Who Gave the Most: Carnegie, Rockefeller, or Gates?

Among the dozens of wealthy people who have become important charitable benefactors over the past century, three names stand out as giants of philanthropy:

Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, and Bill Gates.

But who among those three ranks as the most generous of all?

Mr. Carnegie, the steel magnate who died in 1919, gave more than $350-million in his lifetime, according to the Carnegie Corporation of New York. Mr. Rockefeller, the oil baron who died in 1937, gave away about $540-million, according to The Rockefeller Century, by John Ensor Harr and Peter J. Johnson. Mr. Gates, a computer software pioneer who is only in his mid-40s, already has donated about $17-billion.

Such totals do not tell the whole story, of course. For example, they do not show the value of giving by Mr. Carnegie, Mr. Rockefeller, and Mr. Gates in relation to their total wealth or to the size of the American economy as measured by the gross domestic products of their respective eras.

Nor do the giving totals reflect the way in which the value of money has changed because of inflation and other economic forces.

Even so, when inflation is taken into account, Mr. Gates’s giving still outpaces that of Mr. Carnegie and Mr. Rockefeller, though the distance separating Mr. Gates from the other two narrows considerably.

The value of Mr. Carnegie’s lifetime giving is about $3-billion in today’s dollars — about 18 per cent of the Gates total — while that of Mr. Rockefeller comes to more than $6-billion, a little more than a third of the Gates figure.

In the 21st century, the giving legacies of Mr. Carnegie and Mr. Rockefeller are likely to be compared with those of new generations of philanthropists. Already, a few other benefactors besides Mr. Gates have emerged as close rivals.

Charles F. Feeney, the Irish-American entrepreneur who built his fortune with duty-free stores, has given more than $4-billion to charity. Walter H. Annenberg, the former ambassador and publishing magnate, has given away more than $2-billion, including $1-billion in art. The financier George Soros also has given more than $2-billion.