Gates and Buffett’s Giving Pledge is 15 years old, but many signatories are richer than ever

Fifteen years after its high-profile launch by Bill Gates, Melinda French Gates, and Warren Buffett, the Giving Pledge is under scrutiny for its lackluster results.

Promising to encourage the world’s wealthiest individuals to give away at least half of their fortunes, the Pledge now boasts 256 signers but according to a new report the reality of billionaire philanthropy falls far short of the rhetoric.

The Charity Reform Initiative of the Institute for Policy Studies reveals that while billionaire wealth has soared, actual giving has not kept pace.

Of the 32 original US signers from 2010 who are still billionaires, their combined wealth has grown by 283% with 15 of them increasing by more than 200%, led by billionaire couple Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan whose combined wealth has soared by more than 4000%.

Of the total 110 living signers who are still billionaires, accounting for around 13% of all US billionaires, their combined fortune is $1.7 trillion. Also notable is that the percentage of Pledgers has not increased over the past 15 years.

More astounding is that only one living couple — John and Laura Arnold — has fulfilled the pledge to donate at least half of their wealth. The Arnolds have given away an estimated $4.76 billion, mostly to their foundation, and have $2.93 billion remaining.

"Now that the Giving Pledge itself is old enough for a driver’s permit, the public can draw clear conclusions from the overwhelming proof in our report about how the voluntary commitment has fallen short, and about the dubious charitable giving practices favored by some of its signatories," says Bella DeVaan, report co-author and associate director of the Charity Reform Initiative of the Institute for Policy Studies.

Eight of the original Pledgers that are now deceased also fulfilled their promises including Chuck Feeney who gave his entire $8 billion fortune away before he died.

“There’s never been a greater need for philanthropy — and there has never been a greater opportunity to have an impact in our own lifetimes,” Bill Gates said in 2025 as he introduced the latest class of pledgers.

The report highlights a major flaw: most donations don’t go directly to working charities with 79% of original Pledgers’ $201 billion giving having gone into private foundations, where money can sit indefinitely, earning tax benefits for donors without delivering immediate public benefit. Another chunk likely sits in donor-advised funds, with little transparency and no required payout rate.

“It’s an empty promise,” the report concludes. Despite high-profile efforts — like Gates’ recent commitment to donate 99% of his Microsoft stock over the next 20 years — the overall fulfillment rate remains strikingly low.

“We are facing the peril of billionaire charity dynasties wielding tremendous private power, the likes of which we’ve never seen — all subsidized by taxpayers,” warns Chuck Collins, co-author of the report, the director of the Charity Reform Initiative, and director of the Program on Inequality and the Common Good at the Institute for Policy Studies.

If all those who signed The Giving Pledge in 2010 (and who are still living) were to honor their pledges today, an estimated $370 billion would be directed to charity. But that would also result in an estimated $274 billion in lost federal revenue due to charitable tax deductions.

"The core logic upholding American philanthropy is that our wealthiest give back in exchange for their great success,” adds DeVaan. “Now that the newly passed federal budget bill has made massive tax giveaways to the rich permanent, we have to ensure transparency and accountability in charitable giving to protect our democracy. If ultra-wealthy donors like the Giving Pledgers aren’t timely in fulfilling their promises to give away more of their wealth, we must enact measures to ensure more donations actually reach working charities and discourage other ultra-rich Americans from exploiting the philanthropic system to hoard wealth and over-exert influence on the taxpayer’s dime.”