Asia's superrich: How to give away their billions

“We want to make improvements on a level that no one else has done before." - Rohini Nilekani, social activist and philanthropist

These sentiments are increasingly heard throughout Asia, where mounting prosperity and changing attitudes toward charity are altering the ways the wealthy give back to society.

Charitable donations in the region have traditionally tended to be a private affair, with the rich quietly giving directly to needy individuals within a family, religion or village network. Now, with tens of thousands of Asians amassing fortunes so large they can no longer responsibly give away substantial sums on a personal, ad hoc basis, professionally run philanthropic foundations like those that arose in the West in the late 19th century are coming to the fore.

Helping to drive this movement are the highly publicized activities of the Gates Foundation and the staggering generosity of Warren Buffett, the U.S. investor who announced in June that he would ultimately give nearly all of his $44 billion fortune to the Gates organization.

[Excerpt of an article by Bryan Walsh, Time Magazine]