The Giving Pledge

The richest 400 Americans are worth over $2 trillion. In other words, they own as much wealth as the bottom half of American households combined. However, there's a new move towards philanthropy amongst the American super-rich instigated by the likes of Bill Gates and Warren Buffett.

The Giving Pledge is a long-term charitable initiative that aims to inspire immediate philanthropy and increase charitable giving throughout the United States. An estimate of the contribution promised by the first 40 donors, based on their aggregate wealth as at August 2010, was at least $125 billion.

Now in its fourth year, the Giving Pledge has shown strong momentum in encouraging billionaires to give away at least half of their fortunes to charitable causes. In 2013, the Pledge was opened up to international signatories, inviting pledgers from around the world to share their unique approaches to giving and lend their voices to a wider range of global issues in need of philanthropic investment.

As of January 2015, 128 billionaire or former billionaire individuals and couples have signed the pledge. Pledgers signed up to the scheme are listed on the schem's web page here: givingpledge.org