Right off the top of my head, when asked about influential personalities whom I truly feel serve as role models for societal progress and the betterment of humanity, I think of Bill Gates and Warren Buffett - granted, there are many more people worthy of mentioning in my rather short mental list, therefore I went on to look for a longer one.
The Giving Pledge
Lo and behold - 'The Giving Pledge', an initiative to encourage the wealthiest people in U.S. to commit to giving the majority of their 8 (and above) figure wealth to charity - this is definitely one of the more intriguing list that I've seen - all the individuals on this list have made a conscious and personal commitment to improve the lives of other people and the society that they live in. Perhaps we're able to do something similar in Singapore (it's where I live), we're a rich country characterised by the biggest disparity in wealth among its citizens.
As of 2012, there are currently 69 billionaires on the list -
| PAUL G. ALLEN LAURA AND JOHN ARNOLD NICOLAS BERGGRUEN MICHAEL R. BLOOMBERG ELI AND EDYTHE BROAD WARREN BUFFETT JEAN AND STEVE CASE MICHELE CHAN AND PATRICK SOON-SHIONG LEE AND TOBY COOPERMAN JOYCE AND BILL CUMMINGS RAY AND BARBARA DALIO JOHN PAUL DEJORIA BARRY DILLER AND DIANE VON FURSTENBERG ANN AND JOHN DOERR LARRY ELLISON CHARLES F. FEENEY TED FORSTMANN (D. 2011) PHILLIP AND PATRICIA FROST BILL AND MELINDA GATES DAVID AND BARBARA GREEN JEFF GREENE HAROLD AND SUE ANN HAMM LYDA HILL BARRON HILTON JON AND KAREN HUNTSMAN CARL ICAHN JOAN AND IRWIN JACOBS GEORGE B. KAISER VINOD AND NEERU KHOSLA SIDNEY KIMMEL RICH AND NANCY KINDER ELAINE AND KEN LANGONE GERRY AND MARGUERITE LENFEST LORRY I. LOKEY | GEORGE LUCAS DUNCAN AND NANCY MACMILLAN ALFRED E. MANN JOE AND RIKA MANSUETO BERNIE AND BILLI MARCUS MICHAEL AND LORI MILKEN GEORGE P. MITCHELL THOMAS S. MONAGHAN TASHIA AND JOHN MORGRIDGE DUSTIN MOSKOVITZ PIERRE AND PAM OMIDYAR BERNARD AND BARBRO OSHER RONALD O. PERELMAN PETER G. PETERSON T. BOONE PICKENS JULIAN H. ROBERTSON, JR. DAVID ROCKEFELLER EDWARD W. AND DEEDIE POTTER ROSE DAVID M. RUBENSTEIN HERB AND MARION SANDLER DENNY SANFORD VICKI AND ROGER SANT LYNN SCHUSTERMAN WALTER SCOTT, JR. TOM AND CINDY SECUNDA ANNETTE AND HAROLD SIMMONS JIM AND MARILYN SIMONS JEFF SKOLL TOM STEYER AND KAT TAYLOR JIM AND VIRGINIA STOWERS TED TURNER SANFORD AND JOAN WEILL SHELBY WHITE CHARLES ZEGAR AND MERRYL SNOW ZEGAR MARK ZUCKERBERG |
What is 'The Giving Pledge'?
The Giving Pledge is a campaign to encourage the wealthiest people in the United States to make a commitment to give most of their money to philanthropic causes. The campaign specifically focuses on billionaires and was made public in 2010 by the two wealthiest people in the United States, billionaires Warren Buffett and Bill Gates.
Warren Buffett
Warren Edward Buffett is one of the most successful investors in the world; the business magnate and philanthropist is Forbes's 3rd richest man globally, ranked closely after Carlos Slim Helu (72 year old telecom baron worth $69 billion) and Bill Gates (who's net worth is approximated at $61billion).
Warren Buffett is the primary shareholder and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, a multinational holding company which started life as a humble cotton mill back in 1888 - the company now owns businesses in insurance, utilities and energy, manufacturing, services and retail. Despite his immense wealth in money and assets, Buffet lives a frugal lifestyle -
"(Warren Buffett) lives a lifestyle that hasn't changed much since before he before he made his billions...
residing in the same house in Omaha, Nebraska, that he bought in 1958 for $31,500. He is well known for his simple tastes, including McDonald's hamburgers and cherry Coke, and his disdain for technology, including computers and luxury cars." - Investopedia.com
What's incredible about Buffet is his genuine approach to philanthropy - he has pledged to donate 99% of his fortune to non profit organisations and social causes - that's almost $43.56 billion in contributions to causes that improve people's lives and increase standards of living.
Bill and Melinda Gates
William Henry "Bill" Gates III is an business tycoon, investor and philanthropist; his wife, Melinda French Gates is a businesswoman and philanthropist, she co-founded and co-chairs the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, an organisation that focuses on addressing issues in global healthcare, poverty and development, and education and information.
One of their organisation's more notable undertaking would be eliminating polio from the world -
In their pledge, Bill and Melinda Gates discuss glaring issues in global healthcare - like how preventable diseases such as rotavirus was claiming the lives of half a million children annually, and how these pressing issues always sailed under the radar of many media outlets.
The husband and wife team has dedicated the bulk of their fortunes to stopping preventable deaths and tearing down barriers to health and education that impedes people's efforts to make the most of their lives. One of Bill and Melinda's key principle is that all lives have equal value - they're on a mission to give every child a chance to grow up in a satisfactory environment and have opportunities to do big things.
In Closing
I believe that on the most fundamental level, everyone wants to make a positive change in other people's lives and in the society that they live in - I feel that Warren Buffett, Bill and Melinda Gates, and all other billionaires who have pledged their wealth to charity are in realization that having a lot of money is not by itself the source of happiness, rather it's about the positive change that you're able to exact and the social issues you're able to address, that gives one a sense of true fulfilment and joy.
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By Herman Soh
