Save the Children

LONDON, U K (Telegraph.co.uk) - The man behind Mr Sheen and Cillit Bang certainly knows how to put a shine on his reputation.

Last week, it emerged that Bart Becht, the chief executive of cleaning products giant Reckitt Benckiser who last year pocketed £90m, transferred £110m of shares to a charitable trust which supports organisations such as Save the Children.

Mr Becht, a Dutchman know for his work ethic, did not comment on the gift. But, his largesse has cast a spotlight on executive pay packets and corporate philanthropy.

As anger over bankers' bonuses engulfed the City, some of the highest-paid executives have sought to sidestep the firestorm by waiving their bonus or donating them to worthy causes. Stephen Hester, boss of the part-nationalised bank RBS, was among those to refuse his bonus, thought to be in the region of £1.6m.

A few weeks later, Michael Geoghegan, chief executive of HSBC, said he would give his £4m bonus to charity.

He said at the time: "Like many people in business generally and within HSBC specifically, my wife and I have anonymously supported educational charities and projects in a number of different countries over the past three decades."

Mr Geoghegan, who said that he and his wife were "uncomfortable" about going public with their donation, added that between now and 2013 he planned to give up to £4m to charities around the world.

His gift is the latest in a long line of philanthropic donations.

Among the UK's top givers is Sir Tom Hunter. The man who made his fortune from Sports Division has, along with his wife, donated in excess of £100m to The Hunter Foundation, a trust which supports charities including Unicef.

Peter Cruddas, the man behind financial trading group CMC Markets, has also given more than £100m of his personal fortune to youth-based charities.

But these donations are dwarfed by the powerhouse philanthropist Bill Gates.

The billionaire Microsoft co-founder, along with his wife, established the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to help deliver health care and education around the world.

During the past 10 years, his charity has committed $4.5bn (£2.9bn) to vaccines, and earlier this year he pledged a further $10bn to develop and distribute the vaccines, which he hopes will save the lives of almost 8m children in the world's poorest countries.

But the biggest charitable donation in history was from investor Warren Buffett, who gave $31bn to The Gates Foundation in 2006.

Mr Buffett said at the time that he had always wanted to give away the bulk of his fortune, adding that the appropriate vehicle for doing so had only recently become apparent.

The man known as the "Sage of Omaha", who has an estimated worth of $44bn, said of his donation: "I am not an enthusiast of dynastic wealth, particularly when the alternative is six billion people having much poorer hands in life than we have."

Copyright 2013 Telegraph.co.uk   (Copyright Terms)
Updated 1140 days ago   Article ID# 438409

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