Philanthropist

A philanthropist is any person that tries to do good deeds to help other people. The label is most often applied to someone who provides a large fraction of the money that supports the efforts in a particular category. Often a charitable foundation, a museum, or a specific activist organization is the direct recipient.
A philanthropist does not always find universal approval; common accusations include supporting the wrong cause (e.g. funding art instead of fighting world hunger), or a having selfish motivation (e.g. to avoid taxes or out of personal interest).

Some notable philanthropists:

• Joan_Kroc
• Paul Allen
• Walter Annenberg
• Thomas John Barnardo
• Samuel Augustus Barnett
• Andrew Carnegie
• Arthur Coles
• Anthony Ashley Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury
• Bill Cosby
• Anthony J. Drexel
• Henry Duncan
• Benjamin Franklin
• Elizabeth Fry
• John 'Mad Jack' Fuller
• Bill Gates
• Calouste Gulbenkian
• Sir Paul Getty
• Edward Harkness
• Johns Hopkins
• J. C. Jacobsen
• Steve Kirsch
• Alfred Lee Loomis
• John D. MacArthur
• Sir Robert Mayer
• Robert Raikes
• William Marsh Rice
• John D. Rockefeller
• Joseph Rowntree
• Sir Run Run Shaw
• Ted Turner
• Cornelius Vanderbilt
• Joseph Whitworth
• William Wilberforce
• Sir Alfred Yarrow

See also philanthropy.