Philanthropy

A nice article from The Chronicle of Philanthropy about how the rich feel about philanthropy.

An excerpt.

“Three people who have signed the Giving Pledge—a commitment to give away at least half of their fortunes—spoke on Thursday about why they think rich people should donate more and what they hope the pledge will achieve.

“John Morgridge, chairman emeritus of Cisco, and his wife, Tashia, were joined by Lorry Lokey, founder of Business Wire, for an evening conversation at the Global Philanthropy Forum, an annual meeting for donors.

“The Morgridges were among a small group who attended the very first dinner organized by Warren Buffett and Bill and Melinda Gates in May 2009, even before the pledge idea was fully baked. Mr. Morgridge said that people at the initial dinner floated the idea of doing videos and interviews to promote the pledge to others but instead decided that hosting more dinners would be the best way to try to recruit other wealthy people to join.

“After that first dinner, the Morgridges said they took a little time to think over whether they wanted to sign the pledge. Mr. Lokey said he agreed while on the phone with Mr. Buffett, who called him with the proposal.

“I said yes right away, because the money was already gone,” joked Mr. Lokey, who has already given most of his fortune to education, medical research, and other causes. “When you pitch in and make it public, it encourages others.”
He continued: “We’ve got all kinds of billionaires sitting on their rear ends and doing nothing. [Mr. Buffett] said he wanted me to be an example of how far beyond 50 percent you can go.”