The Giving Pledge

The Giving Pledge is a campaign to encourage the wealthy people of the world to contribute their wealth to philanthropic causes.

Description

The organization's goal is to inspire the wealthy people of the world to give the majority of their net worth to philanthropy, either during their lifetime or upon their death. The Pledge is a moral commitment, not a legal contract.

History

In June 2010 the Giving Pledge campaign was formally announced and Bill Gates and Warren Buffett began recruiting members. In 2011 Gates and Buffett met with wealthy individuals in India and China and invited them to join the campaign. The aggregate wealth of the first 40 pledgers was $125 billion as of August 2010. As of April 2011, 69 billionaires had joined the campaign and given a pledge. In 2012 Forbes reported that 11 additional individuals or couples had joined the Giving Pledge. In April, The Huffington Post reported that a total of "81 billionaires [had] committed to giving at least half of their fortunes to charity" via the campaign. The German technology entrepreneur, Hasso Plattner, joined the Giving Pledge in 2013 and 141 individuals and/or couples were listed as pledgers on the official website by December 2015. Other signatories of the pledge include: David Rockefeller,Azim Premji,Richard Branson,Tim Cook,Sara Blakely, and Indian entrepreneur Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw.