The Giving Pledge
The Giving Pledge is a 'private get-together of 210 billionaires (per 2020). It was founded in 2009 by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett to coordinate philanthropic donations. Whoever signs the pledge agrees to "give away" more than half of their wealth to charitable causes while alive or in their wills.
Contents
Enormous Power
With their combined funds of many hundred billions dollars to invest, this coordination enables them to set priorities and push through their preferred solutions for the whole community in strategic sectors, like education and health care.
The gatherings create a community of a few dozen people who own most the world and personally know each other, and coordinating their fortunes, a power which is too strong for any democratic processes to resist.
Their money will buy a large cadre of leaders in NGOs who will further their pet causes ("intensely felt core beliefs"[1], like "championing the military"[2], pushing out causes they don't like, which will wither for lack of money and PR.
Dominated by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett
This funding coordination is a continuation of The Good Club. The Pledge is "more than a one-time event", it means "becoming part of an energized community" of some of the world’s richest people "to discuss challenges, successes, and failures, and to share ideas" on how this strategic use of money "should be done to greatest effect."[3]
The project is dominated by Gates and Buffet, as many of the lesser billionaires point out, they "commit to being good listeners and participants,"[4], this is "a mentorship"[5] where they get an "opportunity to learn from them"[6].
'We' need to work together
On the prospect of nuclear war one of the participants, Ben Delo, comments: "Put simply, we"...("we in the present generation" as a whole, but in context of the text he rather speaks to his billionaire fellows that can do something about it, "the growing community of philanthropists").."have never been in this position before: with the power to destroy the future, but not necessarily the wisdom to wield that power responsibly. To navigate this critical period safely, we need to work together."[7]
Conference
The group convenes every year for a two-day learning conference[8], where they can hear from unidentified outside experts (presumably handpicked by Gates because they champion the right themes) about subjects like "criminal justice reform, early childhood education, refugee aid, public health, and poverty alleviation".[9] The meeting is described as "a hardworking 2 day 3 nights meetings, with full agendas from 7am through after dinner hours."[10]
Thought Leadership
Those who join the Giving Pledge often write a letter explaining their decision to engage deeply and publicly in philanthropy and describing the causes that motivate them.
The signatories fund a diverse range of issues including poverty alleviation, refugee aid, disaster relief, global health, education, women and girls’ empowerment, medical research, criminal justice reform, environmental sustainability, and art and culture; all sectors where exactly these very billionaires through their business practices have been responsible for causing these major problems.
Many of the billionaires, like Nicolas Berggruen have a history of buying politicians through cushy board membership in 'foundations', where they 'provide thought leadership'[11]
The Pledge started as a U.S. project, where you can become a member "if you have at least U.S. $1 billion in personal net worth"[12]. Since then, it has recieved international pledges from - equally ruthless to their U.S. peers - businessmen like Kjell Inge Røkke[13][14][15] and Victor Pinchuk.[16][17][18]
Jeffrey Epstein was on the verge of joining, or maybe did, but is not mentioned in the official lists.[19][20] Either way, he and Gates traveled the world together meeting dignitaries like Thorbjørn Jagland, Nobel Peace Prize Chair and Secretary General of the Council of Europe[21].
Business opportunities
In addition, the charity money is not as free as it might seem. By paying to further thing like "innovative approaches to provide access to education, healthcare"[22], they open profit opportunities through privatization in sectors that most citizens prefer are taken care of by the public. Historically, the Rockefeller, Ford and Carnegie Foundation did similar things.
The 2012 meeting discussed the growing relevance of public-private partnerships and "impact investing" creating societal impact as well as financial return.[23]
References
- ↑ https://givingpledge.org/Pledger.aspx?id=245
- ↑ https://givingpledge.org/Pledger.aspx?id=164
- ↑ https://givingpledge.org/Pledger.aspx?id=338
- ↑ https://givingpledge.org/Pledger.aspx?id=338
- ↑ https://givingpledge.org/Pledger.aspx?id=171
- ↑ https://givingpledge.org/Pledger.aspx?id=266
- ↑ https://givingpledge.org/Pledger.aspx?id=383
- ↑ annual two-day learning conference
- ↑ https://givingpledge.org/PressRelease.aspx?date=05.30.2017
- ↑ [Bill Cummings: Starting Small and Making It Big: An Entrepreneur's Journey to Billion-Dollar Philanthropist
- ↑ https://givingpledge.org/Pledger.aspx?id=170
- ↑ https://givingpledge.org/About.aspx
- ↑ https://givingpledge.org/Pledger.aspx?id=338
- ↑ http://www.oldsaltblog.com/2018/03/norwegian-billionaire-kjell-inge-rokke-giving-back-help-save-oceans/
- ↑ https://www.cnbc.com/2017/05/18/a-billionaire-is-giving-his-fortune-away-to-clean-up-oceans.html
- ↑ https://givingpledge.org/Pledger.aspx?id=266
- ↑ http://pinchukartcentre.org/en/news/22030
- ↑ https://www.pinchukfund.org/en/media/press_release/9632/?PAGEN_3=332
- ↑ https://nypost.com/2019/07/16/jeffrey-epstein-asked-publicist-to-rehab-his-billionaire-pervert-image/
- ↑ https://www.townandcountrymag.com/society/money-and-power/a28378863/jeffrey-epstein-publicist-couri-hay/ saved at Archive.org saved at Archive.is
- ↑ https://www.dn.no/magasinet/dokumentar/jeffrey-epstein/thorbjorn-jagland/terje-rod-larsen/bill-gates-and-jeffrey-epstein-met-with-nobel-committee-chair/2-1-885834
- ↑ https://givingpledge.org/Pledger.aspx?id=266
- ↑ The Crisis and Renewal of American Capitalism: A Civilizational Approach to Modern American Political Economy
