Hundreds of billionaires pledged to give their fortunes away through Warren Buffett and Bill Gates' Giving Pledge, but very little money may be actually helping people, according to a new study

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Hundreds of billionaires pledged to give their fortunes away through Warren Buffett and Bill Gates' Giving Pledge, but very little money may be actually helping people, according to a new study
Giving Pledge cofounders Bill Gates and Warren Buffett.Spencer Platt/Getty Images
  • Over 75% of the original signatories to Bill Gates and Warren Buffett's Giving Pledge — a promise to give away the majority of their wealth — are richer now than they were when they signed in 2010, a new report by the progressive think tank Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) found.
  • The report suggests that many signatories are making money faster than they are giving it away. The net worths of nine of the original signatories, including Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, Home Depot cofounder Ken Langone, and Salesforce's Marc Benioff have grown by more than 200%, per IPS.
  • Many ultrawealthy philanthropists make large donations to private foundations that provide massive tax breaks and aren't legally required to dispense their funds to help people, IPS reported.
  • The Giving Pledge does not oversee signatories' donations, according to the organization's website.
  • Over 200 billionaires from 23 countries have signed the Pledge, which could be worth up to $600 billion by 2022, research firm Wealth-X found.
  • A representative of The Giving Pledge did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment on the IPS report's findings.
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