The Giving Pledge
Formation2010; 14 years ago (2010)
TypeCharitable organization
Membership
236
Founders
Bill Gates
Warren Buffett
Websitegivingpledge.org
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The Giving Pledge is a charitable campaign, founded by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, to encourage wealthy people to contribute a majority (i.e. more than 50%) of their wealth to philanthropic causes. As of June 2022, the pledge has had 236 signatories from 28 countries.[1] Most of the signatories of the pledge are billionaires, and as of 2023, their pledges are estimated at a total of US$600 billion.[2][needs update] However, there is no enforcement mechanism (signing the letter is an intention, not a formal commitment), and no restrictions on the charitable causes that signatories are allowed to support.

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.[3] On the Giving Pledge's website, each individual or couple writes a letter explaining why they chose to give.[4]

History

In June 2010, the Giving Pledge campaign was formally announced and Bill Gates and Warren Buffett began recruiting members.[5] As of August 2010, the aggregate wealth of the first 40 pledgers was $125 billion.[6] As of April 2011, 69 billionaires had joined the campaign and given a pledge,[7] and by the following year, The Huffington Post reported that a total of 81 billionaires had pledged.[8] By May 2017, 158 individuals and/or couples were listed as pledgers.[4][9][needs update] Not all pledgers are billionaires.

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried was removed from the list in December 2022 following his arrest.[10]

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.[11]

The Giving Pledge was cited as inspiration for the Jewish Future Pledge, a charitable campaign launched in 2020 to encourage American Jews to give at least half of their charitable giving to Jewish- or Israel-related causes.[12]

List of notable pledgers

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (December 2021)

Net worth is as of 2022 for notable signers. A full list of pledgers is available online.[13]

Name Net worth in billion $US Source of wealth Industry Year of pledge Year of death
Yuri Milner 6.8[14] DST Global Technology investing 2013
Elon Musk 251.1[15] Tesla, SpaceX Cleantech, Rocketry 2012
Warren Buffett 110[16] Berkshire Hathaway Finance & Investments 2010
Bill Gates 102.4 Microsoft Manufacturing, licensing 2010
Larry Ellison 66.8 Oracle Tech 2010
MacKenzie Scott 55 Amazon Tech 2019
Mark Zuckerberg 139[17] Meta Platforms Tech 2010
Azim Premji 32.8 Wipro Tech 2013
Vladimir Potanin 31.4[18] interros Investment 2013
Jim Simons 25.2 Renaissance Technologies Finance & Investments 2010
Dustin Moskovitz 24.04 Facebook Tech 2010
Carl Icahn 22 Icahn Enterprises Finance & Investments 2010
Pierre Omidyar 21.8 eBay Tech 2010
Andrew Forrest 20.8 (2023)[19] Fortescue Metals Group Mining 2013[20]
John Doerr 12.7[citation needed] Kleiner Perkins Finance & Investments 2010
Patrick Soon-Shiong 11.5 Abraxane, investments Healthcare 2010
Melinda French Gates 11.4 Microsoft Tech 2010
Jack Dangermond 9.2 ESRI Geoinformatics, Environment 2016
George Lucas 8.59 Lucasfilm Media 2010
Nikhil Kamath 8 Zerodha Finance & Investments 2023
Charles Feeney 8[21] DFS Group luxury retail 2011 2023
George Kaiser 7.6 Kaiser-Francis Oil Company Energy 2010
Judith Faulkner 7.5[22] Epic Systems Tech 2015[23]
Henry Samueli 6.7 Broadcom Corporation Tech 2011
Jeffrey Skoll 6.1 eBay Tech 2010
Mitchell and Emily Wei Rales 5.4 Danaher Corporation Business 2019
Bernard Marcus 4.5[24] to 6.1[25] (2019) The Home Depot Retail 2010
Barron Hilton 4.5 Hilton Worldwide Services 2010 2019
David Green 4.5 Hobby Lobby Retail 2010
Jeff Green 4.4 AdECN Tech 2021
Ronald Perelman 4.3 MacAndrews & Forbes Finance & Investments 2010
David Rubenstein 4.3 The Carlyle Group Finance & Investments 2010
Walter Scott Jr. 4.2 Berkshire Hathaway Finance & Investments 2010 2021
Julian Robertson 4.1 Tiger Management Finance & Investments 2010
Anil Agrawal 4 Vedanta Resources Mining 2021
Thomas Secunda 3.6[26] Bloomberg L.P Tech 2010
B. R. Shetty 3.5 NMC Health Healthcare 2018
David Rockefeller 3.3 Standard Oil, inheritance Energy 2010 2017
Ken Langone 3.3 The Home Depot Retail 2010
Bill Ackman 2.8 Pershing Square Capital Management Finance & Investments 2012
Charles Zegar 2.8[27] Bloomberg L.P Tech 2010
Peter G. Peterson 2.8 Blackstone Group Finance & Investments 2010 2018
Garrett Camp[28] 2.7 Uber Tech 2017
Brian Armstrong 2.6 Coinbase Cryptocurrency 2018
Ted Turner 2.4[29] Cable News Network Media 2010
Herbert and Marion Sandler 2.4 Golden West Financial Corporation Finance & Investments 2010
Gerry Lenfest and Marguerite Lenfest 2.4 Lenfest Communications Media 2010 2018
T. Denny Sanford 2.2 First PREMIER Bank Finance & Investments 2010
James E. Stowers 2[30] Twentieth Century Mutual Funds Finance & Investments 2010
Tom Steyer 1.6 Farallon Capital Finance & Investments 2010
George P. Mitchell 1.6 Mitchell Energy & Development Corp Energy 2010
Ted Forstmann 1.6 Forstmann Little & Company Finance & Investments 2010
Jon Huntsman Sr. 1.5 Huntsman Corporation Manufacturing 2010
Mark Pincus 1.4 Zynga Tech 2022
Sidney Kimmel 1.4 Jones Apparel Group Fashion & Cosmetics 2010
Irwin M. Jacobs 1.2 Qualcomm Tech 2010
Bernard Osher 1.1[31] Golden West Financial Corporation Finance & Investments 2010
Duncan MacMillan 1.1 Bloomberg L.P Tech 2010
Lorry I. Lokey 1 Business Wire Media 2010 2022
Sanford I. Weill 1[32] (2021) Shearson Loeb Rhoades Finance & Investments 2010
John Morgridge 1 Cisco Systems Tech 2010
Tom Monaghan 1 Domino's Pizza Food & Beverage 2010
Lyda Hill 1 Hunt Oil Company, inheritance Energy 2010
Anne Wojcicki 0.8 23andMe Genealogy 2022
Shelby White 0.6[citation needed] Leon Levy, Odyssey Partners Finance & Investments 2010
T. Boone Pickens 0.5 Mesa Petroleum, BP Capital Management Energy, Finance & Investments 2010 2019

See also

References

  1. ^ "FAQ: How many people have joined the Giving Pledge, and where are they from?". The Giving Pledge. Retrieved 13 June 2022.
  2. ^ "Global Billionaire Population: The Billionaire Census 2018". Wealth-X. Retrieved 16 December 2020.
  3. ^ "Forty U.S. billionaires pledge to give half their money to charity". Xinhua News Agency. 4 August 2010. Archived from the original on 11 August 2010. Retrieved 5 August 2010. A statement from the Giving Pledge website said "the pledge is a moral commitment to give, not a legal contract."
  4. ^ a b The Giving Pledge :: Pledger Profiles Retrieved 16 May 2017
  5. ^ Carol Loomis (16 June 2010). "The $600 billion challenge". Fortune. Retrieved 20 October 2016.
  6. ^ Blackburn, Bradley (4 August 2010). "The Giving Pledge: Billionaires Promise to Donate at Least Half Their Fortunes to Charity". ABC News. Retrieved 5 August 2010.
  7. ^ 10 More U.S. Families Commit to the Giving Pledge [1], retrieved 25 October 2011
  8. ^ "Warren Buffett, Bill Gates Giving Pledge Gets 12 More Billionaires To Commit Over Half Of Their Fortunes", Huffington Post, April 20, 2012
  9. ^ Lorenzetti, Laura (1 June 2016). "17 More Billionaires Join Buffett and Gates' Giving Pledge This Year". Fortune. Retrieved 20 October 2016.
  10. ^ Alexander, Sophie (2022-12-14). "Sam Bankman-Fried Cut From Giving Pledge Website After Arrest". Bloomberg L.P. Archived from the original on 2022-12-14. Retrieved 2023-08-05.
  11. ^ McEvoy, Jemima (25 September 2023). "Billionaire T. Denny Sanford Cut From The Giving Pledge After Child Porn Probe Documents Released". Forbes. Retrieved 26 September 2023.
  12. ^ Oster, Marcy (2020-05-14). "New Jewish giving pledge takes a page from Gates and Buffett initiative". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Retrieved 9 October 2023.
  13. ^ "Pledgers". The Giving Pledge. Retrieved 23 November 2022.
  14. ^ "Yuri Milner". Forbes. Retrieved 2024-01-30.
  15. ^ "What is Elon Musk's Net Worth?". 7 July 2023.
  16. ^ "Warren Buffett". Bloomberg Billionaires Index. 22 November 2022. Archived from the original on 23 November 2022. Retrieved 23 November 2022.
  17. ^ "Mark Zuckerberg". Bloomberg Billionaires Index. 22 November 2022. Retrieved 23 November 2022.
  18. ^ "Vladimir Potanin". Bloomberg Billionaires Index. 22 November 2022. Archived from the original on 23 November 2022. Retrieved 23 November 2022.
  19. ^ "Andrew Forrest". Forbes. Retrieved 2023-02-24.
  20. ^ Robin, Myriam (2013-02-20). "Andrew 'Twiggy' Forrest pledges to give away half his wealth". SmartCompany. Retrieved 2023-02-24.
  21. ^ Dwyer, Jim (2017-01-05). "'James Bond of Philanthropy' Gives Away the Last of His Fortune". The New York Times. Retrieved 2017-01-05.
  22. ^ "Judy Faulkner". Forbes. Retrieved 2022-08-15.
  23. ^ "Judy Faulkner – The Giving Pledge". The Giving Pledge. Retrieved 2022-08-15.
  24. ^ Denham, Hannah (2019-07-01). "Home Depot co-founder plans to give away most of his billions". Washington Post. Retrieved 2022-11-16.
  25. ^ Nussbaum-Cohen, Debra (2019-12-20). "Home Depot founder Bernie Marcus on sunsetting his foundation". Jewish Insider. Retrieved 2022-11-16.
  26. ^ "Thomas Secunda". Forbes. Retrieved 2021-12-29.
  27. ^ "Charles Zegar". Forbes Profile. 23 November 2022. Retrieved 23 November 2022.
  28. ^ Kolodny, Lora (2017-11-22). "Uber and Infosys co-founders are latest billionaires to join The Giving Pledge". CNBC. Retrieved 2017-12-16.
  29. ^ "Ted Turner". Forbes. 23 November 2022. Retrieved 23 November 2022.
  30. ^ "James Stowers, U.S." Forbes. Retrieved 2021-12-29.
  31. ^ "Forbes.com: Forbes World's Richest People 2005". www.forbes.com. Retrieved 2021-12-29.
  32. ^ "Sandy Weill". Forbes Profile. 6 April 2021. Retrieved 23 November 2022.

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