Warren Buffett says these billionaires' letters might be more valuable than their money
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Warren Buffett wants his Giving Pledge to define philanthropy for generations.
At the 2016 Concordia Summit in New York on Tuesday, Buffett discussed the philanthropic movement with Yahoo Finance editor Andy Serwer via video conference. The Giving Pledge is a group for billionaires who publicly promise to donate at least half of their wealth to charity during their lifetime or upon death.
Buffett founded it in 2010 with Bill Gates, and the Giving Pledge now has 156 members, many of whom sign along with their spouse, showing that it's a family commitment.
Each member writes a letter explaining why they are making the decision, and Buffett says these are not merely press releases, and may even be more important than any single donation "because they're messages to the future." Buffett explained that they "will be influencing philanthropy 10, 20, 50 years from now, just like Andrew Carnegie's 'Gospel of Wealth.'"
He told Serwer that he is most proud of the younger signatories, like the cofounders of Airbnb. "I tell them, every one of them is worth 10 of me because you're going to have young people, particularly in this day and age, get wealthy very early and they're going to look to the people who are their heroes, whether it's Mark Zuckerberg or Brian Chesky," he said.
We've collected samples from some of the letters below, and all can be read on the Giving Pledge's website.
- I quit McKinsey after 1.5 years. I was making over $200k but my mental health was shattered.
- Some Tesla factory workers realized they were laid off when security scanned their badges and sent them back on shuttles, sources say
- I tutor the children of some of Dubai's richest people. One of them paid me $3,000 to do his homework.
- Why are so many elite coaches moving to Western countries?
- Global GDP to face a 19% decline by 2050 due to climate change, study projects
- 5 things to keep in mind before taking a personal loan
- Markets face heavy fluctuations; settle lower taking downtrend to 4th day
- Move over Bollywood, audio shows are starting to enter the coveted ‘100 Crores Club’