Donation Commitment is a charity campaign initiated by Bill Gates in 2010 and Warren Buffettwhich invites the world’s richest individuals and families to publicly devote themselves to donating at least 50% of their wealth to charity in their lifetime or will.
Report from the Institute of Policy “15-year-old donation commitment” It was found that what the initiative, which the billionaire publicly promised to donate at least half of its wealth to charities, was mostly unfulfilled, and that most signatories are now richer than when they joined, while most charities provide funds to private foundations and donors rather than directly supporting the operation of the charity. The IPS team is led by Chuck Collins, Bella Devaan, Helen Flannery and Dan Petergorsky, and invites the public to attend. Check its data and methodology. Collins himself is Oscar Mayer’s heir, donating his wealth And dedicated to studying wealth inequality.
According to IPS calculations, few people can fulfill their promises. In fact, there is only one set of living 2010 commitments (Laura and John Arnold) that give them half of their wealth. Of the 22 late American promisers, only 8 fulfilled their promises before their deaths—just one, Chuck Feeney, Give up all his wealth Still alive.
Commitment is an open moral commitment, not a legally binding contract. Participants sign Explain the reasons for their donation and have the option to support what causes and charities. The initiative aims to inspire generosity, set new norms for billionaire philanthropy and change how major wealth can be used to address pressing social challenges
Key findings:
- 256 people, couples or families have signed a donation commitment, Included are 194 from the United States and 62 from other countries. Among the American signers, there are 110 billionaires with a total wealth of $1.7 trillion, accounting for 13% of American billionaires.
- Of the 57 initial U.S. signatures in 2010, there are still 32 billionaires. Since signing, their collective net worth has increased by 283% (166% adjusted for inflation). Only 11 of the original groups were no longer billionaires, mainly because their wealth was below the threshold, not because of giving.
- Donations are mainly for intermediaries: Of the estimated $206 billion in original 2010 commitment donations, about 80% ($164 billion) have entered private foundations, with only a small portion of the donors donated to the funds provided by donors. In 2023, 44 foundations associated with these billionaires held $120 billion in assets and paid a median of 9.2%, usually much lower than the appreciated value of these assets.
- Wealth exceeds donation: For most people, wealth accumulates faster than charitable contributions, which makes it impossible to fully realize the commitments on the current trajectory fully functionally.
- Taxation and public impact: If all the living original promisers were enough to meet today’s commitments, nearly $367 billion would go to charity. But such gifts would result in up to $272 billion in forgotten federal tax revenue, reducing support for public programs, as wealthy donors can claim up to 74% of charitable tax breaks.
- The concentration of charity power: The report warns that the upcoming “big wealth transfer”, coupled with favorable tax laws and slow charitable payments, will further consolidate the billionaire base, centralize power and undermine democratic responsibility.
The policy recommendations reported include:
- Raise minimum payment requirements and ensure funds flow quickly from the foundation and DAFS to work charities rather than parked charities.
- Improve transparency, public responsibility and law enforcement to curb personal or political interests that abuse charitable vehicles.
- To slow down excessive accumulation and reduce reliance on private philanthropy, large destiny is taxed.
The report advocates back to the “dedication” of “dedication” as Chuck Feeney exemplified by “dedication” and calls for systematic reforms to ensure charitable contributions serve the public good, not just super-rich tax and legacy interests.
Donation commitments have not been responded wealthMake a request for comment.
For this story, wealth Use the generated AI to help with the initial draft. The editor verified the accuracy of the information before publishing.
