and donations to mix it with the big boys.

The magazine named the former benefits recipient as the first author to become a dollar billionaire in 2004. But it ditched her because she had given away over £100m to charity, including her own Volant Charitable Trust, which targets social deprivation as well as disaster relief and multiple sclerosis research. Rowling will have given away a lot more since then and has put her name to dozens of causes and charities while expressing her views on "contemptible" attempts to evade tax.

Marcelle Speller

How much?! £3m+

Marcelle Speller urges wealthy people in the UK not only to give but to do so freely, locally and while shouting about it

Her wealth is pocket change to the world's richest but the British dot-com entrepreneur turned philanthropist has become an unofficial spokesperson for a new kind of British giver. She urges wealthy people in this country, typically more shy than their US counterparts, not only to give but to do so freely, locally and while shouting about it.

She made an undisclosed number of millions in 2005 from the sale of a holiday property rental website and in 2008 founded and helped to fund Localgiving.com. The London-based social enterprise and fund-raising platform offers charities too small to register with the Charity Commission the kind of infrastructure and advice that so many would collapse without. " Yesterday she told the Today programme that giving money away was "far more fun" than making it.

Lord Sainsbury

How much?! £1bn+

Lord Sainsbury’s Gatsby Charitable Foundation supports a range of causes including the arts and science, and Cambridge University (Getty Images)

The great-grandson of the rather successful grocer in 2009 became the first British person to have given away more than £1bn to charity. His family has jettisoned plenty more since and continue to top national giving lists with total donations last year of more than £200m.

His Gatsby Charitable Foundation supports a range of causes including the arts and science, and Cambridge University, where he has served as Chancellor since 2011. In 2013 he became one of dozens of high-profile signatories to the Giving Pledge, the Bill Gates and Warren Buffett initiative to encourage the rich to give up at least half of their wealth. A Labour supporter, he became a life peer in 1997 and gave more than £10m to the Labour Party before expressing a desire to be less political in 2010. Since then he has lent his financial support to the cross-party campaign to keep Britain in the EU.

Li Ka-Shing

How much?! $1.4bn (£1bn)

Li Ka-Shing has thrown money at causes including education and healthcare and disaster relief (AFP/Getty Images)

The former teenage factory worker whose family fled mainland China to Hong Kong in 1940 is now the second-richest man in Asia, with a net worth of $32.5bn after a lifetime of business and investment.

In 1980, he launched the Li Ka-shing Foundation and has thrown money at causes including education and healthcare (there's a cancer research centre in his name in Cambridge) and disaster relief as well as arguably less charitable outlets including, er, Spotify and Facebook. He's built a university and last year told students in Hong Kong how he "lost sleep at night" while thinking about widening inequality. "The howl of rage from polarisation and the crippling cost of welfare dependence is a toxic cocktail commingled to stall growth and foster discontent," he said.