Gates and Buffett encourage philanthropy
Two of the world’s richest men are teaming up to get other high-net-worth individuals on board with a new philanthropy initiative.
The program, dubbed The Giving Pledge, is the brainchild of Berkshire Hathaway chairman Warren Buffett and former Microsoft CEO Bill Gates. Gates’ wife, Melinda, was also an instrumental contributor to the planning process. The three came up with the idea of a philanthropy-encouragement effort last year, Fortune magazine says, and are beginning to roll the drive out.
In the past several months, the Wall Street Journal reports, Gates and Buffett have met with other wealthy individuals – David Rockefeller and Charles Bloomberg among them – to discuss the recession’s effects on philanthropy. Not only were the poorest people hit hard by the downturn, but charitable giving slumped: According to the Giving USA Foundation, donations fell 2 percent in 2008 and 3.6 percent last year.
Just as the U.S. government plans to raise revenue by taxing the very wealthy, so too does The Giving Pledge target the wealthiest. Gates and Buffett are asking the country’s richest people to pledge half of their wealth to charity; among the Forbes 400 (who have aggregate wealth of $1.2 trillion), that would amount to $600 billion.
Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors president Melissa Berman said to Bloomberg that a pledge of $600 billion "would easily double or triple the amount of philanthropy in America."
An influx of that magnitude, she added, "would inspire other Americans" to donate to charity.
Buffett, at least, is leading by example: He has already pledged 99 percent of his assets to charity. Whether other wealthy individuals will be as enthusiastic about giving as the Oracle of Omaha remains to be seen – but the effort could change the face of charitable activity in the country.
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