The City A.M. World Charity Index 2014 has ranked the top 20 international foundations, which gave the largest grants for charitable causes around the world this year. United States dominates the list with 13 of its foundations providing billions of pounds in grant. The United Kingdom has three international donors while countries like the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and Germany have one each in this list.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation tops the list as the number one grant-giving organization around the world with £2.16 billion worth of grants given out just this year. The Foundation continues to be the biggest international private donor backed by billionaires such Bill Gates and Warren Buffet.
The second position goes to the UK’s Wellcome Trust, which has given more than £580 million for medical and biomedical research. The Netherlands-based Novamedia/Postcode Lotteries is in the third position for giving away £470 million for social and development causes around the world. The Spain-based La Caixa Foundation’s donation in 2014 was around £309 million.
The Silicon Valley Community Foundation has surprisingly taken the fifth rank in the top givers of 2014 despite the fact that this Foundation mostly supports projects within the Silicon Valley of California in USA.
Two US foundations, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and The Walton Family Foundation with grants amounting to more than £200 million have taken the sixth and seventh position. The eighth position goes to the UK-based Church Commissioners that mostly offers donations for faith-related projects.
The rest of the US foundations that have taken a place in the top 20 are David & Lucile Packard Foundation, Gordon & Betty Moore Foundation, Open Society Foundations, William & Flora Hewlett Foundation, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, J&C MacArthur Foundation, Wells Fargo Foundation, Bank of America Charitable Foundation and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.
Foundations of Sweden, UK and Germany, namely, Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, The Atlantic Philanthropies and the Volkswagen Foundation have taken the 15th, 16th and the 17th positions in the top 20 list.
