A few weeks ago, the members of the Giving Pledge met in person for the first time. The event was very hush, hush (except for AOL founder Steve Case’s tweeting), but I’ve had an opportunity to speak with someone who was there. Partly the event was about giving the billionaires who have pledged to give […]
Category Archives: Giving Pledge
Billionaire Philanthropists in Their Own Words
Clay Holtzman writes about the social sector for the Puget Sound Business Journal. He’s the reporter who broke the story about Unitus abruptly shutting down. He’s active on Twitter and is one of my favorite social sector reporters. Yesterday, Clay posted this fascinating article about his effort to run the Giving Pledge letters through Wordle, […]
Warren Buffett on Philanthropy
I believe that one day Warren Buffett will be looked on as the most pivotal person in the philanthropy of the early 21st century. Like Andrew Carnegie in the late 19th century, Buffett will be remembered not just for his own philanthropy, but for his outsized impact on the philanthropy of others. Below is the […]
More Billionaires Sign Giving Pledge
The Giving Pledge, the effort of Warren Buffett and Bill Gates to encourage billionaires to commit to giving away at least half their wealth, announced this morning that 17 more people have signed the Pledge. That brings the total to 57 of the roughly 400 US billionaires. There were four items of particular interest in […]
Placing Bets on the Giving Pledge
This is amusing. An online sports book is offering odds on who will be the next billionaire to sign the Giving Pledge [click on “Entertainment” until you reach the Giving Pledge odds]. The bookmaker has set the odds to indicate that John Paulson is the most likely next signer with Carl Icahn and George Soros […]
Warren Buffett Discusses Goals for Giving Pledge
I had the opportunity last week to listen to the Giving Pledge conference call in which Warren Buffett fielded questions from the press and offered color on the purpose of the Giving Pledge. The big take away for me was that Buffett’s hope is that the Giving Pledge will lead to an increase in the […]