Prince Alwaleed bin Talal donates personal fortune to charitable causes

Prince Alwaleed, who is ranked 34 on Forbes’ list of the world’s richest people, will put his money into his own charitable organisation, Alwaleed Philanthropies, to which he has already donated over £2 billion.

Being the founder of Kingdom Holding Company, a Riyadh-based publicly traded conglomerate, announced that the money would be used to foster cultural understanding, empower women, and provide vital disaster relief.

Saudi Arabian Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Alsaud – who made billions investing in American, European and Middle Eastern companies – is donating his $32 billion fortune to philanthropy, according to a statement released Wednesday. The Alwaleed Foundation, which was established in 2003, has worked with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation on the Gates’. Prince Alwaleed has formed a board of trustees to oversee this gift, which will focus on finding impactful solutions to some of the most pressing humanitarian issues of our time, without regard to gender, race or religious affiliation. He stressed that there was no deadline for donating all of the funds.

However, despite his reputation for philanthropy, Prince Alwaleed has gained much criticism for some of his pastime activities.

Over the years, his philanthropy has spanned investments in community education, healthcare, emergency relief and basic infrastructure in 92 countries, as well as in female and youth empowerment.

It also comes in the wake of pledges by other vastly wealthy businessmen in recent years to dedicate often huge parts of their personal fortunes to good causes, including Bill Gates, George Soros and Jack Massachusetts.

Alwaleed is the main donor to the Islamic art wing at the Louvre museum in Paris.