No, it doesn't have to be at the same time.
And you can get it by donating 1 or 2 gold coins if you know what you're doing. So it's not that stupid.
If you have that much gold, just donate all of it, just make sure when you pres (A) to donate, that you rapidly press the (A) button until the donate screen comes back up again. You keep your money and the donation still counts. Sometimes you have to donate 1 gold coin afterwards to get the donation to activate.
You'll get youth first at around 48,000 to 54,000, then the Paladin title.