Gates, Buffett to megarich: Give it up

I like Bill Gates these days. This could do a hell of a lot of good if it came off.

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SEATTLE - Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, America's two richest people, are embarking on a campaign to persuade their super-rich peers to give half their fortunes to charity in a move that could change the face of philanthropy.

The effort, if successful, could funnel a colossal amount of money into nonprofit groups. If the individuals on the Forbes 400 list of richest Americans pledged half their net worth to charity, that would amount to $600 billion, Fortune magazine says.

Fortune, in an article posted Wednesday, detailed the origin and status of the campaign, which it called "the biggest fundraising drive in history."

Several of the megarich, including Los Angeles philanthropists Eli and Edythe Broad; Silicon Valley's John and Tashia Morgridge, whose fortune came from Cisco Systems; venture capitalist John Doerr of Kleiner Perkins and his wife, Ann; and media entrepreneur Gerry Lenfest and his wife, Marguerite, have already committed to the 50 percent pledge, according to program organizers. Buffett and Bill and Melinda Gates are sending e-mails and making calls to other billionaires deemed likely prospects to contribute, Fortune reported.

Buffett said it's a good bet the super-wealthy have already thought about what to do with their money. "They may not have reached a decision about that, but they have for sure thought about it. The pledge that we're asking them to make will put them to thinking about the whole issue again," the Berkshire Hathaway chairman told Fortune.

"If they wait until they're making a final will in their 90s, the chance of their brainpower and willpower being better than they are today is nil."

First supper

The campaign began just over a year ago, when Gates and Buffett — who represent a combined net worth of $90 billion, according to Forbes — invited several billionaires to a secret dinner meeting in New York. Among those attending were Hungarian-born hedge fund guru George Soros, talk-show host Oprah Winfrey, David Rockefeller, media mogul Ted Turner and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Rockefeller, of the oil tycoon family, was asked to host the exploratory meeting at the exclusive President's House at Rockefeller University. Rockefeller, now 95, told Fortune that the request was "a surprise but a pleasure."

Melinda Gates insisted that both husbands and wives be invited. Her reasoning, according to Fortune: "Even if he's the one that made the money, she's going to be a real gatekeeper. And she's got to go along with any philanthropic plan, because it affects her and it affects their kids."

According to media reports at the time, each attendee was given 15 minutes to speak about how they saw the future global economic climate, the future priorities for philanthropy, and what they felt the elite group should do.

A second and third dinner followed in the months to come — at the New York Public Library and at the Rosewood Sand Hill hotel in Menlo Park, Calif.

At those dinners, Bill Gates, the Microsoft co-founder, told Fortune, "No one ever said to me, 'We gave more than we should have.'"

Billionaire pledge

The principals eventually settled on a goal of 50 percent of net worth, though Buffett himself is pledging 99 percent. They set up a website, givingpledge.org, about the effort.

"Millions of people who regularly contribute to churches, schools and other organizations thereby relinquish the use of funds that would otherwise benefit their own families," Buffett wrote in a statement on the website explaining his pledge. "The dollars these people drop into a collection plate or give to United Way mean forgone movies, dinners out, or other personal pleasures. In contrast, my family and I will give up nothing we need or want by fulfilling this 99 percent pledge."

"The Pledge is a moral commitment to give, not a legal contract. It does not involve pooling money or supporting a particular set of causes or organizations," the website says.

"While the Giving Pledge is specifically focused on billionaires, the idea takes its inspiration from efforts in the past and at present that encourage and recognize givers of all financial means and backgrounds. We are inspired by the example set by millions of Americans who give generously (and often at great personal sacrifice) to make the world a better place."

The giving pledge focuses for now on American billionaires, but the effort may eventually extend worldwide.

The money from the participating billionaires isn't being collected or distributed; rather, the pledge is a commitment to give.

Melinda Gates says the initial goal of the pledge campaign is to get billionaires moving in the direction of giving.

"Three to five years down the road, we need to have a significant number of billionaires signed up. That would be success," she told Fortune

LOL - you go first.

Charity is great and everything, but it seems like that much money could go towards creating solutions to important modern problems, but whatever, its still really awesome to hear this happening

I'm just amazed that it actually is happening. You fucking go William, you fucking go Buffetron 4000 - guilt trip those muthas.

he hasn't actually given the money yet you know, he's just pledged to give it (in a non-binding, non-legal contract). Colour me jaded.

he's like 80 years old, even if he were to live to be the worlds oldest man it wouldn't be enough time to spend 50 billion dollars or however much it is.

Hopefully this will cause some heads to explode over at Fox News.

(literally)

interesting, did Buffet and Gates read Ralph Nadar's newest book ?

a fictional book called 'only the super rich can save us' starring Buffet and Gates as fictional versions of themselves with a very similar 'plot' to what they actually lay out in this article

  Quote

Nader says, "to see what could happen if 17 billionaires and super-rich people really put their minds to it, along with a parrot, and took on the existing business power bloc and the politicians in Washington who serve (it)."

  On 6/17/2010 at 8:07 PM, chenGOD said:

he hasn't actually given the money yet you know, he's just pledged to give it (in a non-binding, non-legal contract). Colour me jaded.

The best thing about that is jade is an actual colour

Yeah I know. That's why I said it.

I know you know. I am trying to cultivate a vibe here. We were vibing just then.

Yeah that was pretty good news.

  On 6/17/2010 at 9:50 PM, Rambo said:

I know you know. I am trying to cultivate a vibe here. We were vibing just then.

I know you know I know. After we vibe, do we dock? Or is it too fast for that kind of commitment? I never can tell with vibing. That's why i love Alzado. You just pay him money and dock.

But vibing is good. Hey you want a smirnoff bro?

*vibes*

*sips*

Yea but can they make sure that all the money gets the right destiny?

  On 6/17/2010 at 11:20 PM, Rambo said:

*vibes*

 

 

*sips*

HI five bro!

we vibing.

*sips*

didn't bill gates already did something like this? (giving away about half his wealth) if not, why did i have that idea?

  On 6/18/2010 at 1:03 AM, GORDO said:

didn't bill gates already did something like this? (giving away about half his wealth) if not, why did i have that idea?

i REALLY doubt this.

I guess steve jobs probably has to give away at least 75% of his money now, I mean he needs to compete but he's got cancer or something as well

Bill and Melinda have been serious philanthropists for a while now (of course, at least a chunk of that is going to be for tax purposes); perhaps ironically Bill used to claim that he's not going to leave anything to his children (in part, I suppose, because he wants them to make something of themselves on their own terms, and probably also due to the fact that they've had every fucking opportunity imaginable already).

I don't know if he's changed that position, though. If he hasn't, it means whatever's left when he dies is going into the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (stated goals per Wikipedia: "to enhance healthcare and reduce extreme poverty, and in America, to expand educational opportunities and access to information technology").

Update

Im liking this. Thumbing this hard.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38556042/ns/us_news-giving/

Gates, Buffett lead campaign to persuade America's wealthiest to donate their fortunes

A little over a year after Bill Gates and Warren Buffett began hatching a plan over dinner to persuade America's wealthiest people to give most of their fortunes to charity, more than three-dozen individuals and families have agreed to take part, campaign organizers announced Wednesday.

In addition to Buffett and Gates — America's two wealthiest individuals, with a combined net worth of $90 billion, according to Forbes — 38 other billionaires have signed The Giving Pledge. They include New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, entertainment executive Barry Diller, Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, energy tycoon T. Boone Pickens, media mogul Ted Turner, David Rockefeller, film director George Lucas and investor Ronald Perelman.

"We're off to a terrific start," Buffett, co-founder and chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, said in a conference call also attended by Bloomberg and San Francisco hedge-fund manager Tom Steyer and his wife Kat Taylor, founder of OneCalifornia Bank.

Buffett said he and Gates, the Microsoft co-founder, and Gates' wife Melinda made calls to fellow billionaires on the Forbes 400 list of wealthiest Americans — in many cases, people they had never met — to try to persuade them to join the giving pledge.

"We contacted between 70 and 80 people to get the 40. A few were unavailable. We don’t give up on them. Every saint has a past, every sinner has a future. We’ll keep on working," Buffett said.

Bloomberg, who made the bulk of his estimated $17.5 billion fortune from financial news and information services company Bloomberg L.P., said it didn't make sense to leave everything to his children and have them go through life as members of "the lucky sperm club."

"You don’t want to leave them so much money that it ruins their lives," Bloomberg said. "You want kids who can look back and say, 'Yeah my family helped me but I did something on my own.'"

Added Steyer: "We need to support each other. I look at this as replanting your garden so that future generations will have a full bounty of crops."

The United States has roughly 400 billionaires — about 40 percent of the world's total — with a combined net worth of $1.2 trillion, according to Forbes. If they all took the pledge, that would amount to at least $600 billion for charity.