John Gardner, the nonprofit and government leader who was behind the founding of organizations like Common Cause and Independent Sector and the development of the Great Society programs of the 1960s, also inspired one of the country’s biggest philanthropists, Jeff Skoll, reports the Financial Times.

In an interview with the newspaper, Mr. Skoll, the first president of eBay, says his views on philanthropy were shaped after he met and briefly worked with Mr. Gardner.

“He said something that really stuck with me. I said, ‘Look, I’m trying to figure out my own philanthropy, I have set up a foundation [the eBay Foundation] and I’m doing different things.’ I asked him, ‘What do you think is the most effective way for philanthropy to make a difference in the future?’ And he said: ‘Bet on good people doing good things.’

“He felt that there were people in society who would be doing things of their own accord, who saw something that they wanted to fix and who needed support. And that really dovetailed with the kind of people that I’d been funding and that had been so interesting.”

Mr. Skoll ranked No. 13 on The Chronicle’s most recent Philanthropy 50, a list of the country’s most generous donors, for pouring $144.1-million into his charitable foundation in 2008.