Tata is a symbol of Indian capitalism, with a rare reputation for combining fast growth and ethical conduct in a nation still bedevilled by corruption. The Tatas are conspicuously absent from coveted billionaire lists, as the founders bequeathed most of their personal wealth to about 16 trusts they created to give back to society.The Tata trusts have been custodians of a tradition of philanthropy that has touched and changed countless lives.
Philanthropic initiatives by the Tata group are as old as their commercial and industrial enterprise. The path to constructive philanthropy was first shown by Tata group Founder Jamsetji Tata, when he formed the JN Tata Endowment in 1892 to provide Indian students scholarships to study abroad. The Tata philanthropic trusts hold 66 percent of the shares in Tata Sons, one of the two promoter holding companies of the group. The wealth that accrues from this asset helps the trusts support an assortment of causes, institutions and individuals in a wide variety of areas, such as the uplift of the poor, education, health, art and enhancement of civil society.
Gates studied the work of Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller, and in 1994 sold some of his Microsoft stock to create the "William H. Gates Foundation." In 2000, Gates and his wife combined three family foundations to create the charitable "Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation," which was identified by the Funds for NGOs company in 2013 as the world's wealthiest charitable foundation, with assets reportedly valued at more than US$34.6 billion.[92] The Foundation allows benefactors to access information that shows how its money is being spent, unlike other major charitable organizations such as the Wellcome Trust.
Gates has credited the generosity and extensive philanthropy of David Rockefeller as a major influence. Gates and his father met with Rockefeller several times, and their charity work is partly modeled on the Rockefeller family's philanthropic focus, whereby they are interested in tackling the global problems that are ignored by governments and other organizations.As of 2007, Bill and Melinda Gates were the second-most generous philanthropists in America, having given over US$28 billion to charity; the couple plan to eventually donate 95 percent of their wealth to charity.
Most Famous For: Referred to as the "Sage" or "Oracle" of Omaha, Warren Buffett is widely viewed as one of the most successful investors in history. Following the principles set out by Benjamin Graham, he has amassed a personal multibillion dollar fortune mainly through investing in stocks and buying companies through Berkshire Hathaway. Shareholders in Berkshire Hathaway who invested $10,000 in the company in 1965 are above the $50 million mark today. Now in his 70s, Buffett has yet to write a single book, but among investment professionals and the investing public, there is no more respected voice. (To learn more, read Warren Buffett: How He Does Itand What Is Warren Buffett\'s Investing Style?) In 2006, Buffett announced that he would pledge much of his reported $44 billion in stock holdings to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation ($31 billion) and four other charities ($6 billion) started by members of his family.Warren Buffett has bested his own personal philanthropy record, donating $2.8 billion to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and several other charities as part of his annual giving pledge.
What Is Warren Buffett's Investing Style? If you want to emulate a classic value style, Warren Buffett is a great role model. Early in his career, Buffett said, "I'm 85% Benjamin Graham." Graham is the godfather of value investing and introduced the idea of intrinsic value - the underlying fair value of a stock based on its future earnings power. But there are a few things worth noting about Buffett's interpretation of value investing that may surprise you.
Azim Hashim Premji (born 24 July 1945) is an Indian business tycoon and philanthropist who is the chairman of Wipro Limited, guiding the company through four decades of diversification and growth to emerge as one of the Indian leaders in the software industry. In 2001, he founded Azim Premji Foundation,a non-profit organisation, with a vision to significantly contribute to achieving quality universal education that facilitates a just, equitable, humane and sustainable society. The Foundation works in the area of elementary education to pilot and develop 'proofs of concept' that have a potential for systemic change in India's 1.3 million government-run schools. A specific focus is on working in rural areas where the majority of these schools exist. This choice to work with elementary education (Class I to VIII) in rural government-run is a response to evidence of educational attainment in India.
The non-profit organization set up by Premji in 2001 currently functions across Karnataka, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Pondicherry, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, in close partnership with various state governments. The foundation has worked largely in rural areas, to help contribute to the improvement of quality and equity of school education.
In December 2010, he pledged to donate $2 billion for improving school education in India. This has been done by transferring 213 million equity shares of Wipro Ltd, held by a few entities controlled by him, to the Azim Premji Trust. This donation is the largest of its kind in India. Azim Premji has become the first Indian to sign up for the The Giving Pledge, a campaign led by Warren Buffett and Bill Gates, to encourage the wealthiest people to make a commitment to give most of their wealth to philanthropic causes. He is the third non-American after Richard Branson and David Sainsbury to join this philanthropy club.
Narayana Murthy, a godfather of India's software industry, believes giving away money is just as important as making it.
The co-founder of Bangalore-based outsourcing giant Infosys Technologies, launched in 1981 by a handful of engineers with just $250 and modeled on Silicon Valley startups, has long been an advocate for free markets in India. Now he's one of his nation's prominent philanthropists. "Mr. Murthy has chosen to make his life count for others," he said. "He is committed to helping struggling people cross the digital divide so that they have the tools they need to thrive in a technological age. His lifework resonates in Silicon Valley and stands as an example worth following."
Murthy's personal philanthropy includes work with a nonprofit striving to improve voter databases in India to strengthen the nation's democratic system. Along with his wife, he is also involved with a project to construct a school building in a remote area of the southeastern state of Andhra Pradesh, which was damaged during recent floods, and raising funds for a midday meal program for the poor. They also have contributed to a number of universities in the United States.
In an interview with this newspaper in 2009, Murthy said philanthropy plays a vital role in market economies. "India has made tremendous progress," he said. "We have grown our GDP significantly, we have created a lot of entrepreneurs, we have created a lot of wealth -- all of that has happened.
"But there is another side of India, which has not benefited from our progress," Murthy added. "And that is the India of the poor, and my belief is that unless India looks at an inclusive growth story, we will not have succeeded in our efforts to take the country forward. We cannot have a situation where one section of the country is galloping and another section is in some ways stationary."
