Most Giving Pledge dollars never reached the public, flowing instead to private foundations and donor-advised funds while billionaires grew richer, bought reputations for generosity, and handed back scraps to the people who made their fortunes. That’s philanthro-capitalism at work.

In 2010, billionaires Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, and Melinda Gates launched The Giving Pledge. The idea was that the world’s wealthiest ought to give back to the world, so signatories promised to donate half their wealth. Over the years, the Pledge steadily collected new members, reaching more than 250 donors including Elon Musk (2012), Larry Ellison (2010), MacKenzie Scott (2019) — though not her ex-husband, Jeff Bezos — and Sam Altman (2024). And then what happened?

The pledge is a promise, not a contract —

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