This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2013, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Utah's Jon Huntsman Sr. and his wife, Karen, have made Forbes Magazine's list of the top 50 most generous philanthropists in 2012.
The Huntsmans were 22nd on the list for their donations to charity totalling $76.8 million. But the story, which appears in the Dec. 2 edition of the magazine, also lists the philanthropists' lifetime giving. On that list, the Huntsmans are in the top 10 for their total contributions of $1.3 billion.
Forbes also notes that the 2012 contributions comprise 7 percent of the Huntsmans'. net worth of $1.1 billion. That puts the Huntsmans among the leaders in the percentage of their wealth they gave away.
The No. 1 giver for 2012, Bill Gates, contributed $1.9 billion in 2012, which was 2.6 percent of his net worth of $74 billion, the magazine reported. The second most generous giver, Warren Buffett, donated $1.7 billion, which was 3.2 percent of his net worth of $58.7 billion.
Most of the humanitarians on the list live in the eastern United States. The Huntsmans are the only ones from Utah.
Forbes composed the list in partnership with the Philanthropic Research Institute and focused not on money pledged but actually given away.
"Givers now want to see an impact while they're still alive," PRI founder R.J. Shook told Forbes.
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Speaking of philanthropists • I have written for several years about Tia Smart and her little army of preteens who call themselves "Kid Power."
When Tia was 8 years old and a third-grader at Redeemer Lutheran School in 2008, she recruited friends and neighbors, some as young as 3, to go around their neighborhoods and collect money to buy turkeys and cans of food for the Utah Food Bank to feed the needy at Thanksgiving.
The efforts of Tia and her friends that first year resulted in about $3,000 worth of turkeys donated to the Food Bank. In subsequent years, the Kid Power army expanded with children in different schools spreading the philanthropy to neighborhoods across the valley.
This year, Kid Power has raised enough to buy about 300 turkeys. Tia, now an eighth-grader at Wasatch Junior High, was joined by friends in preparing Mexican fare for a fundraising dinner at her home last Saturday.
Her mom, Kim, said about 30 people came to the dinner, which raised about $1,500.
Now that Tia is getting older, she has delegated much of the authority to younger soldiers who have kept the march going.
Mya and Robby Zaba were two of Tia's earliest recruits, when Mya was 6 and Robby was 3. Now 11 and 8 and attending Oakridge Elementary School, Mya and Robby have taken a leadership role in Kid Power, which has about 40 young volunteers.
Meanwhile, Tia and her mother have joined the National Charity League, a philanthropic organization that has 190 chapters in 22 states.
The Utah chapter serves 22 charitable organizations, and Tia has volunteered at such charities as the Children's Center, the Sharing Place, the Neighborhood House and the Road Home.