The Forbes 400 has added a new index measuring not only how wealthy the 400 richest Americans are, but how philanthropic they are. The score is based on an estimate of total lifetime giving, excluding pledges or announced gifts that have yet to be paid out. The philanthropy score ranges from 1 to 5, with 5 being the most generous, for each individual.
Notable top givers include Bill Gates, who has donated $35.8 billion — more than anyone else in dollar terms — or 27 percent of his fortune as of September 2018, to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and George Soros, who tops the list in terms of lifetime giving as a percentage of total net worth at 79 percent, or $32 billion, having transferred $18 billion from his Soros Management Fund to the Open Society Foundations in 2017.