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Hey there, data geeks! I am doing research on the rise of social entrepreneurship and got sidetracked by what a badass Bill Gates is. I found out that his foun

Hey there, data geeks! I am doing research on the rise of social entrepreneurship and got sidetracked by what a badass Bill Gates is. I found out that his foundation is 4x larger than the next largest private foundation in the US. And if you add up the wealth pledged as a part of The Giving Pledge it is 10x larger than that. I compiled The Giving Pledge data on my own by researching net worths of each pledgee. Planning to put the data on the Wikipedia page shortly. I found the other data from the following sources (see direct links in article): Foundation Center The Giving Pledge NP Trust GBD Compare AVAC Happy to answer any questions and would love feedback.

brent_noorda 10y ago
The Gates data is inspirational. Glad you put that in perspective. However, we need to see more data on the impact of the Giving Pledge, and whether it has led to more giving. In your chart, the assumption is that this money is more than would have been given without the Pledge. Also, the comparison to amount pledged (most of which will eventually make its way into foundations that will spread the money on their own time schedules) with the amount donated in 2014 is not a telling comparison. Consider, for example, my billionaire mother. Before she died, a couple of years ago, we discussed whether she should be joining The Giving Pledge. She decided she didn't want to be seen in the company of billionaires who had pledged to give away only 50% of their money. "Why would a billionaire want to keep half of their money, anyway? What could someone possibly do, personally, with half a billion dollars? I don't want to join a group like that!" To understand the impact of The Giving Pledge we'd need to know how much would have been given without the pledge? Does the Pledge provide peer pressure to give away more than they would have otherwise given? Or does this pledge lead to less giving, because it makes billionaires feel that it's morally OK to give away just 50%? Do you have the comparison data to answer these questions?
- mike2477 10y ago
  Unfortunately I don't think that data is available. But from what I understand it has led to more giving. See this article - http://fortune.com/2010/06/16/the-600-billion-challenge/ http://fortune.com/2010/06/16/the-600-billion-challenge/
vezycash 10y ago
How about a comparison with historical philanthropists like Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie in constant currency?
- eru 10y ago
  Or as ratio of nominal GDP at the time.
tyrael71 10y ago
Is there anywhere I could access/read the research, or is it just the information you have on that blog?

brent_noorda 10y ago

The Gates data is inspirational. Glad you put that in perspective. However, we need to see more data on the impact of the Giving Pledge, and whether it has led to more giving. In your chart, the assumption is that this money is more than would have been given without the Pledge. Also, the comparison to amount pledged (most of which will eventually make its way into foundations that will spread the money on their own time schedules) with the amount donated in 2014 is not a telling comparison. Consider, for example, my billionaire mother. Before she died, a couple of years ago, we discussed whether she should be joining The Giving Pledge. She decided she didn't want to be seen in the company of billionaires who had pledged to give away only 50% of their money. "Why would a billionaire want to keep half of their money, anyway? What could someone possibly do, personally, with half a billion dollars? I don't want to join a group like that!" To understand the impact of The Giving Pledge we'd need to know how much would have been given without the pledge? Does the Pledge provide peer pressure to give away more than they would have otherwise given? Or does this pledge lead to less giving, because it makes billionaires feel that it's morally OK to give away just 50%? Do you have the comparison data to answer these questions?

mike2477 10y ago
Unfortunately I don't think that data is available. But from what I understand it has led to more giving. See this article - http://fortune.com/2010/06/16/the-600-billion-challenge/ http://fortune.com/2010/06/16/the-600-billion-challenge/

vezycash 10y ago

How about a comparison with historical philanthropists like Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie in constant currency?

eru 10y ago
Or as ratio of nominal GDP at the time.

tyrael71 10y ago

Is there anywhere I could access/read the research, or is it just the information you have on that blog?