The Giving Pledge
Encyclopedia
The Giving Pledge is a campaign to encourage the wealthiest people in the United States to make a commitment to give most of their money to philanthropic
Philanthropy
Philanthropy etymologically means "the love of humanity"—love in the sense of caring for, nourishing, developing, or enhancing; humanity in the sense of "what it is to be human," or "human potential." In modern practical terms, it is "private initiatives for public good, focusing on quality of...

 causes. The campaign specifically focuses on billionaires and was made public in 2010 by the two wealthiest people in the United States, billionaires Warren Buffett
Warren Buffett
Warren Edward Buffett is an American business magnate, investor, and philanthropist. He is widely regarded as one of the most successful investors in the world. Often introduced as "legendary investor, Warren Buffett", he is the primary shareholder, chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. He is...

 and Bill Gates
Bill Gates
William Henry "Bill" Gates III is an American business magnate, investor, philanthropist, and author. Gates is the former CEO and current chairman of Microsoft, the software company he founded with Paul Allen...

.

Description of pledge

The official website states that it "is an effort to invite the wealthiest individuals and families in the United States to commit to giving the majority of their wealth to philanthropy." As of April 28, 69 billionaires in the US have joined this campaign and pledged to give 50% or more of their wealth to charity. A minimum total of at least $125 billion has been promised from the first 40 donors based on their aggregate wealth as of August 2010.

According to the pledge the donation can happen either during the lifetime or after the death of the donor. The pledge is a moral commitment to give, not a legal contract.

Beginning of campaign

In 2006, before the campaign began, Buffett had committed much of his wealth to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is the largest transparently operated private foundation in the world, founded by Bill and Melinda Gates. It is "driven by the interests and passions of the Gates family"...

. Buffett and Gates discussed the possibility of encouraging other wealthy persons to commit themselves to philanthropy. On March 4, 2009, Gates contacted David Rockefeller, Sr. and asked him to preside over a meeting, and Rockefeller chose to host it at the President's House at Rockefeller University
Rockefeller University
The Rockefeller University is a private university offering postgraduate and postdoctoral education. It has a strong concentration in the biological sciences. It is also known for producing numerous Nobel laureates...

 in New York City. Bill and Melinda Gates invited people to attend, and on May 5, 2009, Patty Stonesifer
Patty Stonesifer
Patty Stonesifer is the former Co-chair and chief executive officer of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. On February 7, 2008, she announced that she would step aside from her role at the end of the year. In May 2008, Jeff Raikes, a Microsoft executive, was tapped as her replacement...

 and David Rockefeller, Jr.
David Rockefeller, Jr.
David Rockefeller Jr. is an American philanthropist and an active participant in nonprofit and environmental areas. The eldest son of Margaret "Peggy" McGrath and David Rockefeller, he is a leading fourth-generation member of the prominent Rockefeller family, serving on many boards of the...

 were invited observers as Rockefeller, Buffett, and Gates hosted New York residents Michael Bloomberg
Michael Bloomberg
Michael Rubens Bloomberg is the current Mayor of New York City. With a net worth of $19.5 billion in 2011, he is also the 12th-richest person in the United States...

, Pete Peterson
Peter George Peterson
Peter G. Peterson is an American businessman, investment banker, fiscal conservative, author, and politician whose most prominent political position was as United States Secretary of Commerce from February 29, 1972, to February 1, 1973 under Richard Nixon. He is most well known currently as...

, Julian Robertson
Julian Robertson
Julian H. Robertson Jr., KNZM is an American former hedge fund manager. Now retired, Robertson invests directly in other hedge funds, most run by former employees of Robertson's defunct hedge fund company....

, George Soros
George Soros
George Soros is a Hungarian-American business magnate, investor, philosopher, and philanthropist. He is the chairman of Soros Fund Management. Soros supports progressive-liberal causes...

, and Charles Feeney and out-of-town guests Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey is an American media proprietor, talk show host, actress, producer and philanthropist. Winfrey is best known for her self-titled, multi-award-winning talk show, which has become the highest-rated program of its kind in history and was nationally syndicated from 1986 to 2011...

, Ted Turner
Ted Turner
Robert Edward "Ted" Turner III is an American media mogul and philanthropist. As a businessman, he is known as founder of the cable news network CNN, the first dedicated 24-hour cable news channel. In addition, he founded WTBS, which pioneered the superstation concept in cable television...

, Eli and Edythe Broad
Eli Broad
Eli Broad is an American businessman from Detroit, Michigan who resides in Los Angeles, California.-Life and career:An only child, Broad was born in the Bronx to Lithuanian Jewish immigrant parents. His father was a housepainter, his mother was a dressmaker. His family moved to Detroit when he...

, and John and Tashia Morgridge
John Morgridge
John P. Morgridge is an American businessman who was the chairman of the board of Cisco Systems.- Background :Morgridge is from Wauwatosa, Wisconsin and attended Wauwatosa East High School. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1955; while at Wisconsin he joined Delta Upsilon Fraternity...

. The format of the meeting was that 12 people spoke each for 15 minutes about philanthropy, but there was no talk of any pledge.

The fact of the meeting was leaked to the media, creating curiosity about the nature of the meeting. Gates and Buffett organized two related subsequent dinners for which the complete attendee lists have not been made public. The second dinner was at the New York Public Library
New York Public Library
The New York Public Library is the largest public library in North America and is one of the United States' most significant research libraries...

 in November 2009 and was attended by Kenneth and Elaine Langone
Kenneth Langone
Kenneth Langone, is a venture capitalist, investment banker and financial backer of The Home Depot, and a former director of the New York Stock Exchange. He was elected as director of Yum! Brands effective October 7, 1997, and is a member of the Audit Committee. Langone is also a trustee of New...

 and Gerry and Marguerite Lenfest among others. It was at this meeting that Marguerite proposed that "the rich should sit down, decide how much money they and their progeny need, and figure out what to do with the rest of it". The third dinner was in December 2009 in Menlo Park, California
Menlo Park, California
Menlo Park, California is a city at the eastern edge of San Mateo County, in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, in the United States. It is bordered by San Francisco Bay on the north and east; East Palo Alto, Palo Alto, and Stanford to the south; Atherton, North Fair Oaks, and Redwood City...

 at the Rosewood Sand Hill Hotel was attended by John and Ann Doerr
John Doerr
L. John Doerr is an American venture capitalist at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers in Menlo Park, California, in Silicon Valley. In February 2009, Doerr was appointed as a member of the President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board to provide the president and his administration with advice and...

 and John and Tashia Morgridge
John Morgridge
John P. Morgridge is an American businessman who was the chairman of the board of Cisco Systems.- Background :Morgridge is from Wauwatosa, Wisconsin and attended Wauwatosa East High School. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1955; while at Wisconsin he joined Delta Upsilon Fraternity...

 among others.

In June 2010 the campaign for the Giving Pledge was formally announced, and Gates and Buffett gave notice that eligible pledgees were being contacted to join.

Expansion into other countries

Buffett said that he would meet wealthy individuals in India and China to talk about philanthropy and stated that they hope the idea of generosity will spread. He stated, "We're hoping that America, which is the most generous society on Earth, becomes even more generous over time."

In March 2011, Sean Belden, Gates and Buffett visited India to talk about the Giving Pledge.

French billionaires Arnaud Lagardère and Liliane Bettencourt were approached as well by Buffett but refused to enter the Giving Pledge and declined to comment about the matter.

Signatories

The following are signatories to the Giving Pledge as of April 2011:

  • Paul Allen
    Paul Allen
    Paul Gardner Allen is an American business magnate, investor, and philanthropist. Allen co-founded Microsoft with Bill Gates...

  • John D. Arnold
    John D. Arnold
    John Douglas Arnold, born in 1974, is an American hedge fund manager, specializing in natural gas trading. His firm, Centaurus Advisors, LLC, is a Houston-based hedge fund that specializes in trading energy products.-Enron:...

     and wife Laura
  • Nicolas Berggruen
    Nicolas Berggruen
    Nicolas Berggruen is an investor. He is the son of art collector Heinz Berggruen. He is the founder and president of Berggruen Holdings, a private investment company and the Nicolas Berggruen Institute, a political think tank. His father created the Museum Berggruen in Berlin and his mother was...

  • Michael Bloomberg
    Michael Bloomberg
    Michael Rubens Bloomberg is the current Mayor of New York City. With a net worth of $19.5 billion in 2011, he is also the 12th-richest person in the United States...

  • Eli Broad
    Eli Broad
    Eli Broad is an American businessman from Detroit, Michigan who resides in Los Angeles, California.-Life and career:An only child, Broad was born in the Bronx to Lithuanian Jewish immigrant parents. His father was a housepainter, his mother was a dressmaker. His family moved to Detroit when he...

     and wife Edythe
  • Warren Buffett
    Warren Buffett
    Warren Edward Buffett is an American business magnate, investor, and philanthropist. He is widely regarded as one of the most successful investors in the world. Often introduced as "legendary investor, Warren Buffett", he is the primary shareholder, chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. He is...

  • Steve Case
    Steve Case
    Stephen McConnell "Steve" Case is an American businessman best known as the co-founder and former chief executive officer and chairman of America Online . Since his retirement as chairman of AOL Time Warner in 2003, he has gone on to build a variety of new businesses through his investment...

     and wife Jean
  • Leon G. Cooperman
    Leon G. Cooperman
    -Early life and career:Cooperman was born to a plumber who worked in the South Bronx. He attended Hunter College. After graduating, Cooperman become a Xerox quality control engineer in 1965. He then obtained an M.B.A. from Columbia Business School. The day after graduating, Cooperman joined...

     and wife Toby
  • Joyce and Bill Cummings
  • Ray Dalio
    Ray Dalio
    Ray Dalio is an American businessman and founder of Bridgewater Associates.-Early Life and Education:...

     and wife Barbara
  • John Paul DeJoria
    John Paul DeJoria
    John Paul Jones DeJoria is famous as a former homeless person who went on to become a billionaire businessman. According to Forbes magazine, he is worth US$4 billion.- Early life and education :...

  • John Doerr
    John Doerr
    L. John Doerr is an American venture capitalist at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers in Menlo Park, California, in Silicon Valley. In February 2009, Doerr was appointed as a member of the President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board to provide the president and his administration with advice and...

     and wife Ann Doerr
  • Barry Diller
    Barry Diller
    Barry Charles Diller is the Chairman and Senior Executive of IAC/InterActiveCorp and the media executive responsible for the creation of Fox Broadcasting Company and USA Broadcasting.-Early life:...

     and Diane von Furstenberg
    Diane von Fürstenberg
    Diane von Fürstenberg, formerly Princess Diane of Fürstenberg , is a Belgian-American fashion designer best known for her iconic wrap dress. She initially rose to prominence when she married into the German princely House of Fürstenberg, as the wife of Prince Egon of Fürstenberg...

  • Larry Ellison
    Larry Ellison
    Lawrence Joseph "Larry" Ellison is the co-founder and chief executive officer of Oracle Corporation, one of the world's leading enterprise software companies. As of 2011, he is the third wealthiest American citizen, with an estimated worth of $33 billion.- Early life :Larry Ellison was born in the...

  • Chuck Feeney
    Chuck Feeney
    Charles F. Feeney , is an Irish American businessman and philanthropist and founder of The Atlantic Philanthropies, one of the largest private foundations in the world. He made his fortune as a co-founder with Robert Warren Miller of the Duty Free Shoppers Group...

  • Ted Forstmann
  • Philip Frost and wife Patricia
  • Bill
    Bill Gates
    William Henry "Bill" Gates III is an American business magnate, investor, philanthropist, and author. Gates is the former CEO and current chairman of Microsoft, the software company he founded with Paul Allen...

     and Melinda Gates
    Melinda Gates
    Melinda Ann French , later known as Melinda French Gates, is an American businesswoman and philanthropist. She is the wife of Bill Gates...

  • David Green
    David Green (entrepreneur)
    David Green is the founder of Hobby Lobby, an American chain of arts and crafts stores. In 2010, Green was listed as #136 on Forbes' List of The 400 Richest Americans, with a net worth of $2.6 billion....

     and wife Barbara
  • Jeff Greene
    Jeff Greene
    Jeff Greene is an American businessman and entrepreneur. He is a member of the Democratic Party and was a candidate in the 2010 Senate election primaries in Florida.-Personal life:...

  • Harold Hamm
    Harold Hamm
    Harold Hamm is an American oilman who was ranked in the March 2011 issue of Forbes as the 33rd richest person in America, with a net worth of $8.6 billion. Hamm is a key player in Hiland Partners and Hiland Holdings as well as the oil-exploration company Continental Resources, Oklahoma's fourth...

     and wife Sue Ann
  • Lyda Hill
  • Barron Hilton
    Barron Hilton
    William Barron Hilton I is an American business magnate, socialite, and hotel heir. He is the former co-chairman of the Hilton Hotels chain, and the original owner of the Los Angeles Chargers...

  • Jon Huntsman, Sr.
    Jon Huntsman, Sr.
    Jon Meade Huntsman, Sr. is an American businessman and philanthropist. He is the founder of Huntsman Corporation. He is the father of former United States Ambassador to China and former Governor of Utah Jon Huntsman, Jr....

     and wife Karen
  • Carl Icahn
    Carl Icahn
    Carl Celian Icahn is an American business magnate and investor.-Biography:Icahn was raised in Far Rockaway, Queens, New York City, where he attended Far Rockaway High School. His father was a cantor, his mother was a schoolteacher...

  • Irwin M. Jacobs
    Irwin M. Jacobs
    Irwin Mark Jacobs , is an electrical engineer and the co-founder and former chairman of Qualcomm, and chair of the board of trustees of the Salk Institute. In 2010, Jacobs was listed as number 828 on Forbes's annual list of the World's Top Billionaires.-Education:Jacobs earned his B.S...

     and wife Joan
  • George Kaiser
    George Kaiser
    George B. Kaiser is an American businessman. He is the Chairman of BOK Financial Corporation. He is among the top 100 richest people in the world and one of the top 50 American philanthropists.-Early life and career:...

  • Vinod Khosla
    Vinod Khosla
    Vinod Khosla is an Indian-born American venture capitalist and an influential personality in Silicon Valley....

     and wife Neeru
  • Sidney Kimmel
    Sidney Kimmel
    Sidney Kimmel is a film producer also working as such under the names Caesar Kimmel and Sydney Kimmel. Some of his many films include Death at a Funeral and The Kite Runner...

  • Richard Kinder
    Richard Kinder
    Richard Kinder is the CEO and Chairman of the Board of Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, an energy and pipeline corporation.-Biography:...

     and wife Nancy
  • Kenneth Langone
    Kenneth Langone
    Kenneth Langone, is a venture capitalist, investment banker and financial backer of The Home Depot, and a former director of the New York Stock Exchange. He was elected as director of Yum! Brands effective October 7, 1997, and is a member of the Audit Committee. Langone is also a trustee of New...

     and wife Elaine
  • H.F. Lenfest and wife Marguerite
  • Lorry I. Lokey
    Lorry I. Lokey
    Lorry I. Lokey is an American businessperson and philanthropist. A native of Portland, Oregon, he founded the company Business Wire in 1961 and has donated in excess of $400 million to charities, with the majority of the money given to schools...

  • George Lucas
    George Lucas
    George Walton Lucas, Jr. is an American film producer, screenwriter, and director, and entrepreneur. He is the founder, chairman and chief executive of Lucasfilm. He is best known as the creator of the space opera franchise Star Wars and the archaeologist-adventurer character Indiana Jones...

  • Duncan MacMillan
    Duncan MacMillan
    Duncan MacMillan or Duncan Macmillan may refer to:* Duncan Macmillan , British track and field athlete competitor in the 1912 Summer Olympics...

    and wife Nancy
  • Alfred E. Mann
    Alfred E. Mann
    Alfred E. Mann , who is also known as Al Mann, is an American entrepreneur and philanthropist. According to Forbes magazine, his estimated net worth exceeded $2.2 billion as of 2007, ranking him the 204th richest man in America and the 390th richest man in the world.Born and raised in Portland, his...

  • Joe Mansueto
    Joe Mansueto
    Joseph D. Mansueto is the founder and CEO of Morningstar, Inc.. In 2011, his majority ownership of Morningstar gained him inclusion on the Forbes World's Billionaires list, with a net worth at time of publication of $1.6 billion....

     and wife Rika
  • Bernie Marcus and wife Billi
  • Michael Milken
    Michael Milken
    Michael Robert Milken is an American business magnate, financier, and philanthropist noted for his role in the development of the market for high-yield bonds during the 1970s and 1980s, for his 1990 guilty plea to felony charges for violating US securities laws, and for his funding of medical...

     and wife Lori
  • George P. Mitchell
    George P. Mitchell
    George Phydias Mitchell is an American businessman, real estate developer and philanthropist from Texas.-Biography:He was born to Greek immigrant parents in the port city of Galveston, Texas. Mitchell earned a degree from Texas A&M University with an emphasis in geology and petroleum engineering...

  • Tom Monaghan
    Tom Monaghan
    Thomas Stephen "Tom" Monaghan is an entrepreneur and Catholic philanthropist and activist who founded Domino's Pizza in 1960. He owned the Detroit Tigers from 1983-1992....

  • John Morgridge
    John Morgridge
    John P. Morgridge is an American businessman who was the chairman of the board of Cisco Systems.- Background :Morgridge is from Wauwatosa, Wisconsin and attended Wauwatosa East High School. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1955; while at Wisconsin he joined Delta Upsilon Fraternity...

     and wife Tashia
  • Dustin Moskovitz
    Dustin Moskovitz
    Dustin Moskovitz is an American internet entrepreneur who co-founded the social networking website Facebook along with Mark Zuckerberg, Eduardo Saverin and Chris Hughes. Moskovitz owns a 6% share of Facebook. He is also a co-founder and the CEO of Asana. Moskovitz is Jewish...

  • Pierre Omidyar
    Pierre Omidyar
    Pierre Morad Omidyar is a French-Iranian American entrepreneur and philanthropist/economist, and the founder/chairman of the eBay auction site...

     and wife Pam
  • Bernard Osher
    Bernard Osher
    Bernard Osher is an American businessman, best known for his work as a philanthropist.-Life and career:A native of Biddeford, Maine, Osher studied at Bowdoin College, where he graduated in 1948...

     and wife Barbro
  • Ronald Perelman
    Ronald Perelman
    Ronald Owen Perelman is an American business magnate. Through his company MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings Inc., he has invested in various companies in grocery, cigar, licorice, makeup, car, photography, television, camping, security, lottery, jewelry, banks, and comic book industries.-Early...

  • Peter George Peterson
    Peter George Peterson
    Peter G. Peterson is an American businessman, investment banker, fiscal conservative, author, and politician whose most prominent political position was as United States Secretary of Commerce from February 29, 1972, to February 1, 1973 under Richard Nixon. He is most well known currently as...

  • T. Boone Pickens
  • Julian Robertson
    Julian Robertson
    Julian H. Robertson Jr., KNZM is an American former hedge fund manager. Now retired, Robertson invests directly in other hedge funds, most run by former employees of Robertson's defunct hedge fund company....

  • David Rockefeller
    David Rockefeller
    David Rockefeller, Sr. is the current patriarch of the Rockefeller family. He is the youngest and only surviving child of John D. Rockefeller, Jr. and Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, and the only surviving grandchild of oil tycoon John D. Rockefeller, founder of Standard Oil. His five siblings were...

  • Edward W. and Deedie Potter Rose
  • David M. Rubenstein
  • Herb
    Herb Sandler
    Herbert Sandler is the former CO-CEO of Golden West Financial Corporation and World Savings Bank.-Career:In 1963, the Sandlers created Golden West Financial Corporation, a savings and loan holding company, to acquire Golden West Savings and Loan Association, the predecessor to World Savings Bank...

     and Marion Sandler
    Marion Sandler
    Marion Sandler is the former co-CEO of Golden West Financial Corporation and World Savings Bank. In 2004, after 43 years running Golden West Financial Corporation, she was described by the Columbia School of Journalism as “the first and longest-serving woman chief executive officer in the United...

  • Denny Sanford
  • Roger W. Sant and wife Vicki
  • Lynn Schusterman
    Lynn Schusterman
    -Biography:Lynn Schusterman was born in 1939. She attended the University of Miami, but dropped out before graduation. She is the widow of Charles Schusterman, the founder of the Samson Investment Company....

  • Walter Scott, Jr.
    Walter Scott, Jr.
    Walter Scott, Jr. is an American civil engineer, philanthropist, and former CEO of Peter Kiewit Sons' Incorporated. Scott was the 1997 recipient of the Horatio Alger Award and consistently ranks among the wealthiest Americans. He sits on the Board of Berkshire Hathaway, and is a childhood friend...

  • Thomas Secunda
    Thomas Secunda
    Thomas "Tom" Secunda is an American business executive, best known as one of the original four co-founders of Bloomberg L.P. and current vice chairman.-Personal life and education:...

     and wife Cindy
  • Jim and Marilyn Simons
    James Harris Simons
    James Harris "Jim" Simons is an American hedge fund manager, mathematician, and philanthropist.In 1982, Simons founded Renaissance Technologies, a private investment firm based in New York with over $15 billion under management; Simons is still at the helm, as CEO, of what is now one of the...

  • Harold Simmons and wife Annette
  • Jeff Skoll
  • Patrick Soon-Shiong
    Patrick Soon-Shiong
    Patrick Soon-Shiong is a South African-American surgeon who was founder, chairman, and CEO of Abraxis BioScience, a biotechnology company developing cancer treatment. He is co-developer of the metastatic breast cancer treatment drug Abraxane....

     and wife Michele Chan
  • Tom Steyer
    Tom Steyer
    Thomas "Tom" Fahr Steyer is an American asset manager, philanthropist and environmentalist.He is the founder and Co-Senior Managing Partner of Farallon Capital Management, LLC and the co-founder of the OneCalifornia Bank, an Oakland-based community development bank...

     and wife Kat Taylor
  • James E. Stowers
    James E. Stowers
    James E. Stowers, Jr. , also known as Jim Stowers, is the founder of American Century Investments and the Stowers Institute for Medical Research.-Biography:...

     and wife Virginia
  • Ted Turner
    Ted Turner
    Robert Edward "Ted" Turner III is an American media mogul and philanthropist. As a businessman, he is known as founder of the cable news network CNN, the first dedicated 24-hour cable news channel. In addition, he founded WTBS, which pioneered the superstation concept in cable television...

  • Sanford Weill and wife Joan
  • Shelby White, widow of non-signatory Leon Levy
    Leon Levy
    Leon Levy was, according to Forbes magazine, a "Wall Street investment genius and prolific philanthropist," who helped create both mutual funds and hedge funds. He co-founded the mutual fund manager Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. in 1959. There he started dozens of mutual funds that, at his death, had...

  • Charles Zegar and wife Merryl Snow Zegar
  • Mark Zuckerberg
    Mark Zuckerberg
    Mark Elliot Zuckerberg is an American computer programmer and Internet entrepreneur. He is best known for co-creating the social networking site Facebook, of which he is chief executive and president...



External links

  • Video interview, June 2010, with Warren Buffett, Bill Gates and Melinda Gates on the Charlie Rose show (53:48)
  • Video, August 2010, Billionaires pledge to give it away at Reuters Video
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