The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation was recognized as the most generous private charity in the world this year. In 2013 the philanthropic foundation founded by the founder of Microsoft and his wife selflessly donated £ 1.63 billion to help those in need.

This is evidenced by the data of the report “Global Charity Index 2013”, prepared by the British newspaper City A. M. together with the experts of the international consulting company KPMG and the Amsterdam Free University.

The researchers evaluated the philanthropic contributions of private organizations that have become major philanthropists around the world and in Europe in particular. They also determined the volume of donations from the largest donor organizations over the entire period of their existence.

According to the report, in 2013 the world’s top 20 most generous private organizations donated nearly £4 billion to charity, more than 40 percent of which went to the Gates family.

Almost four times less was the amount of sponsorship of the Dutch organization Novamedia / Postcode Lotteries, the second in the global ranking of benefactors – £ 441 million. The three most generous private organizations in 2013 was closed by the U.S. W. K. K. Kellogg Foundation, which, according to the report’s authors, allocated £ 219 million to the needy.

The biggest support to the international community in solving global problems this year has been given by the American philanthropic foundations, which represent half of the top 20 nongovernmental organization-donors. The other half of the most active benefactors in 2013 were foundations from four European countries: Great Britain (25%), Sweden (10%), Germany (10%) and the Netherlands (5%).

The oldest organization in the top 20 of the global rankings is the Swedish Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, founded in 1917, and the youngest – the British Children’s Investment Fund Foundation that appeared in 2003.

Private foundations in Europe have spent more than £1.5 billion on charitable purposes this year. Four organisations have provided the lion’s share (63.5%) of these donations: the Dutch Novamedia / Postcode Lotteries (£441m), British Church Commissioners (£207.3m), Swedish Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation (£120.8m) and German Volkswagen Stiftung (£120m). 17 of the 20 participants in the European ranking are private foundations from these four countries. The list also includes one organization each from Italy, Portugal and Finland.

The size of the twenty most generous non-governmental foundations at the moment is almost £ 58 billion. The biggest philanthropists in the history of mankind are the Gates family, whose foundation has already allocated £ 17.3 billion to charity. Besides the American non-governmental organizations this list also includes private foundations of six countries.