The following correction was printed in the Guardian's Corrections and clarifications column, Thursday July 19 2007
We were wrong to include Bono, the lead singer of U2, in the list of British philanthropists below; he is Irish.
The billionaire retail entrepreneur Sir Tom Hunter has pledged to give away more than £1bn to good causes in one of the UK's biggest ever charitable donations.
Sir Tom, a self-made billionaire who began his business life selling trainers out of a garage in New Cumnock, Ayrshire, is Scotland's richest man and intends to give the money away during his lifetime. He has a track record of supporting projects ranging from supporting young Scottish entrepreneurs to backing development projects in Africa.
Last night a spokesman for Sir Tom said: "Over his lifetime he intends to commit £1bn to the Hunter Foundation and spend it before he leaves this mortal coil."
Sir Tom's commitment to good causes comes as an increasing number of wealthy businessmen and financiers, dubbed The New Philanthropists, have handed over millions to charity. Recent big pledges have included £230m donated by the hedge fund investor Chris Hohn to a children's charity run by his wife and a £100m pledge from the financial trader Peter Cruddas to a variety of charities including The Prince's Trust and Great Ormond Street children's hospital, in London.
"My own personal belief is that with great wealth comes great responsibility," Sir Tom told the BBC. "Therefore you've got to take care of these things if wealth creation is still going to be seen as a positive force by the rest of the population,"
To date he has donated £125m to charitable causes, including $100m (£50m) to the Clinton Hunter Development Initiative, run in conjunction with the former US president Bill Clinton, which targets economic development projects, healthcare, water and sanitation projects in Africa. "We do not believe in aid per se, but in giving a helping hand to people to get out of poverty," said the spokesman. Last night Sir Tom was flying to Rwanda with Jon Asgeir Johannesson, chief executive of the Icelandic retail investment group Baugur, which has pledged to donate £1m a year to worthy causes.
The Baugur empire controls high street names including the jeweller Mappin & Webb, department store House of Fraser, the Iceland supermarket chain and fashion chains Oasis, Karen Millen and Whistles.
On Friday Sir Tom is scheduled to meet Mr Clinton in Malawi and on Saturday will unveil the details of a new hospital he is co-funding in the country with Mr Hohn.
Sir Tom made his initial fortune building the Sports Division retail chain, which he eventually sold to rival JJB Sports for some £300m in 1998. In the same year he also began to develop his interest in philanthropy and established the Hunter Foundation along with his wife Marion. The organisation has since donated millions to supporting educational and entrepreneurial projects in Scotland.
In 2001 he set up private equity group West Coast Capital and has invested in a series of retailers. In recent months he has acquired two garden centre groups, Wyevale and Blooms of Bressingham and last month built a 25% stake in Dobbies garden centre chain, which Tesco is attempting to take over. Much of the profit made by West Coast is directed into his Hunter Foundation to channel cash to charitable causes.
Sir Tom was knighted in 2005 for services to entrepreneurship and philanthropy. He told the Guardian in the same year: "Somebody had just come along and offered me a cheque [for Sports Division]. We started the charitable foundation without really knowing much about it.
"You can imagine what happened once we got the cheque - we had a full-time job trying to reply. But that was very unfulfilling. Did they get the money? Was it a scam? Did it do any good? I think it was my dad who said to me: 'Look son, if it was a business, what would you do?' The answer was find ourselves the best person to run it and decide what we wanted to do."
Among the first beneficiaries of the foundation were Kelvingrove Art Gallery, in Glasgow, and Strathclyde University, but the foundation's work has become more global.
His spokesman said: "He intends to redouble the efforts of West Coast Capital and feed more and more money into the Hunter Foundation."
The spokesman added that Sir Tom and his wife were determined not to "burden" their three children with huge inheritances. "Tom and Marion don't want to burden them with great wealth. They will be left a reasonable sum. They will be well looked after."
He said Sir Tom and his wife regularly travelled with their family to visit the projects they are financing: "Every year the family spend about a week visiting the programmes. They believe that life is not about having great wealth".
Sir Tom's pledge came as a leading charity said the gap between rich and poor in Britain had risen sharply and was now the widest in more than 40 years. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation said that while the number of people living in extreme poverty may have fallen, the number of people living below the poverty line has increased. More than one in four households, 27%, were classed as "breadline poor" in 2001, it added.
Britain's philanthropists: give generously
Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919) was a Scottish American industrialist best known for his establishment of public libraries in the UK and the US. He provided $2m for his home country to establish a trust for providing funds for education at Scottish universities.
Joseph Rowntree (1836-1925) was the Quaker philanthropist and businessman who became known for the fair treatment of workers at his chocolate factory in York. He bought 150 acres of land at New Earswick in 1902, to build homes for poor families. He then went on to found four charitable trusts.
John Paul Getty II (1932-2003) was the son of J Paul Getty, the oil tycoon. Born in California, he moved to Britain in 1971 and became an anglophile. In 10 years from 1984 he gave away £140m, much of it in support of the arts. The largest gift was of £50m to the National Gallery for the purchase of art treasures. Sir Paul's money helped prevent Antonio Canova's statue, The Three Graces, being bought by his father's pride and joy, the Getty Museum in California.
Paul Hamlyn (1926-2001) was a German-born British publisher. The Paul Hamlyn Foundation, which he set up in 1987, has sponsored the National Theatre's discount ticket scheme. There have also been donations of £1m to the Bodleian Library in Oxford and £200,000 a year to the Royal Opera House.
Nathaniel Rothschild, 4th Baron Rothschild, is a British investment banker who has a high profile role in arts philanthropy. He was heavily involved in the project to restore Somerset House, and helped secure the Gilbert Collection and ensured the long-term future of the Courtauld Institute of Art.
Bono, the lead singer of U2, has become heavily involved in campaigning for third world debt relief, liasing with politicians and world leaders on the plight of Africa. He recently launched Product Red, a brand which is licensed to partner companies such as American Express to raise money for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
Lord Sainsbury, the supermarket magnate and Labour peer's Gatsby Charitable Foundation has donated well over £400m in 35 years. Beneficiaries include disadvantaged children, mental health, cognitive neuroscience, developing countries and the arts.
Sir Elton John, the pop star last year donated £19.2m for educational programmes targeted at HIV/Aids prevention via his Elton John Aids Foundation, founded in 1992.