200 of the world’s leading philanthropists, social entrepreneurs and business leaders, including Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, President Bill Clinton, Dr. Paul Farmer, Bill Ackman, Jim Breyer, Michael J. Fox, Danny Meyer, Michael Milken, Peter G. Peterson, Stephen Schwarzman, Jeff Skoll, Spanx Founder Sara Blakely, Steve and Jean Case and Paul Singer, gathered for a discussion on groundbreaking models in philanthropy, and how to improve global healthcare
Warren Buffett gave Bill and Melinda Gates the Forbes 400 Lifetime Achievement Award for Philanthropy
President Bill Clinton, Founder, Clinton Foundation; the 42nd President of the United States presented Dr. Paul Farmer with Forbes 400 Lifetime Achievement Award for Social Entrepreneurship
NEW YORK (June 4, 2015) – Forbes announced today that on June 3 the company hosted its fourth annual Forbes 400 Summit on Philanthropy in New York City. With the goal of accelerating solutions to global problems and increasing philanthropic efficiency, the exclusive summit, supported by Royal Bank of Canada, Alzheimer’s Association, Mayo Clinic and McKinsey and Company, gathered 200 of the world’s leading philanthropists, billionaires and social entrepreneurs, including Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, President Bill Clinton, Dr. Paul Farmer, Bill Ackman, Jim Breyer, Michael J. Fox, Danny Meyer, Michael Milken, Peter G. Peterson, Stephen Schwarzman, Jeff Skoll, Spanx Founder Sara Blakely, Steve and Jean Case and Paul Singer, among others.
“This Summit brought together so many historic figures, in a forum that can change the world,” said Forbes Editor Randall Lane. “By looking at philanthropy through the prism of global health, we think we made a dent today.”
This year’s summit kicked off with a thought-provoking conversation with Michael J. Fox, founder of the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research. Fox, who has Parkinson’s, has spent almost two decades working to ensure awareness and to fund research to find a cure for the neurological disease.
Panel discussions on topics such as “Breakthrough Philanthropy” and “Is Advocacy the Best Way to Make a Difference?” were followed by problem-solving working groups where specific challenges that need solutions were addressed. Top philanthropists and investors discussed successes and failures in “For Profit Philanthropy: Investing For Impact” and “Lessons from Ebola: From the Front Lines to the Future and What Can Be Done to Combat Future Epidemics.”
During the summit’s evening program, two major awards were presented:
Warren Buffett gave Bill and Melinda Gates, Co-Chairs & Trustees of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Forbes 400 Lifetime Achievement Award for Philanthropy.
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President Bill Clinton, Founder, Clinton Foundation; the 42nd President of the United States presented Dr. Paul Farmer, Cofounder of Partners In Health, with the Forbes 400 Lifetime Achievement Award for Social Entrepreneurship.
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http://www.forbes.com/video/4274467825001/
“Melinda and I plan to keep at this for many years to come. We consider accepting this award to be a promise to keep working as hard as we can,” said Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. “The next two decades could be revolutionary when it comes to the health of the world’s poorest people.”
Dr. Paul Farmer, Kolokotrones University Professor at Harvard University and Co-Founder of Partners In Health, was honored to accept the award on behalf of the large team with whom he works in settings of destitution around the world. He said “The only thing I ask in the rest of my life is to continue being able to prevent problems and to respond to people who are sick or injured and also imperiled by poverty.”
Forbes magazine will reveal the results of the Forbes 400 Summit on Philanthropy in full this November as part of its special Philanthropy issue.
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About RBC
Royal Bank of Canada is Canada’s largest bank, and one of the largest banks in the world, based on market capitalization. We are one of North America’s leading diversified financial services companies, and provide personal and commercial banking, wealth management, insurance, investor services and capital markets products and services on a global basis. We employ approximately 78,000 full- and part-time employees who serve more than 16 million personal, business, public-sector and institutional clients through offices in Canada, the U.S. and 39 other countries. RBC supports a broad range of community initiatives through donations, sponsorships and employee volunteer activities. In 2014, we contributed more than $111 million to causes worldwide, including donations and community investments of more than $76 million and $35 million in sponsorships.
About Mayo Clinic
Mayo Clinic is a nonprofit organization committed to medical research and education, and providing expert, whole-person care to everyone who needs healing. For more information, visit http://www.mayoclinic.org/about-mayo-clinic or http://newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/.
About McKinsey & Company
McKinsey & Company is a global management consulting firm that helps many of the world’s leading organizations address their strategic challenges. With consultants deployed in more than 50 countries around the globe, McKinsey advises on strategic, operational, organizational and technological issues. For more than eight decades, the firm’s primary objective has been to serve as an organization’s most trusted external advisor on critical issues facing senior management.
