Those are saints, very rare both in the 99% and the 1%. Being poor is no assurance of sainthood -- people are poor by birth, through circumstance & all sorts of personal shortcomings. Being wealthy, otoh, nearly precludes sainthood -- a (Christian) saint who happened onto wealth gives it away. This is in no way a sermon, i don't advocate sainthood or shoot for it myself -- simply an analysis: If you want to find a saint, looking among the 1% is impractical.
And yet in the .0001% is where you find most of the funding for our enduring charitable foundations. More so in the US than elsewhere though.
In other words, "enduring charitable foundations" were not started by beggars? You understand that when you have nothing, it's metaphysically ... difficult to give?
As far as charity amongst the poor, since sharing crumbs of bread (or crack) is neither tax-deductible or newsworthy, such sharing seldom makes it into the annals of history.
Andrew Carnegie, a century ago, declared it disgraceful to die rich.
The unfortunate man died in utter disgrace, unable to turn himself into a pauper. Let's show some largesse & not draw attention to his failings.
Benjamin Franklin, perhaps the founder of modern philanthropy in the USA, wrote in 1740, the goal of philanthropic giving is to change society so as to do away with the need for charity.
His poor grasp of logic (philanthropy *is* charity) was corrected for by communists and socialists, who pointed out that in an ideal society there is no need for charity or philanthropy -- both are products of class disparity.
Some examples
George Soros has devoted $10 billion—half of his total fortune over the last 20 years—to helping dissidents in Central Europe, financing drug-rehabilitation programs in Baltimore, and educating the persecuted Roma people of Hungary.
...leaving him with a measly 10 billion dollars. How does he manage on such a pittance? Is there a way we can help?
Bill and Melinda Gates give $4 billion annually to develop African agriculture and to eradicate malaria.
...their selflessness should be a lesson to us all. Did you know that Bill saves the remains of soap bars, wadding them together into balls which he later reuses? Melinda never tires of finding new & creative ways to stretch the Gates family dollar, upgrading her private fleet to thrifty Gulfstream G650s.
Matched by Warren Buffet (who is leaving less than 1/10000th of his wealth to his heirs and the rest to charity).
You don't know how inheritance works, do you?
No matter, help me with my math: Would 1/10000th of 60 billion dollars make me a pauper?
New York financier John Paulson gave $100 million for the upkeep of Central Park,
Stephen Schwarzman, a Wall Street investor, donated $100 million to renovate the New York Public Library and another $100 million to finance scholarships for American students in China.
Private giving underwrites almost all American cultural institutions and major universities. By contrast, in Europe, such institutions rely on public money more commonly.
I remember the disaster relief giving for tsunami and such, how there would be lists circulated about what countries gave what money. Folks were calling the US stingy because the government money was not considered high enough. But in the US more was given by private donation than any single nation, including the US, but that doesn't make the papers internationally. Folks like their stereotypes.
No matter how many times i hear this argument, it never loses its freshness or fails to entertain. If your logic works for the rich, it works equally well for taxes: let the government tax the shit out of you, and in return you'll get some of it back in "charities" like better roads, schools, libraries & aht mooseums.