The Billionaire Club

Soros

• Open Society Foundation
• Democracy Alliance (see Callahan, p. 83)

Very rich people

• Number of billionaires in the United States
• By 2018, the US figure was up to 585.
• The Forbes 400

WEALTH INEQUALITY IN THE UNITED STATES SINCE 1913: EVIDENCE FROM CAPITALIZED INCOME TAX DATA Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman 2014

How do they make their money?  Industries most represented on Forbes’ 2018 World’s Billionaires ranks:

Industry	Number of Billionaires	% of total
Finance and Investments	310	14%
Fashion and Retail	235	11%
Real Estate	220	10%
Manufacturing	207	9%
Technology	205	9%
Diversified	194	9%
Food and Beverage	165	7%
Healthcare	134	6%
Energy	94	4%
Media and Entertainment	73	3%

Philanthropy



The local connection: Carnegie Hall and  Donald Carnegie McKenna (his grandmother was a first cousin of Andrew Carnegie.)




Foundation Basics (from the Council on Foundations)

What is a foundation?

In the nonprofit sector, the term foundation has no precise meaning. The Council on Foundations defines a foundation as an entity that supports charitable activities by making grants to unrelated organizations or institutions or to individuals for scientific, educational, cultural, religious, or other charitable purposes. While foundations are often primarily engaged in grantmaking activities, some may engage in their own direct charitable activities or programs. When thinking about foundations in the charitable context, it is helpful to see how the IRS describes private foundations and public charities. Visit the Charities and Nonprofits section of the IRS website at www.irs.gov.

The IRS classifies all 501(c)(3) organizations into two distinct types: private foundations and public charities.


What is a private foundation?

Private foundations are generally financially supported by one or a small handful of sources—an individual, a family, or a corporation. There are a few different kinds of private foundations: independent, family, and corporate. These categories are not legally defined. Rather, they are commonly used in the field of philanthropy to distinguish the different kinds of private foundations. Private foundations must pay out at least 5 percent of their assets each year in the form of grants and operating charitable activities. A private operating foundation is a kind of private foundation and must operate under similar rules. However, it does not have to pay out 5 percent or more of its assets each year in grants. Instead, it must carry out its own charitable purposes. All private foundations are 501(c)(3) organizations. Under the Internal Revenue Code, a charity is presumed to be a private foundation unless it can prove that it is a public charity.

Some of the big players:

• Bloomberg
• Gates and the Giving Pledge
• Chan Zuckerberg

From Sourcewatch: From 1990 to 2014, AEI received more than $111 million in disclosed contributions from the following organizations:[53]

• Kovner Foundation
• Donors Capital Fund
• Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation
• Smith Richardson Foundation
• Sarah Scaife Foundation
• Searle Freedom Trust