logo
book Subscribe to our Magazine
    • Magazine
    • Membership
    • Donate
  • Racial Justice
  • Economic Justice
  • Climate Justice
  • Health Justice
  • Leadership
    • Grassroots Fundraising Journal
  • CONTENT TYPES
  • Podcasts
    • Tiny Spark
    • Women of Color in Power
  • Webinars
    • Free Webinars
    • Premium On-Demand Webinars
  • Membership

14 More Billionaires Join the Giving Pledge…And?

Cyndi Suarez
June 1, 2017
Share
Tweet
Share
Email
Print

March 30, 2017; Mashable and Business Insider

A recent article in Mashable announced that an additional 14 signatories from seven countries have taken up The Giving Pledge, an initiative launched by Warren Buffett and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in 2010. Billionaires who sign make a moral yet legally unenforceable pledge to give away at least half of their fortune to solve world problems.

The latest additions—which include Australian gaming tycoon Leonard H. Ainsworth; Tanzania’s only billionaire, Mohammed Dewji, who runs a conglomerate with businesses in textiles, oils, flour, and beverages; and Ray Dolby, creator of audio systems—bring the number of signatories to 168 people from 21 countries.

Quartz estimates the potential “flowing into philanthropic causes” to be $7.15 billion, based on the net worth of eight of the new signatories (the ones that are publicly available). Some of the causes they pledge to support include “climate change, environmental and ecological protection, education, poverty alleviation, and medical and healthcare research.”

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the NPQ newsletter to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

By signing up, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of use, and to receive messages from NPQ and our partners.

The Mashable article calls the Giving Pledge “philanthrocapitalism” (a trend NPQ has written about in the past), which it describes as “throwing money at big, systemic problems without addressing the causes of inequality,” which affects the impact of their efforts. A 2006 Economist article with the headline “The birth of philanthrocapitalism,” said about the trend, “The need for philanthropy to become more like the for-profit capital markets is a common theme among the new philanthropists.”

The Economist article also lists three key elements of the idea of a “philanthropic marketplace”—something for philanthropists to invest in (preferably created by a “social entrepreneur”), infrastructure (“the philanthropic equivalent of stock markets, investment banks, research houses, management consultants and so on), and philanthropists that behave as investors (that is, they “maximize their ‘social return’”).

As NPQ noted in an earlier article, “Both recent history and contemporary experience suggest that the best results in raising economic growth rates while simultaneously reducing poverty and inequality come when markets are subordinated to the public interest, as expressed through government and civil society.”

However, Leonard Tow, the CEO of New Century Holdings who pledged five years ago said, “It’s like joining a club, that’s all it is. There wasn’t any thinking about it.” If his comment is any indication of how other signatories feel, it doesn’t seem like really getting at the root of these world problems is top of mind.

What could nonprofits do with all this money? Would we do better? How do we know? Perhaps the moral of the story is that throwing more money at large-scale social problems while maintaining control over how it gets spent is a kind of deep colonialism; in fact, in some cases it may blind us to issues of widening economic inequality.—Cyndi Suarez

Share
Tweet
Share
Email
Print
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Cyndi Suarez

Cyndi Suarez is the Nonprofit Quarterly’s president and editor in chief. She is author of The Power Manual: How to Master Complex Power Dynamics, in which she outlines a new theory and practice of power. Suarez has worked as a strategy and innovation consultant with a focus on networks and platforms for social movements. Her studies were in feminist theory and organizational development for social change.

More about: billionaire philanthropygiving pledgeNonprofit NewsPhilanthropy

Become a member

Support independent journalism and knowledge creation for civil society. Become a member of Nonprofit Quarterly.

Members receive unlimited access to our archived and upcoming digital content. NPQ is the leading journal in the nonprofit sector written by social change experts. Gain access to our exclusive library of online courses led by thought leaders and educators providing contextualized information to help nonprofit practitioners make sense of changing conditions and improve infra-structure in their organizations.

Join Today
logo logo logo logo logo
See comments

NPQ_Spring_2022

You might also like
What Is the Nonprofit Sector of a Future, Equitable World?
Devon Kearney
New Data Tells Us Where Donor-Advised Fund Dollars Go—And Don’t Go
Chuck Collins and Helen Flannery
Report Maps the Philanthropy of Millionaire Donors of Color
Steve Dubb
One Nation Under a Groove: How to Build a Black Future Through Strong, Black-Led Community Organizations
Shawn A. Ginwright
This is What Solidarity Looks Like: Global Racial Justice in Antiwar Organizing
Kitana Ananda
Making Federal Infrastructure Funding Equitable—What Philanthropy Can Do
Lois DeBacker and Joe Evans

Upcoming Webinars

You might also like
What Is the Nonprofit Sector of a Future, Equitable World?
Devon Kearney
New Data Tells Us Where Donor-Advised Fund Dollars Go—And...
Chuck Collins and Helen Flannery
Report Maps the Philanthropy of Millionaire Donors of Color
Steve Dubb
WOMEN OF COLOR IN POWER
Women of Color in Power

Listen wherever you get your podcasts.

Subscribe
Rep. Ayanna Pressley and Authentic Leadership
Reclaiming Interrupted Lineages

Like what you see?

Subscribe to the NPQ newsletter to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

By signing up, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of use, and to receive messages from NPQ and our partners.

Independent & in your mailbox.

Subscribe today and get a full year of NPQ for just $59.

subscribe
  • About
  • Contact
  • Submissions
  • Advertisers
  • Newsletters
  • Copyright

Subscribe to View Webinars

We are using cookies to give you the best experience on our website.

 

Non Profit News | Nonprofit Quarterly
Powered by  GDPR Cookie Compliance
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.

If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.