Americans are a generous folk: in 2009, charitable contributions from American individuals, corporations and foundations totalled $303.75 billion, according to the Center for Philanthropy at Indiana University’s Giving USA 2010 report. Combine that with a new initiative started by a couple of A-list billionaires and that amount could easily triple.
In June, Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett started the Giving Pledge: an initiative aimed at getting billionaires to pledge at least half of their net worth to charitable donations. So far, 40 individuals have signed up. The roster includes household names like George Lucas, David Rockefeller, Ted Turner and, not least, founders Gates and Buffett, who have pledged significantly more than half of their net worth. While some have already argued that part of the estimated $600 billion that this initiative could raise would have been donated anyway, the impact of the Giving Pledge remains astounding. We break down the numbers in this infographic.
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3 Comments so far
leave a commentIt’s obviously great that people with wealth are donating it.
But it requires more than money to accomplish what’s listed above. Yes, $125 billion could theoretically educate 80 million children in Africa for 12.5 years — if they *also* have the teachers, and schools, and social infrastructure, and political stability, to support it.
A poor country doesn’t just turn X billions into Y educated children: There’s corruption, violence, uncertainty, inefficiency. And, as the Gates Foundation has shown, donating large sums can have the unintended effect of solving one problem while warping a society — if all the money is going into AIDS treatment, doctors may neglect basic health, because they can become a lot richer treating AIDS.
A little education goes a long way. How many people mistakenly believe you can eat in a healthy way for little money? I detail (w Tom Levine) cash and calories. The “Reverse RobinHood economics” has to be dispelled. So this initiative provides education. You can do “Eating on $1 A Day” as our book title shows but -not- a 15 yr old boy and not healthy foods. (a boy going out for football needs over 4800 calories a day) We and even the rich have to stop blinding ourselves to reality. Let’s not wait until we slip over the malnourished children in our streets.
Oprah is nowhere on the list…go figure.