Dolly Parton a business manager, a wealthy lady and a great philanthropist

Maybe her best lifetime contributions!

I have to admit I was not aware of this side of her long career!

P.S. I just learnt that Dolly Parton died about within one year of her husband Carl Dean (died at age 83? Born 1942?) with whom she was married for over 60 years.

"Dolly Gave Away More Than She Kept

Dolly Parton, who died Tuesday at 80, built a $450 million fortune from a childhood in a one-room Tennessee cabin. By some estimates, she gave away even more, roughly $500 million.

Her defining deal was one she turned down. In 1974, Elvis Presley’s manager demanded half the publishing rights to I Will Always Love You. “Something in my heart says, don’t do that,” she later recalled. Whitney Houston’s 1992 cover of that song earned Parton an estimated $20 million.

She kept her name on the rest of her business, too: half of Dollywood, her Tennessee theme park empire, and a 3,000-song catalog valued at $120 million.

Her philanthropy was lifelong, and much of the giving went through her Dollywood Foundation, established in 1988. Its Imagination Library, a tribute to her father, who never learned to read, has mailed more than 330 million free books to children."

Friday, August 28, 2026 - Join The Flyover

Dolly Parton in 1970 (Source)

SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell pledges shares to new Trump Accounts for more than 2 million children

This lady shoots well! 😊 A nice example of American philanthropism!

"SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell said Monday she would donate a portion of her company stock to Trump Accounts for more than 2 million children in areas with lower average household income. 

The effort will place “a bit more emphasis” on children, between 11 and 17 years old, who live near her central Texas home, Shotwell wrote on X. "

SpaceX president pledges shares to new Trump Accounts

Gwynne Shotwell, President and COO of SpaceX, speaks during a bell ringing ceremony for the IPO of SpaceX at the Nasdaq MarketSite in New York, Friday, June 12, 2026, in New York. 

Current Forbes profile

Her X post

Ted Turner (1938-2026), who shaped cable TV and launched CNN, died at 87.

R.I.P.

While he still owned CNN (until 1995), CNN was much better than afterwards!

Whether it was a good idea to donate $1 billion to the United Nations remains questionable!

"The high-profile media tycoon was also a sailor, a conservationist who was one of the largest U.S. landowners, and a major philanthropist who helped set a model for generous giving by billionaires. Turner was best known for turning the billboard-advertising company he inherited from his father into Turner Broadcasting System, an Atlanta-based TV and movie giant that he sold to Time Warner in 1995."

"... As a philanthropist, he gave $1 billion to create the United Nations Foundation, a public charity to broaden U.S. support for the United Nations. Turner served as chairman of the United Nations Foundation board of directors. Additionally, in 2001, Turner co-founded the Nuclear Threat Initiative with U.S. senator Sam Nunn (D-GA). NTI is a non-partisan organization dedicated to reducing global reliance on, and preventing the proliferation of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons. He served as co-chairman of the board of directors. ..." (Wikipedia)

Wall Street Journal What's news

Ted Turner

CERN accepts $1bn from private donors towards Future Circular Collider

Good news!

"The CERN particle-physics lab near Geneva has received $1bn from private donors towards the construction of the Future Circular Collider (FCC). The cash marks the first time in the lab’s 72-year history that individuals and philanthropic foundations have agreed to support a major CERN project. If built, the FCC would be the successor to the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), where the Higgs boson was discovered. ..."

CERN accepts $1bn in private cash towards Future Circular Collider – Physics World "Mark Thomson takes the reins at the CERN particle-physics lab, which recently received $1bn in private donations for its next collider project"

Ex-Google CEO Eric and wife Wendy Schmidt fund private space telescope bigger than Hubble ready in four years

Good news! Once more American philanthropy at its best!

"Today [1/7/2026] at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society, Schmidt Sciences, a foundation backed by billionaires Eric and Wendy Schmidt, announced one of the largest ever private investments in astronomy: funding for an orbiting observatory larger than NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, along with funds to build three novel ground-based observatories. The project aims to have all four components up and running by the end of the decade. ...

Schmidt Sciences declined to say how much it is investing but ... the space telescope, called Lazuli, alone will cost hundreds of millions of dollars. ..."

Ex–Google CEO funds private space telescope bigger than Hubble | Science | AAAS "Schmidt Sciences announces investments in orbiting observatory and three ground-based instruments"

The Eric and Wendy Schmidt Observatory System "Four novel observatories expanding access and enabling new ways to explore the cosmos"

The Argus Array, part of the new Eric and Wendy Schmidt Observatory System, will record a movie of the visible sky with 1200 small telescopes.

Eric and Wendy Schmidt (Source)

Chart of the day

What is obviously wrong with the chart? It does not show how much money they donated!

Source

Michael and Susan Dell Donate $6.25 Billion to fund $250 ‘Trump Accounts’ for 25 million Children

Good news! Bravo! Great idea! 

I have used several Dell laptops in my life and I was very happy with them! Now, I have an HP Envy laptop and I am not happy!

The power of interest compounding!

"The gift covers those who are ineligible for a new federal program that will provide $1,000 in seed money for younger children. Dell recipients will receive $250."

"Michael and Susan Dell on Tuesday said they will donate $250 in so-called Trump accounts to 25 million American children, a $6.25 billion investment that the Dells said is designed to jumpstart the kids' futures. "

Michael and Susan Dell Donate $6.25 Billion to ‘Trump Accounts’ for Children - WSJ "Donation to provide savings for millions of American children not eligible for seed money from government"

Michael and Susan Dell to fund Trump accounts by giving $250 apiece to 25 million U.S. kids

Michael and Susan Dell

Trump reveals private donor gave $US130M to cover military pay during 'Democrat' shutdown

Amazing stuff! Bravo! The American spirit on display! 

Houston billionaires Nancy and Rich Kinder pledge $10B to charity

What can be kinder if your last name is Kinder! They say everything is bigger in Texas! 😊

"Houston billionaires Nancy and Rich Kinder have affirmed they plan to give away 95% of their fortune, or more than $10 billion, with an emphasis on city parks, the arts, education and other local causes. ..."

Houston billionaires Nancy and Rich Kinder pledge $10B to charity

Giving USA 2025: U.S. charitable giving grew to $592.50 billion in 2024, lifted by stock market gains

Old news, but good news! The US defense budget is about $850 billion.

American generosity on display!

"What to Know

• Key findings from Giving USA 2025: The Annual Report on Philanthropy for the Year 2024 report that individuals, bequests, foundations and corporations gave an
• estimated $592.50 billion to U.S. charities in 2024.
• Total giving grew 6.3% in current dollars, reaching a new high by that measure (3.3% when adjusted for inflation). A strong stock market and GDP growth helped fuel the increase in total giving, which was led by individual and corporate giving.
• All recipient subsectors saw donations increase in current dollars. When adjusted for inflation, giving to seven of the nine categories rose, while giving to foundations remained relatively flat and giving to religion decreased slightly.

..."

 

Giving USA 2025: U.S. charitable giving grew to $592.50 billion in 2024, lifted by stock market gains | Giving USA

Bill Gates to give most of his $200bn fortune to Africa

Good news! I don't think it is a huge ethical issue that his foundation donates to humanitarian causes in Africa, while his business side invests in e.g. mining operations in Africa.

Tel Aviv University Receives $125 Million Donation from Blackstone President Jonathan Gray and his wife

Good news! The world will be healthier!

"In a monumental act of philanthropy, Jonathan Gray, president of the global investment firm Blackstone, and his wife, Mindy, have donated $125 million to Tel Aviv University’s School of Medicine the largest gift in the university’s history and one of the most significant ever made to any Israeli institution of higher education.

The unprecedented contribution will fund the expansion of the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, which will now be renamed the Gray Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences in honor of the donors. The funds will support scholarships, cutting-edge research facilities, and the construction of dormitories for 600 students, with a mission to both strengthen Israel’s health system and ensure the inclusion of students from all sectors of society. ...

The donation also represents a symbolic renewal. In 2023, the university removed the Sackler name from its medical faculty due to the family’s role in the opioid crisis. ..."

Tel Aviv University Receives $125 Million Donation from Blackstone President "Jonathan and Mindy Gray’s historic gift to Israel’s largest medical faculty aims to address doctor shortage, boost diversity, and advance national health."

Jonathan and Mindy Gray

Bill Gates (age 69) pledges to give away more than a $100bn, the rest of his fortune by 2045 to world's poorest

Amazing stuff! Bravo!

"When I first began thinking about how to give away my wealth, I did what I always do when I start a new project: I read a lot of books. I read books about great philanthropists and their foundations to inform my decisions about how exactly to give back. And I read books about global health to help me better understand the problems I wanted to solve.

One of the best things I read was an 1889 essay by Andrew Carnegie called The Gospel of Wealth. It makes the case that the wealthy have a responsibility to return their resources to society, a radical idea at the time that laid the groundwork for philanthropy as we know it today. ..."

Bill Gates pledges to give away $200bn fortune by 2045 to world's poorest "Bill Gates pledges to donate nearly all wealth by 2045, with $200B to aid world’s poorest as his foundation nears end. Billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates announced Thursday that he will give away nearly all of his personal wealth over the next two decades, pledging that his fortune will not outlive him."

My new deadline: 20 years to give away virtually all my wealth (in his own words) "During the first 25 years of the Gates Foundation, we gave away more than $100 billion. Over the next two decades, we will double our giving."

Credits: Bill Gates to accelerate spending at his foundation — then wind it down

Bill Gates' girlfriend Paula Hurd (age 59) in 2022 (Source)

Warren Buffett’s enormous charitable gifts of the Oracle of Omaha

Recommendable! This man is quite a character!

"... He has given much of his vast fortune to charity and plans to unload the most of the rest during his lifetime or upon his death. Buffett also largely lives a modest lifestyle by billionaire standards; he still resides in the spacious house he bought six decades ago. ...

With fellow philanthropists Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates, Buffett created The Giving Pledge, through which billionaires commit to giving at least half their fortunes to charity. Buffett is going way beyond that: “More than 99% of my wealth will go to philanthropy during my lifetime or at death,” he pledged.

Rather than establish his own foundation, he has poured his charitable money into five foundations run by others, especially the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation – for which he served as a trustee until 2021. Upon stepping down, Buffett observed that he has similarly exited all the corporate boards to which he used to belong because his “physical participation is in no way needed.”

Buffett says he has given very little money to his three children, Howard Graham Buffett, Peter Buffett and Susan Alice Buffett, aside from hundreds of millions of dollars for the foundations they each run.

As of September 2024, he had gradually given the five foundations he has funded Berkshire Hathaway shares worth a cumulative total of $55 billion. “Society has a use for my money; I don’t,” he quipped in 2021.

In 2024, he announced plans to give the foundations his children run what could amount to around $150 billion more upon his death. He also said they should give this money away within a decade. ..."

How Warren Buffett’s enormous charitable gifts reflect the ‘inner scorecard’ that has guided him up to the billionaire’s planned retirement

Warren Buffett still lives in the same house in Omaha, Neb., that he bought for $31,500 in 1958, about $350,000 in today’s dollars. 

Chart of the day

Is it not truly amazing how much Bill Gates spends on healthcare world wide! Like second to none! Bravo!

Next time you turn on your computer with the Window operating system remember Bill Gates and his incredible philanthropy!

Source: Nature Briefing: Translational Research

The Billionaire Who Secretly Gave Away His Entire Fortune - Chuck Feeney

Recommendable! He donated more than $8 billion in his lifetime.

Only 0.16% of all US charitable giving supports LGBTQ+ groups despite recent increases. Really!

Over $800 million (inflation adjusted) is not small change given that LGBTQ is like a mania or a human fad.

What about the value of the daily and massive publicity/advertisement/propaganda for LGBTQ in news media and so on?

"Despite that swift growth, those donations still amount to only 0.16% of total U.S. charitable contributions, according to the latest edition of the LGBTQ+ Index, developed by the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy’s Equitable Giving Lab. Put another way, less than US$1 out of every $500 donated in 2021 – the most recent year for which data is available – went to support LGBTQ+ organizations.

We are among the researchers who produce this index by analyzing data the Internal Revenue Service collects on nonprofits.

The sliver of charitable dollars funding LGBTQ+ organizations rose in inflation-adjusted terms to $823 million in 2021 from $387 million in 2012. The pace of this growth was particularly fast in 2020 and 2021, with a 35% increase over just two years. ..."

Only 0.16% of all US charitable giving supports LGBTQ+ groups despite recent increases

Chart of the day

Bad news! However, the chart does not show the money amount of donations, very poorly done Fraser Institute!

Former boxing superstar Floyd Mayweather Visits Israeli Facility for Wounded Soldiers

Good news! The article does not mention why he visited? A glance at the Mayweather Wikipedia entry does not provide a clue either.

Not mentioned either is his jail term for domestic abuse. Maybe he changed his life.

Israel does extraordinary and often commendable things for their injured soldiers! This is just one example!

"In a heartfelt visit, retired boxing champion Floyd Mayweather arrived in Israel today to spend time at B’Lev Echad, an organization dedicated to supporting wounded soldiers in their healing journey. The visit took on even deeper significance as Mayweather honored the memory of Matan Abergel, an Israeli soldier who courageously gave his life to protect his unit. ..."

Floyd Mayweather Visits Israeli Facility for Wounded Soldiers "Floyd Mayweather Pays Tribute to Fallen Soldier and Inspires Heroes in Recovery."

Belev Echad "Restoring the Lives of the Wounded Men and Women of the IDF"

The Future of Rehabilitation Being Pioneered in Ukraine

Very recommendable! Seems to be a great approach to help severely injured veterans to resume a normal and hopefully happy life. Great philanthropy and donations!

When will humans eradicate war? Not in my lifetime, I am afraid!