Complex Methods Billionaire Philanthropists Use To Donate (VIDEO)

When a wealthy philanthropist announces a big-ticket donation, many will first talk about how massive the donation is. Then, backlash trickles in from critics accusing the donor of a publicity stunt or a trying to get a tax write-off. This turns something as simple as a donation into a complicated and controversial act for millionaires and billionaires.

These wealthy donors can use a number of tools and incentives that are in place for philanthropy, such as private foundations. This is the system philanthropists like Bill and Melinda French Gates use when making huge donations to their own foundation: the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. 

Though there isn’t anything insidious about a person donating to their own foundation, skeptics will point out this is an effective way for people to pay less income and capital gains taxes on their wealth and for them to avoid estate taxes all together, since the funds are no longer part of their estate.

In one notorious …