Giving it all away: Kwik Save founder turns philanthropist

Albert Gubay, the founder of Kwik Save, is joining the ranks of the great philanthropists by handing his £460m fortune to a charitable foundation. The 82-year old Roman Catholic revealed last weekend that he had made a ‘deal with God’ decades ago, when he was penniless. Gubay, who will keep just £10m, has stipulated that half the foundation’s income must be spent on projects connected with the Roman Catholic church. The rest will be distributed at the discretion of the trustees. During a long career, Gubay also founded the Total Fitness gym chain, and property developer Derwent Holdings
Photograph: Liverpool Daily Post and Echo

Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, is currently the second-richest man in the world. He has pledged virtually all his $53bn fortune to the foundation run by his wife and himself, explaining in 2008 that 'we’ve chosen not to pass it on to our children. We want to give it back to society in the way that it will have the most positive impact.' The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation focuses on fighting poverty, improving healthcare worldwide and improving the US educational system. Gates has quit Microsoft to work for the foundation full time, a move that coined the term 'Billanthropy' to describe the process where top businessmen turn their talents to changing the world
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One reason that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is so powerful is that fellow billionaire Warren Buffett has promised to hand it most of his own multi-billion fortune. Buffett, the legendary stock market investor, will give 85% of his shares in Berkshire Hathaway (the company he still runs) to five charities with Gates’s foundation getting the largest slice. Buffett, aged 78, said he abandoned his previous plan to donate his fortune after his death after seeing how Gates was devoting his time to his foundation
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Scottish entrepreneur Sir Tom Hunter invoked the spirit of Andrew Carnegie, the great philanthropist, in the summer of 2007 when he told the 10 O’Clock News that he would give away his £1bn fortune. Having built an empire through sportswear, property development and retail, Hunter was determined to put his fortune to good use. But the credit crunch, and subsequent recession, ravaged his business empire - forcing him to put the plan on hold.
Photograph: Murdo Macleod

Lord Sainsbury became the first Briton to donate £1bn to charity in 2009, after decades of philanthropy. The Labour peer’s foundation has funded scientific research, mental health work, children’s charities and the arts since it was created in 1967. Sainsbury’s plan is to spend his fortune before he dies
Photograph: David Sillitoe

Dame Anita Roddick, the founder of The Body Shop, stuck to her promise not to die rich. Following her death in 2007 it emerged that she had donated her entire £51m fortune to charity, supporting human rights, social and environmental groups
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As a top City hedge fund manager, Chris Hohn is famous for aggressive investment tactics and winning a showdown with Deutsche Borse over its attempt to take over the London Stock Exchange. But the founder of the Children’s Investment Fund is also a serious philanthropist, donating over half a billion pounds to his foundation (run by his wife) which helps children living in poverty in the developing world
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On a slightly smaller scale, multimillionaire Brian Burnie promised last year to devote his fortune and the rest of his life to charity. Burnie said he would donate the ultra-luxurious hotel Doxford Hall, in Northumberland, to fund cancer care in the area
Photograph: Murdo MacLeod

Millard Fuller, who died last spring, gave up a successful business career aged just 29 and founded Habitat for Humanity, the charity which used donations and volunteer labour to build hundreds of thousands of homes around the world. He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1996, when Bill Clinton declared he had 'literally revolutionised the concept of philanthropy'
Photograph: Walter Petruska/AP

But maybe you’re just better off without the money anyway. Last month Karl Rabeder, an Australian businessman, announced he was selling off his £3m of assets, including a luxury villa and the business that made him rich, as it was making him unhappy. The proceeds will fund his foundation, which provides small loans and assistance to people in Latin America
Photograph: Dominic Ebenbichler/Reuters