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The world’s greatest philanthropic effort of modern times

Mumbai Mirror Bureau

     

Posted On Friday, August 06, 2010 at 04:14:41 AM

Forty billionaires on Thursday pledged fifty per cent or more of their wealth towards creating a more equitable world. Of varying ages, cutting across race and business, they share one thing in common: their American citizenship. Billed the greatest philanthorpic endeavour of modern times, the Giving Pledge, an initiative by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, generated 130 billion dollars for charity in 24 hours. Just how much money this is can be gauged from the fact that only 49 of the world's 197 nations have a higher annual GDP. The US remains the world's most profligate consumerist nation, perhaps the most insular too. Carlos Slim, the wealthiest man on the planet, is not an American, and the world's largest number of poor do not live there (that honour belongs to us), yet these men, and a few women, imbued by a uniquely American spirit, are pioneering a new world order. It's the same spirit that catapulted a black man to presidency within 43 years of Blacks being granted voting rights (1964). The much-married oil and gas investor, T Boone Pickens, 82, while pledging half of his $1.1 billion fortune on Thursday said: "I've long stated that I enjoy making money, and I enjoy giving it away. I'm not a big fan of inherited wealth. It generally does more harm than good." "We've really just started but we've already had a terrific response," said Warren Buffett who is worth $ 47 billion and who has already pledged ninety-nine per cent of his wealth to the upliftment of the less privileged. Among the raft of forty who took the pledge on Thursday include Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, Star Wars director George Lucas, New York mayor and media moghul Michael Bloomberg, fashion designer Diana von Frurstenberg, David Rockefeller, and oil and energy baron George Kaiser. CNN boss and America's biggest land owner Ted Turner, who had already donated one billion of his wealth in 1997, said he decided to go public with his charitable endeavours to egg on competitive fellow billionaires. "I realised that many of them used their net worth as a way to keep score and they enjoyed seeing where they ranked on lists put out by magazines like Fortune and Forbes. Understanding how competitive most of these people were, I called on the media to start publishing lists of people who gave away the most. I figured that this would not only motivate people to try to get to the top of the philanthropy list, it could also shame some whose names didn't show up," he said. Buffett and Gates are hoping that the rest of America's 403 billionaires will soon show up on the list. The initiative hopes to eventually raise $ 600 billion from all of these men. The Giving Pledge does not accept any money but asks billionaires to make an impeccable moral commitment to give away their wealth to charity. So while Bill and Melinda Gates have pledged their billions to eradication of malaria from the world, George Lucas is dedicating majority of his wealth to improvement of education around the globe. India, which has the fourth largest number of billionaires (49), the highest number of poor in the world, and aspires to most things American, will be carefully following this development. Warren Buffett, 79 Best Known As Chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway Called the Oracle of Omaha for his adherence to the value investing philosophy, Buffett he was ranked as the world's wealthiest person in 2009 and is currently the third wealthiest person in the world as of 2010. Despite having such immense, the investor and industrialist still lives in the five-bedroom house in Omaha that he purchased in 1957. In 2006, Buffett announced in June that he gradually would give away 85% of his Berkshire holdings to five foundations in annual gifts of stock, starting in July 2006. In 2008, Buffett became the richest man in the world dethroning Bill Gates, worth $62 billion according to Forbes,[38] and $58 billion according to Yahoo. He spends 12 hours a week playing bridge. Warren Buffett worked with Christopher Webber on an animated series which featured him teaching children healthy financial habits. In June 2006, he announced a plan to give away his fortune to charity, with 83% of it going to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. He pledged about the equivalent of 10 million Berkshire Hathaway Class B shares to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (worth approximately US$30.7 billion as of 23 June 2006), making it the largest charitable donation in history and Buffett one of the leaders in the philanthrocapitalism revolution. In 2007, he auctioned a luncheon with himself that raised a final bid of $650,100 for a charity. QuoteWorthy The reality of great wealth is that you can't spend it and you can't take it with you… If you want to fully enjoy life - give   Bill 54 and Melinda Gates 45 Best Known As Husband-wife duo who founded Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the largest transparently operated private foundation in the world In June 2006, Gates announced that he would be transitioning from full-time work at Microsoft to part-time work and full-time work at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. In 1987 Gates was officially declared a billionaire in the pages of Forbes' 400 Richest People in America issue, just days before his 32nd birthday. As the world's youngest self-made billionaire, he was worth $1.25 billion. In 1999, Gates's wealth briefly surpassed $101 billion, causing the media to call him a "centibillionaire". He married Melinda French on January 1, 1994 and have three children. In 2000, Gates and his wife combined three family foundations into one to create the charitable Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. As of 2007, Bill and Melinda Gates were the second most generous philanthropists in America, having given over $28 billion to charity. QuoteWorthyIs the rich world aware of how four billion of the six billion live? If we were aware, we would want to help out, we'd want to get involved - Bill Gates   Ted Turner, 71 Best Known As Media mogul and Founder of CNN As a philanthropist, he is known for his $1 billion gift to support UN causes, which created the United Nations Foundation, a public charity to broaden support for the UN Turner's penchant for controversial statements earned him the nicknames "The Mouth of the South" and "Captain Outrageous." Turner created CNN in 1980. He said: "We won't be signing off until the world ends. In 1990, he created the Turner Foundation, which focuses on philanthropic grants in environment and population. In the same year he created Captain Planet, an environmental superhero. In 1998, Turner pledged to donate $1 billion of his then $3 billion to United Nations causes, and created the United Nations Foundation to administer the gift. QuoteWorthyOver a three year period, I gave away half of what I had. To be honest, my hands shook as I signed it away. I knew I was taking myself out of the race to be the richest man in the world.   Barry Diller, 68 Diane von Fürstenberg, 66 Best Known As Diane, as the fashion designer behind the wrap dress, Diller as the CEO of Fox and USA broadcasting Their on and off relationship ultimately culminated in marriage in 2001 with the Belgian-born Diane becoming a naturalised US citizen. In the 70s, Diane created the wildly popular knitted jersey wrap dress which is housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art for its impact on women's fashion. Diller, who is credited with having greenlighted The Simpsons shows during his stint with 20th Century Fox. During his earlier stint with Paramount Pictures, Diller drove the production of films such as Grease, Saturday Night Fever and raiders of the Lost Arc. Stepfather to Diane's children now Diller's estimated net worth as of April 2010 was $1.2 billion. QuoteWorthy Sometimes there’s more footnotes than text. This isn't something we’re proud of, and over time we'd like to see our footnotes steadily shrink.   Peter George Peterson, 84 Best Known As Secretary of Commerce during the tumultuous Nixon era This veteran has worn several hats in his lifetime: businessman, investment banker, fiscal conservative, author, and politician and most importantly, United States Secretary of Commerce from February 29, 1972, to February 1, 1973 under President Richard Nixon.  Peterson has successfully driven finance giants Bell & Howell, Lehman Brothers until he co-founded the private equity firm, the Blackstone Group. In 2008, he was ranked 149th on the Forbes 400 Richest Americans with a net worth of $2.8 Billion. In 2008, he established The Peter G. Peterson Foundation with a $1 billion endowment.  QuoteWorthy The American government, and America itself, has to change its spending and borrowing policies: the tens of trillions of dollars in unfunded entitlements and promises, the dangerous dependence on foreign capital, our pitiful level of savings, the metastasizing health-care costs, our energy gluttony.   Michael Rubens Bloomberg, 68 Best Known As Mayor, New York City With a net worth of US$18 billion in 2010, the Mayor of New York City and the 8th richest person in the United States is the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, a financial news and information services media company. Bloomberg  has two daughters: Emma and Georgina who have featured on TV shows documeting the lives of billionaire kids.   In 2009 his wealth registered an increase of $ 4 million, taking him to 17 in Forbe's list of billionaires. Through the Bloomberg Family Foundation he has made a contribution of more than $600 million to various charities between 2004 and 2007. QuoteWorthy The reality of great wealth is that you can't spend it and you can't take it with you… If you want to fully enjoy life - give.   David Rockefeller, 95 Best Known As Patriarch of THE Rockefeller family and philanthropist With an estimated net worth of US $ 2.9 billion the grand old man of the billionaire's club is also among the 300 richest people in the world and the only grandchild of oil tycoon John D Rockefeller of Standard Oil. And while his personal wealth and treasures could well fill several museums, Rockefeller donated $100 million to Harvard University in 2008, to date the largest single donation to the university by an alumnus. As the heir to the America's most famous and wealthiest industrial, banking and political family, David Rockefeller became the family's first and only banker when he joined the staff of the longtime family-associated Chase National Bank (the Rockefeller Bank which is now better known as JPMorgan Chase. Rockefeller's awards, honours and distinctions would take up a tome, but in a nutshell, he has been oen of the most influential figures in recent American history. QuoteWorthy Money can add very much to one's ability to lead a constructive life, not only pleasant for oneself, but, hopefully, beneficial to others.   George Lucas, 66 Best Known As Man who gave us Star Wars With a net worth of $3 billion, the creator of the Star Wars franchise and the joint creator of Indiana Jones is also the America’s most successful independent director and producer. Lucas, who has three adopted children, has earned the respect of Americans with his pioneering work through the George Lucas Educational Foundation which has introduced innovative education in classrooms across the country. In 2005 Discovery channel named him as one of the Greatest Americans of All Times. Lucas has been involved with several charitable causes. In 2005, he donated  US $1 million to help build the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial on the National Mall in Washington D.C. to commemorate American civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. QuoteWorthy I am dedicating the majority of my wealth to improving education.  It is the key to the survival of the human race.   Alfred E. Mann, 80 Best Known As The hand behind the pacemaker, insulin pumps, cochlear implants and prosthetic retinas American entrepreneur and philanthropist with and estimated net worth which exceeds $2.2 billion, ranking him the 204th richest man in America and the 390th richest man in the world.    The entrepreneur behind the world's greatest medical advances: pacemakers (Pacesetter), insulin pumps (Minimed), cochlear implants, neurostimulators (Advanced Bionics), prosthetic retinas (Second Sight) is now developing inhaled insulin that mimics the body's. Mann works 90-hour weeks and has pledged his entire fortune to charity and medical research. QuoteWorthy The success of my first company has enabled me to amass a substantial fortune. I want to use the resources to make this a better world.   Jeffrey Skoll, 45 Best Known As First president of E-Bay and producer, An Inconvenient Truth The Canadian born engineer and businessman with a net worth of $4.2 billion channeled all this wealth from E-Bay to become a philanthropist and to found the independent movie production company Participant Media. The company focuses on commercially viable features and documentaries with social relevance. His credits include Syriana, Good Night, and Good Luck, and North Country, An Inconvenient Truth, American Gun and Fast Food Nation. Skoll has donated millions to various causes and has financed The Gandhi Project in partnership with Relief International which created a dubbed version in Arabic of the film Gandhi. QuoteWorthy Don't think of money as the final goal, think of it as a way to do good for the world.   Barron Hilton, 82 Best Known As Son of Conrad Hilton, founder of Hilton chain of hotels With a net worth of US$ 2.5 billion (2010), William Barron Hilton, has fathered eight children and contested his father's will in 1979 which said that left the bulk of his estate to the Conrad N Hilton Foundation. Barron has now won four million shares of the world's most famous hotel chains.  Barron is known for his huge ranches and lavish properties which feature on TV shows and films and are a tourist attraction as well. He  has often expressed his disapproval of his famous niece Paris Hilton's behaviour, though she has chosen not to comment on it. Barron has already dedicated 97 per cent of his fortunes to a charitable trust which will be merged with the Conrad N Hilton Foundation.  QuoteWorthy Today, we focus on safe water development, homelessness, children, substance abuse and Catholic sisters…   Patrick Soon-Shiong and Michele Chan Best Known As Patrick, 57, the founder of Abraxis, developing cancer treatment Patrick is a South African-American surgeon and founder, chairman, and CEO of Abraxis BioScience, a biotechnology company developing cancer treatment. A victim of apartheid in South Africa, Patrick has battled criticism and weathered many a storm to be widely hailed as a visionary. His wife, a former actress is his loyal supporter and a healthcare activist. As founders of the Chan Soon-Shiong Family Foundation, the couple has donated to several charities that promote arts and culture, healthcare, education and the well being of children. QuoteWorthy We will work to erode and eliminate disparities in health care, and to help bring about a system which aims first to keep people healthy.