Giving Pledge
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The Giving Pledge is a charitable campaign, founded by
Bill Gates William Henry Gates III (born October 28, 1955) is an American businessman and philanthropist. A pioneer of the microcomputer revolution of the 1970s and 1980s, he co-founded the software company Microsoft in 1975 with his childhood friend ...
and
Warren Buffett Warren Edward Buffett ( ; born August 30, 1930) is an American investor and philanthropist who currently serves as the chairman and CEO of the conglomerate holding company Berkshire Hathaway. As a result of his investment success, Buffett is ...
, to encourage wealthy people to contribute a majority (i.e. more than 50%) of their wealth to
philanthropic Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives for the public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private good, focusing on material ...
causes. , the pledge has had 236 signatories from 28 countries. Most of the signatories of the pledge are
billionaire A billionaire is a person with a net worth of at least 1,000,000,000, one billion units of a given currency, usually of a major currency such as the United States dollar, euro, or pound sterling. It is a sub-category of the concept of the ultr ...
s, at a total of US$600 billion.


Description

The organization's stated goal is to inspire the wealthy people of the world to give at least half of their net worth to philanthropy, either during their lifetime or upon their death. The pledge is a public gesture of an intention to give, not a legal contract. On the Giving Pledge's website, each individual or couple writes a letter explaining why they chose to give.


History

In June 2010, the Giving Pledge campaign was formally announced and
Bill Gates William Henry Gates III (born October 28, 1955) is an American businessman and philanthropist. A pioneer of the microcomputer revolution of the 1970s and 1980s, he co-founded the software company Microsoft in 1975 with his childhood friend ...
, Melinda French Gates, and
Warren Buffett Warren Edward Buffett ( ; born August 30, 1930) is an American investor and philanthropist who currently serves as the chairman and CEO of the conglomerate holding company Berkshire Hathaway. As a result of his investment success, Buffett is ...
began recruiting members. As of August 2010, the aggregate wealth of the first 40 pledgers was $125 billion. As of April 2011, 69 billionaires had joined the campaign and given a pledge, and by the following year, ''
The Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (''The Huffington Post'' until 2017, itself often abbreviated as ''HPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and covers p ...
'' reported that a total of 81 billionaires had pledged. By May 2017, 158 individuals and/or couples were listed as pledgers.The Giving Pledge :: Pledger Profiles
Retrieved 16 May 2017 Not all pledgers are billionaires. FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried was removed from the list in December 2022 following his arrest. Banker T. Denny Sanford had his name removed from the list in May 2023 following the unsealing of court documents about his possible involvement with child pornography. The Giving Pledge was cited as inspiration for the Jewish Future Pledge, a charitable campaign launched in 2020 to encourage
American Jews American Jews (; ) or Jewish Americans are American citizens who are Jewish, whether by culture, ethnicity, or religion. According to a 2020 poll conducted by Pew Research, approximately two thirds of American Jews identify as Ashkenazi, 3% id ...
to give at least half of their charitable giving to Jewish- or Israel-related causes.


List of notable pledgers

''Net worth is for notable signers. A full list of pledgers is available online.''


See also

*
Charity (practice) Charity is the Volunteering, voluntary provision of assistance to those in need. It serves as a Humanitarianism, humanitarian act, and is unmotivated by self-interest. Various Philosophy, philosophies about charity exist, with frequent association ...
*
Charitable organization A charitable organization or charity is an organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being (e.g. educational, Religion, religious or other activities serving the public interest or common good). The legal definitio ...
* Earning to give *
Effective altruism Effective altruism (EA) is a 21st-century philosophical and social movement that advocates impartially calculating benefits and prioritizing causes to provide the greatest good. It is motivated by "using evidence and reason to figure out how to b ...
* List of members of the ''Forbes'' 400 * Philanthrocapitalism * ''
The World's Billionaires ''The World's Billionaires'' is an annual ranking of people who are billionaires, i.e., they are considered to have a net worth of US$1 billion or more, by the American business magazine ''Forbes''. The list was first published in March 1987. ...
'' * Venture philanthropy * Giving What We Can


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Giving Pledge Organizations established in 2010 Philanthropic organizations based in the United States Non-profit organizations based in Washington (state) Buffett family 2010 establishments in the United States