Gates Foundation world's wealthiest private charitable body

With total assets of $43.4 billion, the Gates Foundation accounts for more than half of the combined assets of the 10 charitable foundations on the list

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has topped the list of the world's wealthiest private foundations established by living ultra high net worth individuals, according to a Wealth-X report.

With total assets of $43.4 billion, the Gates Foundation accounts for more than half of the combined assets of the 10 charitable foundations on the list, the global wealth intelligence and prospecting firm has said.

Li Ka Shing Foundation, founded in 1980 by Hong Kong business magnate Li Ka-Shing, ranked second with $8.1 billion in assets followed by Gordon and Betty Moore

Foundation ($6.4 billion) and Bloomberg Philanthropies ($5.4 billion) in the third and fourth place, respectively.

"Li's philanthropic foundation -- which he refers as his 'third son' as he has pledged one third of his assets to it -- is based in Hong Kong, making it one of the four charitable foundations on the list that are located outside the US," Wealth-X added.

Also based outside the US are the Sulaiman Bin Abdul-Aziz Al Rajhi Endowments with assets of $4.3 billion, the Children's Investment Fund Foundation ($4.5 billion) and the Carlos Slim Foundation ($2.6 billion).

Collectively, the 10 foundations have total assets of $83.1 billion, equivalent to 29.7 per cent of combined net worth of the UHNW individuals who established them.

The other foundations on the list include, Open Society Foundation with assets of $3.3 billion, Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation ($2.9 billion), and Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation ($2.2 billion).

According to Wealth-X, there are over 5,000 UHNW-founded private foundations and collectively, these foundations have a total assets of $560 billion.

During last year, these foundations gave out a total of $45 billion, equal to 8 per cent of their total assets, Wealth-X said.

The US is the leading country in terms of total number of UHNW-founded private foundations, followed by the UK, Canada, Mexico, and Hong Kong, it added.

Ultra high net worth individuals are defined as those having $30 million and above in assets.

Image: Bill Gates with wife Melinda Gates. Photograph: Oli Scarff/Getty Images