I've personally been interested in philanthropy for as long as I can remember.

When hearing the word Philanthropy, many people believe you have to have a large amount of money to be a philanthropist. Names like Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, Li Ka-shing, Andrew Carnegie and other very successful individuals come to mind. The four people I mentioned above are the greatest philanthropists by USD.

Name	Amount given
Warren Buffett	$30.9 billion
Bill Gates	$29.5 billion
Li Ka-shing	$10.7 billion
Andrew Carnegie	$9.5 billion

Those are generous and honorable donations listed above, but what about people who aren't as wealthy yet, or may never be wealthy enough to give large donations like those? Can they be philanthropists to?

Absolutely:

Here is the definition of a philanthropist: a person who seeks to promote the welfare of others, especially by the generous donation of money to good causes. Notice it says especially, but does not say only by the generous donation of money. Let's break this down even further into what a philanthropist is. A philanthropist is someone who practices or participates in philanthropy. Definition of Philanthropy: the desire to promote the welfare of others, expressed especially by the generous donation of money to good causes. Here's the Wikipedia definition, which is my favorite by far: Philanthropy means etymologically, the love of humanity, in the sense of caring and nourishing, it involves both the benefactor in their identifying and exercising their values, and the beneficiary in their receipt and benefit from the service or goods provided. So what other ways can someone be a philanthropist or practice philanthropy before they've acquired massive amounts of wealth or monetary assets? I would suggest that if one is interested in philanthropy to practice this long before you're even in the position to donate generously. This could be done by volunteering, donating your time, treasure and talents. If what Benjamin Franklin said, "Time is Money" is true, then wouldn't donating your time to a charity, cause, non profit, benefit etc. be of monetary value in a sense if you didn't have the money to give? Obviously having the money to give would be nice, but I just wanted to provoke thought in the minds of those who may be waiting for the money to come, before they start giving back. The good news is, you don't have to wait. You can start today.