Before Her Death, Dolly Parton Spent Millions Helping Others

He called it a "net negative on the world." There was a time in the United States when the richest moguls, regardless of their many personal shortcomings, embraced philanthropy in a cynical effort to keep the angry mobs at bay. Andrew Carnegie famously built libraries, John D Rockefeller helped fund research that eventually eradicated hookworm, while JP Morgan donated vast collections of art and books to museums and other cultural institutions. Today’s robber barons aren’t in such a giving mood.

Andrew Carnegie was a ruthless industrialist, radical philanthropist and architect of the ‘Gospel of Wealth’

Olivia Rodrigo revealed before her Daisy Chain Fields set that philanthropist Melinda French Gates had doubled the singer’s $10 million donation.

The great wealth transfer is usually discussed in terms of the amount of money that will move from one generation to the next. Over the coming years, enormous

The author of the new book Better Good: A Simple System for Creating Lasting Impact on how the superrich can (finally) get giving right.

Readers share their insights and advice.

At 80, Dolly Parton Still Gives Millions To Charity

Bequest giving jumped almost 20% last year, according to the latest Giving USA report, the third big leap in just four years. This is now the fastest-moving force in American philanthropy.

The recipients of D CEO’s 2026 Corporate Leadership Excellence Award have made giving back a priority.

NEW YORK (AP) — Philanthropist Nancy Kissinger, onetime foreign policy

August 19, 2026, 3:01 AM ET Janice and Bob McNair in 2017. Several major universities had a record-breaking donor year in 2025, including the University of Oklahoma, Florida State University, and the University of Tennessee. But the University of South Carolina had a banner year, shattering its fundraising record by nearly $100 million. The USC system raised a record $357.6 million in private donations during fiscal year 2026, up from its previous record of $259.7 million just one year before. |

“Helping a person in need is good in itself. But the degree of goodness is hugely affected by the attitude with which it is done.

The massive chariatble foundation connected to Bill Gates donated millions to a research center in Seattle, Washington, as scrutiny continues to hit the Microsoft tycoon for his ties to Jeffrey Epstein.

August 11, 2026, 11:31 AM ET Steve and Connie Ballmer are switching up how they participate in philanthropy. Steve and Connie Ballmer have given away more than $8 billion during the past two decades, and founded the Ballmer Group in 2015. Now they’re changing who gets to decide where the next donations go. The couple’s economic-mobility philanthropy, Ballmer Group, is spinning its three regional offices into separate, independent nonprofits for their regional grantmaking. The organizations,

August 12, 2026, 12:00 PM ET The Gates Foundation makes a major gift to the University of Washington. As the federal government has continued to slash funding for scientific research, clean energy, social services, public safety, and education, billionaire philanthropists have stepped in to fill the void. Take MacKenzie Scott, for example, who has used her $26 billion philanthropy to rescue organizations like The Trevor Project, the Center for Disaster Philanthropy, and HBCUs in danger after the

August 14, 2026, 3:00 AM ET Home Depot cofounder Bernie Marcus poses for a portrait in a Home Depot store October 15, 1998. Before Bernie Marcus cofounded the now-$343 billion home improvement chain Home Depot, he dreamed of becoming a doctor. Marcus, who died in November 2024 at age 95, enrolled in pharmacy school when his family couldn’t afford to send him to medical school. He would often skip classes to sell Amana freezers door-to-door, according to a memoir published by Home Depot, but he

Dr. Vandana Arcot is a physician and Founder & Director of Komselj, a philanthropic strategy advisory that has mobilised more than $72 million in philanthropic capital across health equity, gender equity, education, and climate stewardship. www.komselj.com. August 14, 2026, 6:00 AM ET courtesy of Komselj The 50 largest private foundations in America hold more than $535 billion between them. Their obligation is to distribute 5% of it each year, a minimum unchanged since 1969. Across the sector as

August 16, 2026, 6:05 AM ET Nonprofits have to rethink how they chase millennial wealth. It’s 2026, and the $124 trillion Great Wealth Transfer has begun. As baby boomers phase out and pass on the fortunes they’ve built to subsequent generations, a lot will change. Namely, the old ways of philanthropic giving won’t work on younger generations, and that could be a huge problem for nonprofit organizations. | Newsletter “The older generations are disproportionately providing the majority of the

Nick Allardice is CEO, GiveDirectly, and David Goldberg is Founder & President, Founders Pledge. August 15, 2026, 8:30 AM ET CEO of Anthropic Dario Amodei attends a working lunch with G7 leaders, G7 outreach partners, and global tech CEOs on innovation and AI, during the G7 Summit on June 17, 2026 in Evian-les-Bains, France. Sometime in the near future, a significant portion of the people building today’s AI industry are expected to become very rich. Many are already thinking about what to do

Max Simkoff is the founder and CEO of Doma Technology and board director at JVS Bay Area. Lisa Countryman-Quiroz is CEO of JVS Bay Area. August 9, 2026, 7:30 AM ET Guests on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange in New York, US, on Thursday, July 30, 2026. SpaceX’s IPO this summer created an estimated 4,400 new millionaires overnight, and Anthropic and OpenAI are expected to soon follow. Goldman Sachs projects a historic year for IPO proceeds, driven by the AI boom. The question is: How much

Max Simkoff is the founder and CEO of Doma Technology and board director at JVS Bay Area. Lisa Countryman-Quiroz is CEO of JVS Bay Area. August 7, 2026, 8:30 AM ET courtesy of JVS Bay Area SpaceX’s IPO this summer created an estimated 4,400 new millionaires overnight, and Anthropic and OpenAI are expected to soon follow. Goldman Sachs projects a historic year for IPO proceeds, driven by the AI boom. The question is: How much of this enormous wealth will trickle down to the people who need it

August 6, 2026, 3:00 AM ET Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has still managed to, along with his wife, Priscilla Chan, donate $7 billion through their Redwood City, Calif.-based foundation. California is home to more billionaires than any other state: 246 of them to be exact, according to an April report by Oxfam. It’s where MacKenzie Scott, Jensen Huang, and Mark Zuckerberg have funneled billions into charitable causes. Yet somehow it’s actually the worst state in the country to be a donor, according

The Citadel CEO gave $26M to the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library; Amazon’s founder gave to save endangered animals.

"Uber-wealthy people helping a fraction of the problems that they cause." Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos and his actor buddy Leonardo DiCaprio are catching some heavy flak recently, but for a seemingly bizarre reason: pledging millions of dollars to protect 100 of the world’s most threatened animal species. The charity initiative, called the Phoenix Species Project, was first revealed on DiCaprio’s Instagram account, where the six-time academy award nominee described it as the “largest single