Steve Jobs was known to keep his philanthropy very private, although I'm not sure he would qualify for your bar of such initiatives, considering that (AFAIK) he didn't found or spearhead any massive progressive movements.

Part of me wonders if why these billionaires have their names on these projects is to try to buy goodwill? Rather than people just hating the rich in general, if they know that Bill Gates is donating all this money and attempting to help the less fortunate, he's slightly less of a greedy wealthy bastard? I don't see a Jeff Bezos foundation, for example.

Bill Gates has been on a PR campaign to reform his image since the late 90s. Most people today don’t seem to remember that he had an extremely negative reputation and was very unpopular.

John Rockefeller purchased an incredible amount of land for Grand Teton National Park, all under the guise of various shell companies. This is because if word got out he was trying to purchase the land, people would have raised the price.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Teton_National_Park#Esta...

Not directly answering your question, but something I thought was relevant.

I recall some years ago, there was a movement to encourage large donors and philanthropists to make themselves more visible, rather than donating anonymously, in the believe that this would encourage other wealthy people to contribute as well, a kind of peer pressure or leading by example.

By the very nature of being anonymous and avoiding publicity, wouldn't you not hear about them?

Chuck Feeney (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_Feeney)

MacKenzie Scott, is one example in my opinion.