PHILANTHROPY

The 25 Most Effective Givers

EBayers Omidyar, Skoll top Barron's list.

EBay's founder, Pierre Omidyar, and its second employee, Jeff Skoll, are Nos. 1 and 2 elsewhere this year—on Barron's list of the "25 Best Givers." Barron's list, developed in concert with Daily Beast partner the Global Philanthropy Group, values immediacy and efficiency above all. The more quickly lives are improved thanks to philanthropic efforts, the higher a giver will appear on the list. The Omidyar Network, for example, operates like a venture-capital fund for nonprofits, and will help Tufts University provide nearly $1 billion in microloans to the developing world. Some 20 percent of the list, which includes both well-known names like Bill Gates and Brad Pitt and lesser-known figures like Microsoft exec John Wood, is composed of non-Americans like Indian communications magnate Sunil Mittal.