The Giving Pledge is a charitable campaign, founded by Bill Gates, Melinda French Gates, and Warren Buffett, to encourage wealthy people to contribute a majority (i.e. more than 50%) of their wealth to philanthropic causes. , the pledge has more than 250 signatories from 30 countries. Most of the signatories of the pledge are billionaires, at a total of US$600 billion.
The campaign is intended to establish a social norm of charitable giving by the wealthy. In its early years, it was highly successful at attracting signatories, whereas the rate of new signatories has declined in recent years.
By 2026, Buffett's relationship with Bill Gates, who was acknowledged to have at one point had ties to Jeffrey Epstein, had become severely strained, with Buffett also severing his decades long partnership with the Gates Foundation.
Description The organization's stated goal is to inspire the wealthy people of the world to give at least half of their net worth to philanthropy, either during their lifetime or upon their death. The pledge is a public gesture of an intention to give, not a legal contract. On the Giving Pledge's website, each individual or couple writes a letter explaining why they chose to give.The Giving Pledge :: Pledger Profiles Retrieved 16 May 2017 The pledge is open to non-billionaires who "plan to give away at least $500 million and are in a position to do so".
History In June 2010, the Giving Pledge campaign was formally announced and Bill Gates, Melinda French Gates, and Warren Buffett began recruiting members. As of August 2010, the aggregate wealth of the first 40 pledgers was $125 billion. 113 people signed the pledge in the first 5 years, 72 in the next 5 years, and 43 in the next 5 years. As of 2026, more than 250 families have signed the pledge.
FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried was removed from the list in December 2022 following his arrest.
Banker T. Denny Sanford had his name removed from the list in May 2023 following the unsealing of court documents about his possible involvement with child pornography.
The Giving Pledge was cited as inspiration for the Jewish Future Pledge, a charitable campaign launched in 2020 to encourage American Jews to give at least half of their charitable giving to Jewish- or Israel-related causes.
Many pledge participants channel their philanthropy through private family foundations or donor-advised funds (DAFs) that they control, enabling immediate tax benefits while allowing disbursements over time. According to a 2025 report by the Institute for Policy Studies, roughly 80 percent of pledger contributions have gone to such intermediary organisations rather than directly to operating charities. Supporters argue this builds enduring endowments and professionalizes grantmaking, while critics contend it delays impact and preserves donor control, blurring the line between philanthropy and the maintenance of influence.
The initiative has also attracted criticism from journalists, watchdog groups, and members of the philanthropic sector for its voluntary and non-binding nature, which provides no mechanism to verify or enforce the fulfilment of commitments. Commentators note that some signatories may gain public recognition without necessarily donating the pledged share, and that many participants have seen their net worth increase since joining. According to a 2025 analysis by the Institute for Policy Studies, the 32 original U.S. pledgers who remain billionaires have collectively become about 166 percent wealthier since signing on in 2010. According to the study, just 8 of 22 pledgers who had since died actually gave away enough to meet the "half of wealth" pledge; the average deceased pledger gave away 43 percent of their wealth, either during their lifetimes or in their estates.
Right-wing billionaire Peter Thiel has been a staunch opponent of the Giving Pledge and has tried to persuade other billionaires not to sign it, or to undo their signatures. He has argued that the money would be better served going towards for-profit businesses instead. Brian Armstrong, CEO of the cryptocurrency firm Coinbase, signed the Giving Pledge in 2019, but rescinded his signature by 2024. A 2026 New York Times story reported that "the rate of signers has plummeted in recent years," citing a backlash against high-profile charitable giving among both the donors and the public, as well as revelations of Gates's ties to Jeffrey Epstein.
Buffett became distant from the Gates Foundation following the Gates' divorce, and transferred $500 million to each of his three children's charitable foundations instead of donating it directly. Tyler Cowen noted, "The fact that many wealthy individuals are now backing away from the pledge is a sign it was not an effective upfront commitment in the first place." In July 2026, Buffett, who was also acknowledged to have become estranged from The Giving Pledge co-founder Bill Gates, officially severed his decades-long partnership with the Gates Foundation in protest to Bill Gates' ties to Epstein, redirecting all money he had intended the Gates Foundation to inherit upon his death to four charities run by his family.
List of notable pledgers
Net worth is for notable signers. A full list of pledgers is available online.
+NameNet worth in billion US$Source of wealthIndustryYear of pledgeYear of deathAmount donatedElon Musk852Tesla, SpaceXElectric vehicles, Rocketry2012$7.6 billion (2021–22)Larry Ellison231.8OracleTech2010$0.8 billion (est.)Mark Zuckerberg201.7Meta PlatformsTech2010$45 billion (est.)Warren Buffett146.8Berkshire HathawayFinance & Investments2010$60 billion+Michael Bloomberg109.4Bloomberg L.P.Finance, Media2010$17 billion+Bill Gates 105.1 Microsoft Software, Tech2010$50 billion+MacKenzie Scott33.2AmazonTech2019$19 billionJim Simons31.4Renaissance TechnologiesFinance & Investments20102024$4 billion+Vladimir Potanin23.7interrosInvestment2013Dustin Moskovitz24.04FacebookTech2010$2.6 billionCarl Icahn22Icahn EnterprisesFinance & Investments2010Pierre Omidyar21.8eBayTech2010Andrew Forrest20.8 (2023)FortescueMining2013John Doerr12.7Kleiner PerkinsFinance & Investments2010Azim Premji12.3WiproTech2013$21 billion (est.)Patrick Soon-Shiong11.5Abraxane, investmentsHealthcare2010Melinda French Gates11.4MicrosoftTech2010Jack Dangermond9.2ESRIGeoinformatics, Environment2016Brian Chesky9.2AirbnbTech2022Cliff Obrecht and Melanie Perkins9.2CanvaTech2021George Lucas8.59LucasfilmMedia2010Nikhil Kamath8ZerodhaFinance & Investments2023Charles Feeney8DFS GroupLuxury retail20112023$8 billion+George Kaiser7.6Kaiser-Francis Oil CompanyEnergy2010Judith Faulkner7.5Epic SystemsTech2015Yuri Milner6.8DST GlobalTechnology investing2013Henry Samueli 6.7 Broadcom Corporation Tech 2011 Jeffrey Skoll6.1eBayTech2010Reed Hastings5.4NetflixTech, Media2012Mitchell and Emily Wei Rales5.4Danaher CorporationBusiness2019Bernard Marcus4.5 to 6.1 (2019)The Home DepotRetail20102024$2.2 billion (est.)Barron Hilton4.5Hilton WorldwideServices20102019$3.6 billion (est.)David Green4.5Hobby LobbyRetail2010Jeff Green4.4AdECNTech2021Ronald Perelman4.3MacAndrews & ForbesFinance & Investments2010David Rubenstein4.3The Carlyle GroupFinance & Investments2010Walter Scott Jr.4.2Berkshire HathawayFinance & Investments20102021$0.5-0.7 billionJulian Robertson4.1Tiger ManagementFinance & Investments20102022$2 billion+Anil Agrawal4Vedanta ResourcesMining2021Hemant Taneja3.6General CatalystVenture Capital2024Thomas Secunda3.6Bloomberg L.PTech2010B. R. Shetty3.5NMC HealthHealthcare2018David Rockefeller3.3Standard Oil, inheritanceEnergy20102017Ken Langone3.3The Home DepotRetail2010Bill Ackman 2.8 Pershing Square Capital Management Finance & Investments 2012 Charles Zegar2.8Bloomberg L.PTech2010Peter G. Peterson2.8Blackstone GroupFinance & Investments20102018Garrett Camp2.7UberTech2017Brian Armstrong 2.6 Coinbase Cryptocurrency 2018 Ted Turner2.4Cable News NetworkMedia20102026Herbert and Marion Sandler2.4Golden West Financial CorporationFinance & Investments2010Gerry Lenfest and Marguerite Lenfest2.4Lenfest CommunicationsMedia20102018T. Denny Sanford2.2First Premier BankFinance & Investments2010Sam Altman2OpenAI, ChatGPTTech2024James E. Stowers2 Twentieth Century Mutual FundsFinance & Investments2010Tom Steyer1.6Farallon CapitalFinance & Investments2010George P. Mitchell1.6Mitchell Energy & Development CorpEnergy20102013Ted Forstmann1.6Forstmann Little & CompanyFinance & Investments20102011Jon Huntsman Sr.1.5Huntsman CorporationManufacturing20102018$1.5 billion+Mark Pincus 1.4 Zynga Tech 2022 Sidney Kimmel1.4Jones Apparel GroupFashion & Cosmetics2010Irwin M. Jacobs1.2QualcommTech2010Bernard Osher1.1Golden West Financial CorporationFinance & Investments2010Duncan MacMillan1.1Bloomberg L.PTech2010Lorry I. Lokey1Business WireMedia20102022Sanford I. Weill1 (2021)Shearson Loeb RhoadesFinance & Investments2010John Morgridge1Cisco SystemsTech2010Tom Monaghan1Domino's PizzaFood & Beverage2010Lyda Hill1Hunt Oil Company, inheritanceEnergy2010Anne Wojcicki0.823andMeGenealogy2022$0.02 billion+ (2022)Shelby White0.6Leon Levy, Odyssey PartnersFinance & Investments2010T. Boone Pickens0.5Mesa Petroleum, BP Capital ManagementEnergy, Finance & Investments20102019$1 billion+
See also
Charity (practice) Charitable organization Earning to give Effective altruism List of members of the Forbes 400 Philanthrocapitalism The World's Billionaires Venture philanthropy Giving What We Can
References
External links