The Giving Pledge

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]

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] Not all pledgers are billionaires.

Almost none of the signees have as of yet made significant progress towards upholding their pledge to give away half of their wealth, instead only accumulating more of it. Since the pledge was created in 2010, the wealth of the donors has not decreased but has instead increased from a combined $376 billion in 2010 to a combined $734 billion in 2020.[10] Many who have made significant donations, have done so to private foundations, which often pay salaries to their family members and have no obligation by law to actually spend the wealth on active charity organisations.

Donations in general are a topic of public debate, in part, because in many countries they are tax-deductible, which means donations reduce tax obligations for individuals, and tax revenue for government.[11]

• Official website