For 20 years the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation has focused its philanthropy in the Pacific Northwest, where I live and work. I’m proud to have helped fund great work done by non-profit groups throughout the region. But there’s always more to do.  There are many challenges, both here in the northwest and around the world that I know will keep us broadening our reach and looking for ways to help.

My philanthropic efforts will continue after my lifetime. I’ve planned for many years now that the majority of my estate will be left to philanthropy to continue the work of the Foundation and to fund non-profit scientific research, like the ground breaking work being done at the Allen Institute for Brain Science. 

Bill and Melinda have done so many great things around the world and I’m happy we were able to be partners in projects to increase teacher effectiveness, fund science and technology high schools and produce the documentary, Rx for Survival, a Global Health Challenge. Bill, Melinda and Warren have issued a worthy challenge to make our giving plans public, and I’m happy to add my name to the effort.

As our philanthropy continues in the years ahead, we will look for new opportunities to make a difference in the lives of future generations.

We look upon our financial position with a mix of disbelief and humility, never having dreamed that we would be in this situation. Our backgrounds are similar to that of many Americans. We each had a solid middle-class upbringing with an emphasis on values, work ethic and social responsibility. We each attended public secondary school and worked our way through private universities. And, of course, we dreamed of one day being “rich,” in the way that all young people fantasize about having everything they want. To our great surprise, we now fit that very elementary label. We have more than ample resources to be good providers for our family and mentors to our children, and we have a lifestyle that is comfortable and then some.

We are deeply indebted to our community and our country for the many opportunities granted to us, and for a social and economic environment in which we could make the most of those opportunities. We consider it our responsibility to ensure the same opportunities for others. We view our wealth in this light – not as an end in itself, but as an instrument to effect positive and transformative change. To this end, we have contributed a significant portion of our wealth to the Laura and John Arnold Foundation and will continue to do so during our lifetime. Upon our death, the vast majority of our assets will be left to the Foundation.

At the Foundation, we focus on areas where (1) philanthropic investments can lead to solutions that are self-sustaining in the long-term, (2) we can leverage a relatively small investment to create a large impact on total societal benefit and (3) the market does not presently yield optimal results, due to inefficiencies, lack of adequate information or other reasons. These guiding principles have led us to invest in a number of areas including education reform, health care, social services and social justice.

We are blessed to embark on this critical endeavor at a relatively early stage in our lives and with a great sense of urgency. We will devote the majority of our wealth, time and resources to philanthropy in the coming years, and we fully intend to achieve transformative results during our lifetime. There is no more worthwhile work and no greater mission. And there is no reason for delay in making a difference.

Everyone is dealt a group of cards at birth. With them come possibilities and responsibilities. What one does with them is up to each one of us; and the sum of those choices, constitute our lives.

I have been blessed with the chance to build the Nicolas Berggruen Charitable Trust.

My dedication to making the Trust a success will be similarly applied to its related non-profit activities. I believe that this approach best pairs my own abilities and the assets of the Nicolas Berggruen Charitable Trust.

It is in this spirit that I join the Giving Pledge.

One of the senior managers at my company, Bloomberg LP, recently told me that part of his new hires recruiting pitch is to ask, “What other company can you work for where the owner gives nearly all the profits to charity?" Nothing has ever made me prouder of my company than that one story.

In the 1990s, a generous individual planned to leave Johns Hopkins University, my alma mater, $50 million upon his death. But I asked him: Why wait? Why deny financial aid to this generation? Why deny a possible cure for a disease to this generation? That convinced him - and he gave the money right then and there.

As I wrote in my autobiography around that same time, the reality of great wealth is that you can't spend it and you can't take it with you. For decades, I've been committed to giving away the vast majority of my wealth to causes that I'm passionate about - and that my children are passionate about. And so I am enthusiastically taking the Giving Pledge, and nearly all of my net worth will be given away in the years ahead or left to my foundation.

Making a difference in people's lives - and seeing it with your own eyes - is perhaps the most satisfying thing you'll ever do. If you want to fully enjoy life - give. And if you want to do something for your children and show how much you love them, the single best thing - by far - is to support organizations that will create a better world for them and their children. Long term, they will benefit more from your philanthropy than from your will. I believe the philanthropic contributions I'm now making are as much gifts to my children as they are to the recipient organizations.

Giving also allows you to leave a legacy that many others will remember. Rockefeller, Carnegie, Frick, Vanderbilt, Stanford, Duke - we remember them more for the long-term effects of their philanthropy than for the companies they founded, or for their descendents. And by giving, we inspire others to give of themselves, whether their money or their time.

In my third career, as Mayor of New York, I've seen just how needed - and how powerful – private donations are. Public-private partnerships are at the heart of our efforts to improve public health and safety, fight poverty, fix a once-broken school system, expand economic opportunity, promote the arts, protect our environment, and so much more.

As a philanthropist, I've also had the opportunity to see the impact private donations can have in other countries - and just how far each dollar can go. For instance, with private funding, we can prevent tens of millions of premature deaths caused by tobacco-related diseases and traffic accidents -just two areas where my foundation has been active.

In my public and private lives, I have seen how small groups can make a very big difference – in cleaning up a park, starting a school, or helping others in need, whether in their own community or halfway around the world. I am thrilled that my friends Bill Gates and Warren Buffett are bringing together this group, which could have an unprecedented impact on what philanthropy can achieve. And the larger this group grows, the more people will share in the pleasure of giving, as well as the benefits that it will bring to the world.

We wholeheartedly endorse the Giving Pledge and hope that others will share in the inherent and immensely rewarding benefits of philanthropy. 

Those who have been blessed with extraordinary wealth have an opportunity, some would say a responsibility – we consider it a privilege – to give back to their communities, be they local, national or global.  Though neither of us was raised in an affluent family, our parents taught both of us the importance of giving back and helping others less fortunate.

When the company we founded, SunAmerica, merged into AIG in 1999, our shareholders and employees made a lot of money, and so did we.  After providing for our family and our two sons, we knew we wanted to use the rest to make a difference.  The Giving Pledge allows us to formalize our longtime intention of giving away 75 percent of our wealth during or after our lifetimes.

About 10 years ago, we decided to focus full-time on philanthropy.  We asked ourselves what was the greatest problem facing America.  We both attended public schools and credit education as the foundation of our success.  But we were dismayed by the state of America’s K-12 public education system, and we wanted to work to restore it to greatness.  We are convinced the future of the middle class, our standard of living, our economy and our very democracy rests on the strength of our public schools.  And we have a long way to go.

While we spend the most time on education reform, we invest the greatest resources in scientific and medical research, primarily in the areas of human genomics, stem cell research and inflammatory bowel disease.  It is our hope that through our investments in these areas and our creation of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, the scientific and medical research we are funding will ultimately improve the human condition.

The third area of our philanthropy is the arts.  We have both been enriched not only by the visual and performing arts but also by the artists we have met, whose view of the world has broadened our perspectives and enlightened our conversations.  Our support of the arts is driven by the desire to make art accessible to the broadest public.

We view charity and philanthropy as two very different endeavors.  For many years, we practiced charity, simply writing checks to worthy causes and organizations.  Since leaving the world of commerce, we have engaged in what we term “venture philanthropy.”  We approach our grant-making activity with much the same vigor, energy and expectation as we did in business.  We view our grants as investments, and we expect a return – in the form of improved student achievement for our education reform work, treatments or cures for disease in our scientific and medical research, and increased access to the arts. 

Before we invest in something, we ask ourselves three questions that guide our decision:

1. Will this happen without us?  If so, we don’t invest.
2. Will it make a difference 20 or 30 years from now?
3. Is the leadership in place to make it happen?

Philanthropy is hard work.  Many people think it’s easy to give money away.  But we are not giving money away.  We want our wealth to make a measurable impact.  And after running two Fortune 500 companies, we’re having more fun now – and working harder – than ever. 

Philanthropy is intensely personal.  No two people have identical views on what causes to champion and what approaches will fix social ills.  There is no monopoly on philanthropy, and the needs will always far outpace resources – which is why the Giving Pledge unlocks the door to a world of new opportunities.  There is no doubt that when the wealthy few open their pocketbooks, the impact will be extraordinary.

In 2006, I made a commitment to gradually give all of my Berkshire Hathaway stock to philanthropic foundations. I couldn't be happier with that decision.

Now, Bill and Melinda Gates and I are asking hundreds of rich Americans to pledge at least 50% of their wealth to charity. So I think it is fitting that I reiterate my intentions and explain the thinking that lies behind them.

First, my pledge: More than 99% of my wealth will go to philanthropy during my lifetime or at death. Measured by dollars, this commitment is large. In a comparative sense, though, many individuals give more to others every day.

Millions of people who regularly contribute to churches, schools, and other organizations thereby relinquish the use of funds that would otherwise benefit their own families. The dollars these people drop into a collection plate or give to United Way mean forgone movies, dinners out, or other personal pleasures. In contrast, my family and I will give up nothing we need or want by fulfilling this 99% pledge.

Moreover, this pledge does not leave me contributing the most precious asset, which is time. Many people, including -- I'm proud to say -- my three children, give extensively of their own time and talents to help others. Gifts of this kind often prove far more valuable than money. A struggling child, befriended and nurtured by a caring mentor, receives a gift whose value far exceeds what can be bestowed by a check. My sister, Doris, extends significant person-to-person help daily. I've done little of this.

What I can do, however, is to take a pile of Berkshire Hathaway stock certificates -- "claim checks" that when converted to cash can command far-ranging resources -- and commit them to benefit others who, through the luck of the draw, have received the short straws in life. To date about 20% of my shares have been distributed (including shares given by my late wife, Susan Buffett). I will continue to annually distribute about 4% of the shares I retain. At the latest, the proceeds from all of my Berkshire shares will be expended for philanthropic purposes by 10 years after my estate is settled. Nothing will go to endowments; I want the money spent on current needs.

This pledge will leave my lifestyle untouched and that of my children as well. They have already received significant sums for their personal use and will receive more in the future. They live comfortable and productive lives. And I will continue to live in a manner that gives me everything that I could possibly want in life.

Some material things make my life more enjoyable; many, however, would not. I like having an expensive private plane, but owning a half-dozen homes would be a burden. Too often, a vast collection of possessions ends up possessing its owner. The asset I most value, aside from health, is interesting, diverse, and long-standing friends.

My wealth has come from a combination of living in America, some lucky genes, and compound interest. Both my children and I won what I call the ovarian lottery. (For starters, the odds against my 1930 birth taking place in the U.S. were at least 30 to 1. My being male and white also removed huge obstacles that a majority of Americans then faced.) My luck was accentuated by my living in a market system that sometimes produces distorted results, though overall it serves our country well. I've worked in an economy that rewards someone who saves the lives of others on a battlefield with a medal, rewards a great teacher with thank-you notes from parents, but rewards those who can detect the mispricing of securities with sums reaching into the billions. In short, fate's distribution of long straws is wildly capricious.

The reaction of my family and me to our extraordinary good fortune is not guilt, but rather gratitude. Were we to use more than 1% of my claim checks on ourselves, neither our happiness nor our well-being would be enhanced. In contrast, that remaining 99% can have a huge effect on the health and welfare of others. That reality sets an obvious course for me and my family: Keep all we can conceivably need and distribute the rest to society, for its needs. My pledge starts us down that course.

My pledge to Warren Buffett and Bill Gates:

Being a first generation American has many rewards. Among them is having the opportunity to succeed in this free country, and then succeeding enough to have the privilege of knowing that “success unshared is failure.”

My mother raised my brother and me in a European immigrant community in downtown Los Angeles. From the time I was two years old, it was just the three of us. We didn’t have very much, not even a TV; however, we did not realize that.

One Christmas, when I was six years old, my mother took us to see the window displays and decorations in the big department stores in downtown Los Angeles. It was a big treat for us. We saw puppets that moved and trains that circled... It was really special and added to the Christmas spirit, but it didn’t cost anything.

That same year, my mother gave my brother and me a dime. She told both of us to hold half of it and put it in thebucket near a man who was ringing a bell. We did, and then we asked my mother why we gave him the dime (at the time, a dime could buy you three candy bars or two soda pops). My mom’s reply was, “This is the Salvation Army that helps people who are really in need. Remember boys, no matter how much you have, there is always someone who is more in need than you. Always try to give, even if it is a little.” Needless to say, that stuck with me in my adult life.

Now my family and I have the privilege to help people and make the world a better place to live. This opportunity will not be passed up. Living is giving. I won’t deprive my family of knowing how good it feels to help those in need with some of the basics we already have…food, shelter, care and a future.

Whether it’s feeding thousands of orphans in third world countries, saving whales, helping the homeless find employment, protecting our waterways, rescuing young girls from prostitution, teaching and supplying families in Appalachia with equipment to grow their own vegetables, or any other worthwhile endeavor…giving back is a practice and joy I want my family to continue.

I plan to help the world now and in the future—through my trust and my family—with half (if not more) of what I have been blessed with today.

Peace, love and happiness:

John Paul DeJoria

Co-Founder John Paul Mitchell Systems

Co-Founder Patron Spirits Company

Co-Founder John Paul Pet

Co-Founder ROK

To whom it may concern,

Many years ago, I put virtually all of my assets into a trust with the intent of giving away at least 95% of my wealth to charitable causes.  I have already given hundreds of millions of dollars to medical research and education, and I will give billions more over time.  Until now, I have done this giving quietly – because I have long believed that charitable giving is a personal and private matter.  So why am I going public now?  Warren Buffett personally asked me to write this letter because he said I would be “setting an example” and “influencing others” to give.  I hope he’s right.

Larry Ellison

Dear Bill,

I greatly appreciated the recent opportunity you provided to update me on the successes and challenges of the Giving Pledge, and to allow me to share my own related thoughts and experience. As you know, shortly after the announcement of the Giving Pledge in June 2010, which followed our meeting at the first exploratory gathering in May 2009, I made an initial decision to withhold participation. Because I had already transferred virtually all of my personal and family assets to The Atlantic Foundation (the precursor to The Atlantic Philanthropies) over 25 years ago, I did not think it appropriate to be among the early signatories of this undertaking. Nevertheless, I have been carefully following the Giving Pledge initiative and am heartened by the great response. Though I cannot pledge that which I already have given - The Atlantic Philanthropies have made over $5.5 billion in grants since inception - I want now to publicly add my enthusiastic support for this effort and celebrate this great accomplishment.

I also want now to add my own personal challenge and encouragement for Giving Pledge donors to fully engage in sustained philanthropic efforts during their lifetimes. I cannot think of a more personally rewarding and appropriate use of wealth than to give while one is living - to personally devote oneself to meaningful efforts to improve the human condition. More importantly, today's needs are so great and varied that intelligent philanthropic support and positive interventions can have greater value and impact today than if they are delayed when the needs are greater. I urge those who are taking up the Giving Pledge example to invest substantially in philanthropic causes soon and not postpone their giving or personal engagement.

On now approaching my 80th birthday, I am content with my action, in 1982, to establish The Atlantic Foundation. I am convinced this was a sensible means for directing to good purpose a large and increasing wealth that exceeded my and my family's lifetime needs and which I believe would have become problematic. Reflection on the many worthwhile undertakings that these funds have since made possible always reaffirms for me the prudence of this decision. The process of - and, most importantly, the results from - granting this wealth to good causes has been a rich source of joy and satisfaction for me and for my family. Beginning with little more than a few nascent ideas, the experience of having made a few sizeable donations, and a passionate interest in assisting those whose life circumstances or experience resulted in deficit or vulnerability, I have been fortunate that many others with a wide range of backgrounds and expertise have been willing to participate in and enhance this grant making endeavor over many years.

Our efforts were organized somewhat loosely at first, consistent with my preferred working style and our needs, but over time as the volume of activities expanded, the work was arranged in a more formal organization. Over the course of this journey, and alongside others who contributed enormously, I learned and came to appreciate the challenges and complexities of philanthropy. And, together, much good work has been done. I think often of, and I am truly grateful to, the many people who have contributed in so many ways to the work of The Atlantic Philanthropies over the years.

While my approach to philanthropy has surely developed and matured through experience, fundamental guides for me have always been the same methods of working and values that served me well in my business career. Key among these, I believe, is the dynamism, vigilance and informed risk taking inherent in entrepreneurial work, together with priority on good relationships and personal engagement. In business, as in philanthropy, I have always sought an independent, strategic edge where potential is often greatest, as well as opportunities that I can understand and to which perhaps I can contribute personally.

A lot is expected from us in philanthropic endeavors - and not all good initiatives will be met with universal positive acclaim - but this challenge should not divert each of us from making philanthropic investments in what we thoughtfully believe to be the highest and best use of our resources. The challenges, even set backs, I have experienced in my decades of personal engagement in philanthropy pale in comparison to the impact and deep personal satisfaction we have realized.

As I indicated at our recent meeting, I don't pretend to have the answers to the many challenges facing those who choose to contribute their wealth to philanthropic activities. But I do have almost 30 years of personal and institutional experience engaging with the wide range of philanthropic issues and choices, and I would like to contribute this experience to the Giving Pledge effort.

Fundamental to all philanthropic efforts are choices about grant making focus and strategy, which naturally are strongly influenced by one's passions and interests, as well as one's perception of how best to achieve good value and lasting impact with the intended grant funds. This typically is a frequently-revisited process as one learns and gains perspective from experience and granting opportunities evolve. Another key element is the myriad decisions associated with how to conduct grant making, such as the nature, size and cost of support staff and operations. Critically, one must also navigate the complexities inherent in establishing an appropriate governance and long-term leadership structure to carry out one's philanthropic intentions. This incorporates many aspects, such as whether or not to institutionalize a set of guiding principles; the size, role and scope of authority of an outside board, if any; the involvement of children and other family members; and the participation and function of outside advisors - and the approach decided upon must stand the test of time.

Thoughtful and effective philanthropy requires that the above issues, and more, be addressed with the same acumen, creativity and tenacity that many of us learned and applied in our business careers. Philanthropy, though, also brings with it a different set of complexities, attractions and distractions. I welcomed our initial discussions on these important issues and hope to have the opportunity to follow up on them with you and others.

My deepest thanks to you, Melinda and Warren for leading this transformative effort - and, again, congratulations on this historic achievement.

With best regards,

Charles F. Feeney

For many years I’ve been quietly doing my own version of “the giving pledge” trying to help disadvantaged children around the world.  I’ve always believed that you don’t really talk about giving; you just do it.

However, Mayor Bloomberg convinced me that by lending my name to “The Giving Pledge” it would help encourage others to participate and would result in helping many needy causes.

I’ve tried to live by the motto “you save one life and you save the world.”   I hope that by joining “The Giving Pledge” it will encourage others to do the same.

Dear Warren:

After I made my first billion dollars a few years ago, I set up a foundation and worked with my estate planning attorney to provide for 80% of my estate to go to that foundation. I started with absolutely nothing and I've certainly lived the American dream.

I've had the opportunity to meet and get to know a number of people who were what I would say "cursed" with very large inheritances. While some have done good things with their inheritances, many have lost all incentive to accomplish anything on their own, and as a result, have had much less fulfilling lives. I've often thought that while these folks had the disadvantage of the advantaged, I had the advantage of the disadvantaged, having to learn to take care of myself at a young age.

While you and I have been able to achieve financial success that just a generation ago would have been impossible, today too many Americans are in very difficult financial situations. We have a lot of work to do as a country to revitalize our economy, so that the opportunities I had are available to each and every American. Through our foundation, we hope to play a major role in helping to make a better America.

I got married three years ago for the first time at the age of 52 and Mei Sze and I have a one year old son. While I intend to provide him a level of security, I would never consider leaving him the vast amount of wealth that I have been fortunate to accumulate. The bulk of my estate will go to our foundation.

I didn't come forward and discuss our commitment in August because I was in the middle of a campaign for US Senate here in Florida, and it would have looked like I was trying to exploit this for political gain. I am not running for anything now, and I am delighted to join you and the others that have publicly made this "giving pledge." I am certain that your example has changed the way people the world over organize their estates and I am proud to be part of your group.

Very truly yours,

Jeff Greene

To Whomever It May Concern:

I wish to make the world a better place by advancing solutions to medical and environmental issues through investments in and donations to science. My focus is early stage life science companies with a special interest in oncology.

At my death my entire estate and my foundation will be distributed to charities I have designated.

Sincerely,

Lyda Hill

I am happy to reiterate the pledge I made in 2007 to donate the vast majority of my personal wealth to the humanitarian work of the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation.  For me, the decision was easy -- not just for how the money will be spent, but for how the money was earned.

My father, Conrad Hilton, was one of America’s business giants.  He was the first to link hotels together in a coast-to-coast chain, and to turn his name into a world-famous brand.  During his career, “Hilton” literally became synonymous with the word “hotel.”  He personified his personal creed, “Think big, act big, dream big.”

While he reached amazing heights in business, he also suffered through the kind of economic downturns that are all too familiar to people coping with today’s recession.  In fact, the milestones of my father’s career often followed a long, determined climb from the worst economic periods in modern history. 

In 1919, during the post World War I recession, my father bought his first hotel, the Mobley in Cisco, Texas.  He built up a collection of eight hotels in Texas, only to lose all but one during the Great Depression.  By refusing to declare bankruptcy, he was among the first hoteliers to emerge from the Depression, only to endure the dramatic business slowdown during World War II.  Eventually he was able to grow by acquiring several hotels for cents on the dollar, including the then-largest hotel in the world, the Stevens in Chicago.  In 1946, Hilton Hotels Corporation became the first hotel company to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange.  When the post-war recession slowed U.S. expansion, my father began to expand overseas, but not before he fulfilled his longtime goal of acquiring the lease for the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City. 

After my service in the Navy in World War II, I spent 20 years as an entrepreneur, investing in Vita-Pakt citrus products and founding such diverse companies as Air Finance Corporation, Carte Blanche Credit Card and, 50 years ago, the Chargers of the American Football League.  In 1966, the board of Hilton Hotels Corporation invited me to become President of Hilton Hotels, provided I drop my football responsibilities.  That’s when I took the reins of the company.

Just after the recession that followed the Vietnam War, and just before the Arab oil embargo, I managed to enter the Las Vegas gaming market by acquiring the Flamingo and the International (renamed the Las Vegas Hilton) from financier Kirk Kerkorian.  That added a valuable revenue stream for our company that, when combined with franchising, greatly increased the value of Hilton stock.

Not every deal worked out well in the short term, however, such as our sale of Hilton International to TWA in 1967.  It took us another 30 years to reunite the companies.  With more hotels of over 1,000 rooms than the rest of the industry combined, our strength in the convention market made us the envy of the lodging business.

In the midst of our domestic expansion, my father passed away in 1979 at age 91.  Throughout his life, he embraced the power of prayer, and felt it was our God-given responsibility to alleviate the suffering of the most disadvantaged among us. He generously supported Catholic sisters and other worthy causes, writing personal notes to accompany his checks.  But his $160 million estate created a new opportunity. 

Under the leadership of Don Hubbs, and now my son, Steven, the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation has become a real agent for change.  We focus on a need, find the right people or organization to fill that need, and then provide enough funding to create real systemic change.  My brother, Eric, is among the family members and outside directors that are following my father’s philanthropic vision as board members.  In his will, my father directed us to make our grants without regard for race, religion or geography.  The reason was as simple as it was genius -- the customers that built our wealth hailed from all parts of the world.

In 1996, I retired after 30 years as CEO of Hilton Hotels Corporation, and convinced Stephen Bollenbach to succeed me while I continued to chair the board.  He ushered in a new era of consolidation for both Hilton and for the industry, while utilizing technology to improve efficiency and customer service.  We continued to expand our gaming and hotel networks, adding brands like Bally’s, Caesars, Embassy Suites, Doubletree and Hampton Inn.

In 2006 and 2007, our gaming company and then our hotel company were both acquired by private equity firms at a considerable premium over the trading price of the stock.   Despite my tremendous family pride, I knew Hilton Hotels Corporation had grown to the point where it could thrive, even without a Hilton family member at the helm.  I had been a member of the Hilton Foundation board since 1954.  It was only after the sale of our companies that I proudly became Chairman of the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation.

As one of Hilton’s principal shareholders, I decided to immediately pledge my proceeds of the sales -- $1.2 billion -- to the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation.  In making the gift, I also pledged to follow my father’s example and donate 97 percent of my wealth to the Hilton Foundation.  That gift, together with other personal assets, should bring the Foundation’s corpus to more than $4 billion.

Today we concentrate on a few strategic initiatives: Safe water development, homelessness, children, substance abuse and Catholic sisters.  Other major programs include blindness prevention, hotel and restaurant management education, multiple sclerosis, disaster relief and recovery, and Catholic schools.  We are constantly reviewing our practices while remaining faithful to the values and principles that guide us.

I recite our saga to consolidate information that was already a matter of public record over the past 90 years.  I am gratified that our Foundation will live on forever, aiding the most vulnerable populations in the world.  It will operate in perpetuity as a tribute to the customers, executives and hotel employees who created our wealth in the first place.

I salute Warren Buffett, Bill and Melinda Gates and other philanthropic leaders who have subscribed to the Philanthropic Pledge.  It is my hope that others are inspired by my father’s story, and by our family’s steadfast adherence to his charitable philosophy.

It has been clear to me since my earliest childhood memories that my reason for being was to help others. The desire to give back was the impetus for pursuing an education in business, for applying that education to founding what became a successful container company, and for using that experience to grow our differentiated chemicals corporation into the global enterprise it has become.

The journey which began in poverty somehow led to my name’s inclusion on the Richest Americans list for several years running. We progressed from being leveraged to the eyeballs to realizing a degree of wealth of which we had never dared to dream, always with the understanding that it was not ours to keep. Through hard work, luck at the right times, and a determination to succeed, we built a company which filled our coffers with money intended for others.

My pledge to give my entire fortune to curing cancer and assisting related other charities was formalized decades ago. As my sweet mother took her last breath in my arms and succumbed to the cancer she could no longer fight, I realized that our humanitarian focus must center on cancer. I saw with clarity the vision that the Huntsman fortune is a means to cure cancer and that my purpose on earth is to facilitate the research which will illuminate its mysteries.

Most of my shares of our company’s stock have already been donated to our family charitable foundation and are not at our family’s disposal. Moreover, most of our other assets are already pledged to charitable causes. The Chronicle of Philanthropy listed our family as donating $1.2 billion to past charitable causes or foundations.

Cancer terrifies us and often takes our lives, irrespective of age, gender, or walk of life. As I have publicly stated countless times, my duty is to make sure cancer is vanquished. Virtually all of my financial resources are already pledged to this lofty goal.

I began my career on Wall Street nearly 50 years ago. From a modest upbringing in Queens, New York, I have been fortunate enough to accumulate great wealth. And with that wealth comes responsibility - those who have benefitted the most from our economic system have a responsibility to give back to society in a meaningful way. That is why I made a commitment over 20 years ago that substantially all of my assets would be used to fund a charitable foundation. Until Bill, Melinda and Warren started this project, I never considered going public with my intentions. However, I certainly see the value of a project that encourages wealthy individuals to step forward and commit to use their wealth for the common good. I hope that by adding my voice with those who are supporting this project, we will all encourage others to participate.

The principles that have guided my career in investing are the ones that I use in my approach to philanthropy. As a shareholder activist, I have focused on acquiring control of undervalued companies (which are often poorly managed). I believe I have unlocked substantial shareholder and bondholder value and have improved the competitiveness of American companies. In a similar vein, I want to maintain America's position as the world economic leader by improving the competiveness of its educational system. America's children, especially those from underprivileged backgrounds, are in a sense undervalued assets. I believe that this goal can best be accomplished by teaching our students the specific skills to succeed. Accordingly, my foundation supports the education and care of underprivileged children and the operation of vocational schools.

Out of this belief, I created the Icahn Scholars Program at Choate Rosemary Hall. Each year the Program provides scholarships for financially challenged students from across the country. And the Program works. Invariably, each year not only do the Icahn Scholars get accepted into the top colleges, but they also win a disproportionate number of the School's top prizes. In fact, the first Bill and Melinda Gates Scholarship at Choate was awarded to an Icahn Scholar. I also endowed Choate's state of the art Science Center as well as the Carl C. Icahn Laboratory for Princeton University's Institute for Integrated Genomics and the Icahn Medical Institute at Mt. Sinai Hospital.

As a product of the New York City public school system, I have a particular interest in improving the education of the City's children. I have sponsored and constructed public charter schools in the Bronx. These schools draw students from areas marked by poverty and high crime rates who would otherwise be at risk of academic failure. The mission of the Icahn charter schools is based on the belief that all students deserve a rigorous academic program which will increase their capacity to learn. The expectations have proven out as our charter students consistently score at or above the state average on standardized tests. The school programs provide the background knowledge necessary for continued academic success beyond the public school system and success as adults.

My work in education was recognized by the Center for Education lnnovation – Public Education Association in 2004. In 2006, I was honored with the 100 Women in Hedge Funds Effecting Change Award. Through recognition of my commitment to improving education, I hope to inspire others to make similar investments.

Improving child welfare is an important component of improving a child's likelihood of success. I built Icahn House, a 65-unit complex for homeless families consisting of pregnant women and single women with children in the hope of leveling the socio-economic playing field. I am a trustee of the Randall's Island Sports Foundation and made a significant contribution to the construction of Icahn Stadium, a track and field facility for inner city youth. For my work in this area, I was honored with the Starlight Foundation's Founders Award and the 1990 Man of the Year Awards, and was named The Guardian Angel 2001 Man of the Year.

I believe, without significantly changing the method we use to educate our young students in this country, we will soon lose our hegemony. Through these commitments I hope to play a small part in making these changes. I am excited to join my friends Bill, Melinda and Warren in making a commitment to continue the charitable giving. I have been a longstanding proponent of improving America's educational system and am delighted to join this important initiative to combine our efforts and financial resources.

I suppose I arrived at my charitable commitment largely through guilt. I recognized early on, that my good fortune was not due to superior personal character or initiative so much as it was to dumb luck. I was blessed to be born in an advanced society with caring parents. So, I had the advantage of both genetics (winning the "ovarian lottery") and upbringing. As I looked around at those who did not have these advantages, it became clear to me that I had a moral obligation to direct my resources to help right that balance.

America's "social contract" is equal opportunity. It is the most fundamental principle in our founding documents and it is what originally distinguished us from the old Europe. Yet, we have failed in achieving that seminal goal; in fact, we have lost ground in recent years. Another distinctly American principle is a shared partnership between the public and private sectors to foster the public good. So, if the democratically-directed public sector is shirking, to some degree, its responsibility to level the playing field, more of that role must shift to the private sector.

As I addressed my charitable purposes, all of this seemed pretty clear: I was only peripherally responsible for my own good fortune; I was morally duty bound to help those left behind by the accident of birth; America's root principle was equal opportunity but we were far from achieving it. Then I had to drill down to identify the charitable purposes most likely to right that wrong.

The discoveries of stem cell research and brain development in recent years provided some guidance for me. Though almost all of us grew up believing in the concept of equal opportunity, most of us simultaneously carried the unspoken and inconsistent "dirty little secret" that genetics drove much of accomplishment so that equality was not achievable. What the new research seemed to suggest, however, was that brain cells were functionally unformed at birth and that only through the communication among them - driven by trial and error interpretation of sensory stimulation shortly after birth - did our cognitive and social/emotional skills develop. As I sometimes joke, I remember vividly that place before birth as being warm, wet, dark...and boring. Then, suddenly, as I emerged, I was bombarded with sensory overload and had to interpret all of that strange stimulus. Most of that interpretation takes place by age three; after that, we can modify our destiny but it is a lot harder.

No child is responsible for the circumstances of her birth and should not be punished for it in this life. (I will leave the question of second chances to other pulpits.) I have therefore developed my charitable focus around the concept of providing the greatest opportunity for self fulfillment for each child, focusing on those who arrive in the least advantaged circumstances. (A purer focus would be in areas of much greater disadvantage in the world where fewer dollars accomplish more. I honor the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's commitment to the principle that "every life has equal value" but will leave my justification for a primarily American focus to another dissertation.) That governing concept has led us to those initiatives which attempt to reverse the  generational cycle of poverty, especially for very young children and their families: prenatal healthcare; early learning and development for at-risk kids, birth to three; family healthcare; parenting training; job and income assistance for families with young children; operating a robust program to provide alternatives to incarceration for mothers who have committed non-violent crimes, et cetera.

These efforts focus most heavily on the causes of poverty but we also dedicate resources to the symptoms, especially in these difficult times and in our relatively poor part of the country - food, clothing, shelter, healthcare and civic projects that promote inclusiveness and vibrancy. We generate a mix of projects, some of which are leading edge and more that import best practices from the greater creativity and experience of others. We attempt to leverage other resources, public and private, by our example. We try not to let a budget drive our expenditures but rather pursue those efforts through which we can make a true difference at an appropriate cost, whether less than or more than our targeted allocation. We remain lean in our central organization and partner with the leading practitioners in our fields of endeavor. We tend to direct our purposes and carefully monitor targeted results on a contemporaneous basis rather than scattering gifts and trusting to retrospective general narratives of success from the beneficiaries. All in all, it is an intoxicating and yet frustrating journey, led by an extraordinarily committed and talented cadre of leaders.

Now that I have told you far more than you wanted to know about how I arrived at my charitable commitment and direction, it is time to make the pledge: I am entranced by Warren's and Bill's visionary appeal to those who have accumulated unconscionable resources, to dedicate at least half of them back to purposes more useful than dynastic perpetuation. My family is very well provided for and they join me in my intention to devote virtually all of my financial resources to the same general charitable purposes I have pursued in life, better informed in specifics by our experience and the experience of others. If enough acolytes follow Bill's and Warren's example, then maybe we will more closely approach the ideal of equal opportunity throughout the United States and the world.

Dear Warren:

I have responded affirmatively to the Giving Pledge. In fact, I have fulfilled that pledge already, having given more than half my wealth to charitable causes, primarily cancer research. I have also committed, and reaffirm here, that the balance of my estate--other than what is needed to support my wife during her lifetime--will also be given to charity.

My thinking is rather simple: I learned as a young boy that sharing with others is the right thing to do, a lesson I observed from my father's willingness to share even our meager means with those less fortunate. Ever since, it has never been difficult for me to continue to do the right thing.

I trust your efforts in growing the ranks of those committed to the Giving Pledge will be matched by the effort to see those pledges fulfilled. Thank you for your leadership.

Warmest Regards,

Sidney Kimmel

Dear Warren,

Elaine and I were honored to receive your graceful letter. It conveys a spiritual purpose that has long been close to our hearts and, yes, we will gladly join you in making our own pledge. Much praise to you for making this a national calling. It is inspiring how such a simple idea puts faith into action for the community as a whole.

Our family is thankful for the many blessings we have enjoyed. It is because we live in a special country, where freedom of opportunity is a cherished virtue that we can reach so high in the first place. But nothing makes our society better than when we live up to its most caring ideals of service and selflessness. So it is also with a deep sense of gratitude that we are pleased to be included in this wonderful undertaking.

Sincerely, 

Ken Langone

Dear Melinda,

I have been asked why Marguerite and I made the Giving Pledge.

The first and compelling is the joy we experience in giving to worthwhile causes. Marguerite and I have given the bulk of our fortune away. Over the last ten years, we have created a scholarship fund to send needy young scholars from rural areas to the better colleges, have sponsored research used by others to introduce legislation protecting our oceans, have started the center for sustainable energy at Columbia University, have been the principal supporter of Teach For America in Philadelphia and have given to over a hundred other cases during that period.

The second reason is that we do not want to give excessive wealth to our progeny. Giving wealth to young and future unborn children, in our opinion, reduces or eliminates the character building challenges ahead of them in life that they would otherwise face.

Perhaps a third reason is that one is not measured by how many homes, yachts or airplanes you have. The ultimate achievement in life is how you feel about yourself. And giving your wealth away to have an impact for good does help with that feeling.

Sincerely,

H. F. (Gerry) Lenfest

Born in 1927 I remember vividly the worst of the depression years in terms of how they affected my family—1933 and 1937 especially.  The depression taught me the value of money, and my mother gave me a lesson around 1937 I never forgot.

She asked me to run down to the store and get a loaf of bread.  I did and charged it as usual.  When I got home and gave it to her, she started at me in disbelief.  “Dummy!” she said. “You bought the small nine-cent size.  Don’t you know you get half again more for 11 cents?”  From that I learned the lesson of percentages.

But a bigger lesson grew from that experience.  I began to realize the importance of money consists of buying what is worth the price.  As I grew into adult years, I passed over things most people might grab because I didn’t think the price justified the value.  For decades I have applied that to hotels, plane fares, restaurants, clothes, hard goods.  I drive a hybrid and fly coach, upgrading only with points, not money.  I have only three luxuries: My Atherton, CA., home, a San Francisco luxury apartment 600 feet above sea level and a luxurious home on Pineapple Hill in Kapalua, Maui.  All will end up in my foundation where three other homes are right now awaiting sale.

During even the Depression’s worst years my parents gave money—about 8% of their annual income of $2200.  I remember saying to my mother that we can’t afford that.  But she said we have to share with others.  I learned from that to share.

Except for the first few years out of Stanford, I have given near the 10% mark for some 20 years.  For the last 40 years the giving amounts to more than 90% of all monies earned.  You might then ask, “What are your favorite recipients?”

Going back 40 years I began thinking where I should concentrate my grants.  Back then all of it was going to Stanford University and a few other institutions like Leo Baeck high school in Haifa.  Twenty years ago I locked into this conclusion:

What single factor most affected my being so successful in business?  In a nanosecond the answer came up: Education.

Throughout the world without an exception, education is the determinant of a person’s intelligence level and possible success.  And success is not making a million a month or a year. It’s earning enough to live comfortably and being able to finance children’s education.

As my thoughts wandered from Alameda grammar school and Grant high school in Portland to Stanford, I soon came to the conclusion that the most critical part of my education was Alameda with Stanford taking on the role of pointing a direction for my future—journalism later to be public relations and still later to be founding a very profitable business—Business Wire, now a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway.

Each year I ask Alameda’s principal what they need.  This year it’s a fully equipped rolling computer wagon to move among the classrooms as needed.  In earlier years I equipped all classrooms with computers and built a new library there.

By the latter 1960s, I was concentrating on Stanford with endowed chairs and student scholarships.  It climaxed in 2008 with a $75 million pledge for what might be the world’s largest stem cell laboratory as well as the new Stanford Daily building.  The Daily is paid for, and the stem cell lab money is in the Stanford Donor Advised Fund.

Around 1990 I realized I needed to broaden the base of giving to educational institutions.  I wanted to concentrate on education because by putting all the money into a single subject effort, it might make a difference.  I never have slipped into giving $500 here and $1000 there to 100 or 200 entities.

This brought into focus the major recipients, such as Santa Clara University, University of Oregon, Mills College, Portland State University, Oregon Health and Science University, two Oregon libraries, three San Francisco area Jewish day and grammar schools, two Hispanic schools in San Jose, several Israeli colleges (Technion, Weizmann, Ben Guerion) along with Hadassah Medical Center.

At several of the colleges, the grants have been so large that recipients use the word “transformational” to describe their effect.  This has been especially true for University of Oregon ($134 million), Mills College ($35 million), Santa Clara University ($37 million) and Technion Institute in Haifa ($33 million). What a good feeling this gives me.  I would have it this way any day before wanting a jet plane or yacht.

As we went into the 21^st century, I began quipping that I want to die broke.  It won’t be quite that bad, but I will have set up machinery that my uncommitted assets today will be granted via such things as donor advised funds, charitable remained trusts and my foundation.  The children, grandchildren and great grandchildren have been taken care of and will not be in the estate.  Nor will my companion of 19 years, Joanne Harrington, who got her bequest many years ago and has been so helpful to me in the sharing process.

There’s an old saying about farmers putting back in to the ground via fertilizer what they take out.  So it is with money.  The larger the estate, the more important it is to revitalize the soil.

Storytellers are teachers and communicators who speak a universal language.  That was Homer’s primary role, and both Plato and Aristotle used narratives and dialogues as a means of educating.  Good storytelling is based on truths and insights, and a good storyteller is ultimately a teacher – using the arts as a means of making education emotionally meaningful.  These are all tools at our educational system’s disposal, but too often we aren’t making use of them.

When I was in high school, I felt like I was in a vacuum, biding time.  I was curious, but bored.  It was not an atmosphere conducive to learning.  I was fortunate that I found my path and my language. 

It’s scary to think of our education system as little better than an assembly line with producing diplomas as its only goal.  Once I had the means to effect change in this arena, it became my passion to do so – to promote active, life-long learning.  I believe in the artisan school of learning, through apprenticeships and Aristotelian questions and discussion.  This level of engagement dates back to the beginning of human life, but it’s still the best way of doing things.  There have to be universal standards – particularly in education – and while it seems unwieldy, there is a willingness among educators to share their best practices.

Ultimately, that is why I created Edutopia and the George Lucas Educational Foundation.

The focus of GLEF has been to share educational innovations – cooperative and project learning, mentorship, parental involvement, and technological advances.  This all comes straight from those on the front lines, from teachers who are putting these methods into practice.  We are the facilitators.  Our goal has been to showcase bold successes and inspire others to further increase the appetite for education.  Our hope is that administrators, teachers, and parents will see the power of these collective efforts and join the fight for wider reforms.

But reform is just the beginning.  We need to build new foundations, fostering independent thought and a desire to keep learning.  Our students need to come away with more than just survival skills, and more than just what is required to complete the program.  We need to promote critical thinking and emotional intelligence.  We need to focus on building an education system that promotes different types of learning, different types of development, and different types of assessment.  We have an opportunity and an obligation to prepare our children for the real world, for dealing with others in practical, project-based environments.  It’s about working together and building character – being compassionate, empathetic, and civil as a means to a greater end.

As technology changes, so do students.  So should classrooms, and so should our methods of teaching.  In a few short years, connectivity has gone from a technological novelty to a daily necessity.  It’s how our culture communicates, and our children are at the forefront of its use.  Understanding those tools – and how to integrate them into learning – is an integral step in defining our future.  

My pledge is to the process; as long as I have the resources at my disposal, I will seek to raise the bar for future generations of students of all ages.

I am dedicating the majority of my wealth to improving education.  It is the key to the survival of the human race.  We have to plan for our collective future – and the first step begins with the social, emotional, and intellectual tools we provide to our children.  As humans, our greatest tool for survival is our ability to think and to adapt – as educators, storytellers, and communicators our responsibility is to continue to do so.

George Lucas

I have been very fortunate in having been born to exceptional parents in this great country. I came from humble beginnings and grew to become a young scientist pioneering in a field of electro-optical physics. The US Army needed my help and actually set me up in business in 1956. Two years later the Air Force came to me for help with our country's first spacecraft. The success of my first company (Spectrolab, now a subsidiary of the Boeing Co.) has enabled me to leapfrog from one success to another, enabling me to amass a substantial fortune. I want to use those resources to make this a better world --- and to do as much as I can during my lifetime. I am therefore committing most of my estate to philanthropy, primarily focusing on development of medical products to improve and extend lives.

I began my extensive philanthropic program in 1985 with the founding of the Alfred Mann Foundation (AMF). AMF is an operating public medical research organization that has focused mostly on applications of neuromodulation. It employs about 100 people; all but a few are scientists and engineers. The contributions of AMF are numerous, including developments to enable the deaf to hear and soon for the lame to walk. AMF also developed a long-term implantable glucose sensor (lasting ~1½ years) for diabetes and a number of other devices.

The success of AMF has led me to try to use a similar approach to harness the intellectual property at elite research universities. Rarely does that work end up in successful products or successful ventures. To address this I am creating biomedical institutes at a number of elite research universities. Each university receives an endowment of at least $100 million. Ideas born within the academic faculty are developed into products within separate industrial institutes owned by the universities. When developed the products are then licensed out to existing or start-up businesses for commercialization. So far institutes have been founded at the University of Southern California, Purdue and the Technion in Israel.

I have also created several other medical research foundations and two holding entities to distribute assets to fund my philanthropic activities. Additionally I have given to a variety of other charities especially related to music and education.

Early I was able to provide modest support for my family so that I intend for at least 90% of my estate to be devoted to philanthropy --- almost all directed to advancing medical technology.

This is my commitment.

I was born in Galveston, Texas, to Greek immigrant parents and was a teenager during the Great Depression. Although I grew up in a very meager, yet loving, environment, I always considered myself fortunate to live in the United States where opportunities were unlimited, yet something we all seemed to take for granted. I quickly learned that a good education, hard work, dedication, willing mentors, and a few lucky breaks meant the difference between success and failure.

Throughout my life I've seen firsthand how even a little financial assistance could mean a chance for struggling students, dedicated scientists, and families to reach their goals. I've also witnessed how underwriting large-scale academic, performing arts, medical, and research programs can be quite appealing, as those ventures have far-reaching, long-term benefits for society as a whole, often extending for successive generations.

As I've been blessed with good fortune for decades and have lived the American dream, I'm pleased to take the Giving Pledge. Through The Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation, I will continue to donate a substantial portion of my assets during my lifetime and through my will.

Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett have set an extraordinary example by their generosity and leadership, so I'm honored to join them in this remarkable philanthropic endeavor.

In 1998 when my sale of Domino’s Pizza was made public, the Detroit Free Press headline read, “I (Monaghan) Plan to Die Broke”.  You could say that my giving pledge was made public at that time, but it was something I had contemplated for many years.  So, when Bill (Gates) recently contacted me regarding the Giving Pledge project, I was more than happy to participate and share my story.

I came into the world penniless and as a Catholic Christian, I know that I cannot take any of it with me, so it has long been my desire to use the material resources that I have been blessed with to help others in the most meaningful ways possible.  My faith has always been a central part of my life; not that I have always lived it perfectly, but it has been the consistent guiding force as far back as I can remember.  My early experience of the Catholic faith, taught to me by the Felician sisters when I was in the orphanage during my formative years, served as a foundation for what I would believe to be the most important things in life.   As I built and expanded Domino’s Pizza for 38 years, my desire to spread the faith also grew. 

As a young man, I remember doing some deep soul searching and asking myself some questions that had to change the way I lived.  I asked myself, does God exist?  If He did, then I had better get with it…  If He did exist, which I am convinced He does, it meant that the eternal state of my soul was the most important thing in the world.  So, my logic tells me that the best thing that I can do for my fellow man is to help share this truth with others.  Also, as a Catholic, I would not be living out my faith if I did not use the abundant resources God has given me to help others.

In the 80’s, as the material things in my life were “thriving”, I had a deep desire to give back to God…  He had been so good to me by blessing me with incredible material wealth and success.  Domino’s Pizza was booming, I owned the Detroit Tigers, classic cars… – it was like a dream come true – yet, as mentioned above, I knew that the most important things in life were not material; I knew that all these things would pass away and that the only thing that really mattered was the state of my soul and for that matter the state of every person’s soul.  While I had given money away previously, I now began to look for how I could really be effective, really make a difference in what truly mattered; in people’s eternal lives.

After selling Domino’s, I created a number of priorities that would guide my giving.  However, I soon concluded that I needed to focus these priorities even more (as my resources were finite), and I eventually concluded that the most important thing I believed I could do with the resources that I had been blessed with was to help build quality, faithful Catholic education.  A number of years before, I had started supporting Catholic education by getting involved with grade schools, and this was great, but building schools was expensive.  I realized that to have a more global impact, I would need to focus on Catholic higher education – to train the teachers, the principals, the future Catholic university and seminary professors. 

So, from my experience of sitting on numerous college and university boards and the expertise of some well respected Catholic academics, we set out on a journey to establish Ave Maria University and Ave Maria School of Law.  Since that time, I have not only committed my personal assets to these institutions, but they have become my life’s work, as I am now going around the country raising money for them.

I am very grateful not only for the resources that I have been blessed with, but the opportunity to use these resources to help others in the best way I know how.

In 1955 we graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, got married and headed west so John could attend the Stanford Graduate School of Business and Tashia could start her teaching career. All of our possessions fit into our 1950 Ford and all of our wealth fit into a back pants pocket. It was the start of a glorious adventure!

But we left the Midwest with much more; with the values, confidence and capabilities learned from our parents, our community, our early public schooling in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, and from the University of Wisconsin. Early on we learned the art of giving small checks to causes important to us,. Through hard work, good fortune and the opportunities offered by our amazing country and the world, we have prospered beyond all expectation. As a result, we have been able to add many zeros to the amounts of the checks we are now able to write.

In 1992 we formed a family foundation with our children and the two of us as board members. It has been a learning process, but in spite of heartaches and setbacks, we have all learned to become involved, effective philanthropists. We have teamed with talented people and with many of the organizations that helped to form us. The more personally involved we have become with the causes we support the more effective we seem to be.

Through our foundation and also personally, we have now given away over half our net worth. It is our intent to remain involved and to continue to give. Our children intend to carry on their work after we are gone. The adventure continues.

In 2004, I had the extraordinary opportunity to help create Facebook, which has grown to connect half a billion people, dramatically increasing communication and transparency worldwide. As a result of Facebook's success, I've earned financial capital beyond my wildest expectations. Today, I view that reward not as personal wealth, but as a tool with which I hope to bring even more benefit to the world.

I’m grateful to my friends and family for shaping my understanding of effective philanthropy, educating me on areas of need, and demonstrating time and again the power of a good idea, well executed.

I'm especially thankful to have found a partner in Cari who shares my priorities and commitment to this humbling work. Over the next few years, we will begin to identify the causes to which we can make the most leveraged contributions. We will donate and invest with both urgency and mindfulness, aiming to foster a safer, healthier and more economically empowered global community.

One of the most memorable moments in my life was at a charity dinner I was attending for a breast cancer cause.  A woman approached me and said, “I just wanted to say thank you—because of you my sister is alive.”  I happened to be standing next to the man who was really responsible for that wonderful news—Dr. Dennis Slamon.

I first learned of Dr. Slamon’s research about 20 years ago when we were introduced by a mutual friend, Lily Tartikoff.  He told me he had found abnormally large quantities of a gene called HER2 in about 30% of breast-cancer tumors.  But he hadn’t yet proven that the gene played a pivotal role in the disease.  He wanted to begin testing antibodies that might slow some of the more aggressive forms of cancer.  The trouble was the research wasn’t developed enough for drug-company backing, and funding it with government grants would add years to the study.  The idea of funding this immediately appealed to me.  I have always been interested in giving to projects that may not get done otherwise. If the research wasn’t productive, I would have spent money to no avail, but, if the idea worked, the potential was enormous—it was a risk I was willing to take.  I asked Dr. Slamon what he needed and then told him to get to work.

The result of that research was Herceptin, the only drug known to cure certain types of breast cancer.  And it started helping women, like that woman’s sister whom I will probably never meet, a full 10 years earlier than if Dr. Slamon had not received my gift.

I can think of no greater example as to why giving now and seeing the benefits first hand can be the single most rewarding thing any of us can do.  I support this pledge to designate half my assets for the benefit of charitable purposes during my lifetime and through my foundation.

Dear Warren:

I am very pleased to pledge that I plan to contribute the substantial majority of my assets to philanthropy.  As you know, I am well on my way.

I do so with great pleasure.  And for several reasons.

My parents were Greek immigrants who came to America at age 17, with 3^rd grade educations, not a word of English and hardly a penny in their pockets.  Their dream was the American dream, not just for themselves but for their children as well.

My father took a job no one else would take - - washing dishes in a steamy caboose on the Union Pacific railroad.  He ate and slept there and saved virtually every penny he made.  He took those savings and started the inevitable Greek restaurant, open 24 hours a day for 365 days a year for 25 years.  Throughout this period, he always sent money to his desperately poor family in Greece and fed countless numbers of hungry poor who came knocking on the back door of his restaurant.  Above all else, he wanted to save so as to invest in his children’s education.

As I watched and learned from my father’s example, I noticed how much pleasure his giving to others gave him.  Indeed, today, I get much more pleasure giving money to what I consider worthwhile causes than making the money in the first place.  As I checked with other philanthropists, I found this was a very common experience.

For example, I have been particularly pleased to support causes and institutions for which I have a passion and for which I contribute myself, that is my personal capital, as well as my financial capital.  For example, the Peterson Institute for International Economics, the Council on Foreign Relations and The Concord Coalition that I co-founded with Senators Warren Rudman and Paul Tsongas.

I was also informed by the great novelist, Kurt Vonnegut, who once told a story that seemed to capture my situation perfectly.  He and Joseph Heller were at a party given by a wealthy hedge fund manager at his majestic beach house in the Hamptons, the summer playground on Long Island where the rich and famous congregate.  Kurt and Joe both had made their marks by satirizing life’s absurdities – Kurt with best-selling novels like Slaughterhouse 5 and Breakfast of Champions, Joe with the incomparable Catch-22.  During the course of the party, Kurt looked around at the surroundings and asked Heller: “Joe, doesn’t it bother you that this guy makes more in a day than you ever made from the worldwide sales of Cach-22?”  Joe thought for a moment and then said, “No, not really.  I have something that he doesn’t have.”  “What could you possibly have that he doesn’t have?” Kurt asked.  “I know the meaning of enough.”  My father often said the same thing.

When I enjoyed a most surprising billion dollar plus windfall from the public offering of The Blackstone Group, a firm co-founded, I pondered, what should I do with all of this money?

In 2007, I decided I already had far more than enough and was delighted to commit a billion dollars to the Peter G. Peterson Foundation and to some causes that I care deeply about.

My foundation made its first major contribution to a transcendent global threat, the proliferation of nuclear weapons.  I have known former Senator Sam Nunn, for whom I have enormous respect, who is devoting much of his life to this cause.

I am also much concerned about domestic threats that I also consider transcendent. I refer to several such threats as undeniable, unsustainable and yet, politically speaking, untouchable.  For example, our unfunded entitlement promises that so many depend upon, our ballooning debts to foreign lenders, which combined with our very low savings, leaves us very vulnerable and even threaten our national sovereignty.  Then, of course, there are our mushrooming healthcare costs that threaten to bankrupt our economy.

We, at the Foundation, are deeply involved in educating, motivating and, hopefully, activating the public to do something about these problems.

I am a very lucky American dreamer but I want to see that dream alive for my five children’s and nine grandchildren’s generations. On our current path, I fear we are imperiling their future by passing on massive, hidden debts and unthinkable taxes.  At bottom, I consider this fiscal child abuse or mortgaging their future, or whatever one chooses to call it, it is not only an economic issue but a national security issue and, above all, a moral issue.

Given the serious political challenges and our country’s apparent reluctance to accept the required shared sacrifice, no doubt many are saying my Foundation is not only a presumptuous mission, but a foolhardy one.  So, I quote my old University of Chicago professor George Stigler, “If you have no alternative, you have no problem.” I asked myself this melancholy question: How will I feel 10 to 20 years from now if I look back and ask why, oh why did we all leave such a legacy?  How could we have done this, not simply to America, but to our own children and grandchildren?  Could there be a worse feeling?  Can not trying really be an acceptable alternative?

Finally, Warren, you and Bill Gates know better than anyone how distinctly American private philanthropy is.

I thank you warmly and congratulate you and Bill Gates both mightily for your leadership role in this most worthwhile cause.

Best, 

Peter G. Peterson

I’ve long stated that I enjoy making money, and I enjoy giving it away. I like making money more, but giving it away is a close second. To date, I’ve given away nearly $800 million to a wide-range of charitable organizations, and I look forward to the day I hit the $1 billion mark.  I’m not a big fan of inherited wealth. It generally does more harm than good. I want to thank my friends Bill and Warren for their leadership – I am pleased to join them. 

My parents and their friends in the little town in North Carolina where I grew up were always very philanthropic.  They wanted our schools to be the best they could be, and they worked hard to get them that way.  They worked on our parks.  They worked with the local hospital to make it the best.  We had two local colleges, Livingstone and Catawba - one black, one white - and the townspeople were supportive of both. 

When I moved to New York, I worked with the Boys’ Club of New York, namely at 110^th Street in Harlem and at Pitt Street which is on the lower East Side.  My doctor got me interested in something called the Cancer Research Institute where I eventually became board chairman.  This led to a lifelong interest in medical research.  Early on, I also met a man named Bill Milliken, who in my opinion is the greatest venture capitalist in the good-works field.  He was a refugee of the gang warfare which existed in Pittsburgh and New York and became an incredible leader with his Communities in Schools, which is now in 26 states and in 3,400 schools serving 1.4 million children annually.  My late wife, Josie, and I worked jointly for Central Park and Lincoln Center.  Her work with the Boys’ Clubs eventually far exceeded my own.  Philanthropy was a part of our lives that we both enjoyed greatly. 

In 1990 I set up the Tiger Foundation, with a young man named John Griffin, to help alleviate poverty in New York.  In my business, I was then working with some great young people who had marvelous leadership credentials, and I wanted to encourage them to be philanthropists.  This has turned out well, as the foundation has become extremely respected in its quest to alleviate poverty and has spawned a number of young people who have become great philanthropists in their own right.  Frankly, I count the Tiger Foundation as the most successful venture I have had a hand in starting. 

In 1993, Josie and I started our own foundation.  It was designed to address issues in medicine, education, spirituality and, finally, the environment, which I had come to rather late in life. 

I met a man named Fred Krupp who nurtured a latent effort on my part to get into issues of environmental concern.  Fred is responsible for the most successful speculation I ever made.  Fred called one day and told me that the California legislature was in limbo over a bill pushing the toughest auto emissions standards ever proposed.  The speaker was willing to do whatever was necessary, even keeping the legislature in session into all hours of the night until a positive vote could be obtained.  Fred and I went to work, and with just a little lobbying money, and a lot of help from a friend in California, got the three votes needed to pass the bill.  This was a huge thrill for me personally.  The California bill became the model that thirteen states adopted and eventually became the national standard for autos. 

In the year 2000, Josie and I started the Robertson Scholars program designed to promote interaction between student leaders at Duke and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  Sixteen scholarships are awarded annually at each school, and the scholarship has become internationally known and respected.  Our summer programs send outstanding students to outposts all over the world on creative leadership projects.

One very fortunate thing is that I did not get nearly as enthusiastic about philanthropy early on as I am now; if I had there would be very little to give away.  I have found so many great new projects to work with just in the last several years:  the national parks, the families of our military, stem cells, and now obesity.  The Milken Institute calculates that if we could get Americans back to their weight level of 1991, we could save a trillion dollars a year.  A trillion dollars, think of that!  Besides making Americans healthier, we could now solve the fiscal crisis in the US.

Philanthropists, at their best, try to address serious societal problems and occasionally come up with innovations that lead to enduring change In the end, success requires much more than financial resources, although money is, of course, essential. Good ideas are just as important; otherwise one risks wasting both the funds and the opportunity. Effective philanthropy also requires patience - patience to deal with unexpected obstacles; patience to wait for the first, slight stirrings of change; and patience to listen to the insights and ideas of others.

For five generations, my family has experienced the real satisfaction and pleasure of philanthropy. Our engagement has helped to create a strong group of institutions, including the University of Chicago, The Rockefeller University, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. The practice of philanthropy also has enabled many of us to become personally involved in efforts to address critical global challenges such as poverty, health, sustainable development, and environmental degradation. Our family continues to be united in the belief that those who have benefitted the most from our nation's economic system have a special responsibility to give back to our society in meaningful ways.

Warren Buffett and Bill and Melinda Gates share this belief and have challenged others to pledge half their assets to philanthropy during their lifetime or at their death. I am pleased to say this has long been my intent and my practice, and I am delighted to have been asked to participate in this important initiative. I hope that others will accept this challenge - and opportunity – and will join us in this worthwhile endeavor.

I also hope that our efforts to expand the scope of philanthropy as individuals, in collaboration with others, and in ways that include not only financial resources but innovative ideas and patience, will be part of the gift we all bequeath to the future.

Like many of those who responded positively--and enthusiastically-- to Bill Gates' and Warren Buffett's call, I never expected, in my wildest dreams as a youth or as a young professional, to be in a position where anyone (other than my immediate family) would care what I would do with my money.  That is because I did not expect to have much of it.  I also did not see wealth accumulation as a likely professional outcome, or even a particularly desirable one.

I was born and raised in modest, blue collar circumstances in Baltimore.  The making of large sums of money--and the disposition of them--was just not on my radar screen.

My goal was simply to do well enough in school to secure scholarships to college and law school to practice law; and to fulfill a long-time desire--perhaps inspired by President Kennedy's inaugural address--to move back and forth from the practice of law into various public service positions.  And I was on that course--I graduated from the University of Chicago Law School--with the assistance of considerable scholarship money--practiced law in New York at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison--and (through luck far more than skill) managed three years after law school to find myself as a deputy domestic policy assistant to President Carter.

I expected that I would stay at the White House for eight years--the voters obviously felt four years of my service was enough--and would then live a life of shuttling back and forth into government service from a Washington law firm perch, with the goal of hopefully doing some public good during each time in government service.  The income level of a Washington lawyer does not allow for the accumulation of large wealth, but I felt it was more than enough to satisfy my somewhat spartan needs and the likely needs of any family I would produce and raise.

And then, as is the case with so many individuals who accumulate wealth, my life did not go in the direction I had expected or intended, or desired.  After a few years of practicing law following my White House days, I realized that I was not all that great a lawyer; I had growing reservations about constantly uprooting my career to go back and forth into government, (especially as a family emerged); and I felt that I should try to do something I might enjoy more than law or government service.

And so I started a small investment firm in Washington--a rarity for the city in the late 1980's. My original partners and I struggled to raise the first $5 million to capitalize the firm, and we spent many years trying to get investors and others to take us seriously--an experience not uncommon to most entrepreneurs in their early years.

But, nearly a quarter century later, this tiny firm grew to be one of the world’s largest private equity firms, producing for the founders and many others in the firm more wealth than we had ever expected or dreamed about.

In my own case, I had been relatively tunnel-visioned in trying to build the firm, and spent little time on philanthropic matters until I turned 54. I then read that a white male, on average, would live to 81, meaning that I had already lived, if I were to match the average, two thirds of my life. I then thought that I did not want to live the other third, get to my deathbed, and then ask someone to give away my accumulated resources as they saw fit (even if I left some guidance in a will). I also thought that my resources had become--and would likely be at death—far more than my family reasonably needed.

So I decided to put my toe into the world of philanthropy, and did get reasonably involved from that point forward.  My approach in the ensuing seven years has not been as systematic as may be desired.  I have begun to contribute to a wide variety of performing arts, educational, medical, literary, public service, and cultural causes and institutions--causes that have meaning to me, and institutions that were very helpful to me earlier in my life or I think are now being very helpful to others.  I now serve on a few dozen non-profit boards--far too many to focus one's philanthropic interests.  But I enjoy these boards and the causes and the purposes for which they serve.

However, I recognize that to have any significant impact on an organization or a cause, one must concentrate resources, and make transformative gifts--and to be involved in making certain those gifts actually transform in a positive way.  And I am heading in that direction, and hope--if I do get to 81 - to have made many such transformative gifts by that time.  And, with luck, some of them may actually have transformative benefits - hopefully during my lifetime - for the organization or the cause.

In signing the Pledge, I did not honestly do anything more than I had already intended to do, as I said to Bill Gates when he talked to me about the Pledge.  I actually had already made arrangements to ensure that a good deal more than half of my resources would have gone to philanthropic purposes

So in participating in the Pledge, I cannot honestly say that I am now committing to do more than what I had been planning to do for some time, and was in the process of doing.  But I felt that the Pledge was a quite positive undertaking, and was pleased - and honored - to be asked to be part of it, for these reasons:

1) To the extent that individuals with considerable resources  are publicly committing to give away at least half of their wealth, other individuals with considerable wealth in this country may be inspired to do so as well--and that would be a positive development, especially if the individuals had not previously thought about or felt obligated to give away that much.

2) To the extent that the publicity surrounding the Pledge affects other Americans, it is my hope that it will inspire individuals with resources of modest or average or even above average means to make similar pledges--to themselves, their families, or to the public.  The giving away of money should not be seen as only an obligation - or as a pleasure - restricted to the wealthiest (and most fortunate) among us.  Everyone can and should give, and everyone can and should feel that their gifts may make the world a little bit better place.  And if every person with the ability to make some philanthropic gifts does so, the country will be much better for these gifts, and the donor will surely feel much better about himself or herself.

3) Philanthropic activity is, unfortunately, more of an American phenomenon than a global phenomenon.  My hope is that the Pledge will inspire similar efforts to get under way abroad. And while it is likely such efforts will focus on the wealthiest of individuals in other countries, my hope, again, is that individuals of all levels of resources will also increase their giving, and feel they are helping their countries and humanity by doing so.

In my own case, I would add as a final point, one a bit beyond what the Pledge seeks.  I hope to do my own giving--and to honor my Pledge - while I am alive. I recognize no one really knows how long he or she will be on the earth, and it is therefore difficult if not impossible to time one's giving perfectly to match one's longevity.  But I enjoy seeing the benefits--when they arise--of my giving, and would like to have as much of this enjoyment while I am alive as possible.  

I recognize that others signing the Pledge – now or in the future - may have a different perspective, and their considerable resources (or age) may make the goal of honoring the Pledge during their lifetime a bit less realistic.  But I do hope that others involved in this effort – and those who are ultimately inspired to increase their giving - will accelerate their giving, so as to bring whatever benefits come from giving to the world a bit sooner.  That can only make the world a bit better a bit sooner.  Too, watching the product of one’s giving is one of life’s greatest pleasures, and those with the ability to do so should do what they can to experience that pleasure when they are around to see the benefits.  They will never regret doing so.

We are among the converted having committed to give all our net worth to philanthropy starting with a grant of $1.3 billion in 2006 to our spend-down Foundation.

When you think about it, no other approach seems to make sense. Passing down fortunes from generation to generation can do irreparable harm. In addition, there is no way to spend a fortune. How many residences, automobiles, airplanes and other luxury items can one acquire and use?

The Buffett/Gates initiative is likely to be a major "game changer." Their partnership and dedication and their challenge to billionaires to share their wealth with the less fortunate will undoubtedly unlock a substantial amount of funds. Congratulations!

As former CEOs of a highly successful financial institution, we were rewarded monetarily beyond our wildest imagination, at the same time experiencing the emotional high associated with building a great company from scratch and winning in the competitive race. At the same time, we found equal gratification in working with employees and customers.

For example, an important part of our staff was composed of single working mothers. We provided training and counseling to these women, so that they could rise through the ranks and become managers with greatly enhanced earning power. On the lending side of our business, we found that there was no greater gratification than enabling a family to own their own home, especially when they thought it was an impossible dream. These are a few examples of the sense of fulfillment we experienced in "giving back" and which, among other things, led to our decision to devote our energy and money to making a difference in people's lives. Believe it or not, the psychic income - the highs if you will - associated with giving money away thoughtfully and effectively has been even more gratifying than running a successful business.

Our two children are totally involved with us in the Foundation's activities. Not only do they support our Pledge, but they also plan to follow our example with respect to their own net worth.

SANDLER FOUNDATION

We would like to share with you the attached two documents we produced before getting started:

• Mission Statement and Values

• Guiding Principles for Grants

We would like to elaborate on some of the information contained in the attachments and also spend a little time discussing how we operate.

We Want To Make As Big An Impact As Possible.

We are a spend-down foundation and therefore act with urgency to make significant contributions that have both an immediate and lasting impact.

We Are Focused On Achieving Results.

One of our core competencies stems from our experience as CEOs of the second largest savings bank in the country. We understand the critical importance of due diligence, an important part of which is evaluating the management of potential grantees. We offer technical assistance, i.e., how to improve strategic and business plans; goals and objectives; budgets; etc.

We Are Willing To Take Risks.

In essence, in many ways, we are venture capitalists. We are willing to take risks and make bold strategic investments in areas not adequately addressed by government, industry, universities or the non-profit sectors. We prefer to assist well-run organizations with additional funding, but where we have not been able to find an institution that can fill an important need, we have not hesitated to start one. During the last several years, we have created nine non-profits, all of which are performing beyond our original forecasts. We would like to give you two examples:

• American Asthma Foundation (AAF). Asthma is a chronic lung disease affecting approximately 23 million Americans. It is the most disabling childhood disease in the country, and as you might expect, it is an especially serious problem for poor, inner city children. Sad to say, there has been no material improvement in treatments for over 50 years. Equally surprising, until we created the American Asthma Foundation, there was no institution devoted to funding research that would improve treatments, prevent and find a cure for the disease. Since its establishment ten years ago, through a highly innovative approach, AAF research has led to the discovery of 17 breakthroughs for new treatment, three of which are in clinical trials.

• ProPublica - Journalism in the Public Interest. The economic crisis of American journalism potentially undermines the ability of a free press to call the powerful to account. Herein lies our motivation to create ProPublica, a new kind of institution: a non-profit newsroom staffed with top talent and having as its sole mission producing journalism in the public interest with what we call "moral force." Led by Paul Steiger, formerly Managing Editor of the Wall Street Journal, ProPublica already has won 30 honors, including a Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting, since it began publishing in mid-2008.

We welcome the opportunity to add our names to the Pledge list and would like to express our thanks to Bill Gates and Warren Buffett for their leadership.

Sincerely,

Herbert M. Sandler                                           Marion O. Sandler

President                                                            President

We pledge we will gift to non-profit causes more than 90 percent of our assets during our lifetime or as planned gifts.

We deeply appreciate the good fortune that allows us to make this commitment. Our support of various not for profit organizations has given us enormous satisfaction particularly where we have been personally involved with the boards or committees of those institutions.

We would not be in this position if not for the extraordinary people that made AES a success. We deeply appreciate their commitment to expanding access to electricity around the world and the personal values they demonstrate. Giving to causes that will make the world a better place socially and environmentally is one of the ways we can express our thanks to them.

We have created a family foundation, with our four children and their spouses amongst our trustees, so that as a family we can address the issues that we feel are the most compelling. Our appreciation to each of our family members is unbounded as they have contributed their insights and ideas that have made our Foundation grants more effective. Our children and grandchildren have brought us joy beyond our imagining.

We encourage others to go down a philanthropic path of their choosing with the understanding that this road is full of opportunities and challenges. It is as hard to make good grants as it is to make good investments and it needs to be done with dedication. For this we thank our extraordinary staff, and our non-family trustees, who work diligently to help us realize our mission to assist in creating a world where nature can flourish and people can thrive. When done right, there is nothing more satisfying than grant-making - seeing positive results and learning from mistakes.

Finally, we thank Warren Buffett and Bill and Melinda Gates for their leadership in expanding the amount of philanthropy in the world.

Dear Warren,

As you know, my initial reaction to your kind invitation to sign the Giving Pledge was one of reticence and concern. Would my stepping forward make a difference? Could doing so be misconstrued as an act of self-aggrandizement rather than one motivated by a deep appreciation for the transformative power of philanthropy?

Upon further reflection, however, I found myself moved to action by the words of the great Jewish sage, Hillel, found in the text of Pirkei Avot ("Ethics of the Fathers"), part of the rabbinic writings:

If I am not for myself, who is for me?

If I care only for myself, what am I?

If not now, when?

I was raised in a household in which giving back was a core value. One of my fondest childhood memories is holding my father's hand as he visited less fortunate elderly people who had no one else to care for them. I also remember his telling a struggling medical student for whom he had advanced some tuition payments that he did not want to be paid back; he wanted that student to become successful and to "pay it forward" by helping someone else.

Years later, I grew to understand that these expressions of my father's universal ideals probably stemmed from his deeply-rooted Jewish values. In addition to caring for our own community, Jewish tradition teaches that we have a solemn duty to treat all people with respect and care. In the words of Maimonides, "One ought to treat everyone with derekh eretz (civility and humanity) and hesed (mercy and kindness)."

When my late husband, Charlie (z"l), and I were first married, we had little to spare and whatever we earned was being put back into the business. In 1967, desperate to help our beloved State of Israel survive yet another existential challenge, the two of us impulsively agreed to contribute $500 that we did not have to the United Jewish Appeal.

More than forty years later, the lessons I learned from my father and the values I shared with my husband remain of paramount importance to me as my family and I work to use the resources with which we have been blessed for the betterment of the communities in which we live as well as society as a whole.

When Charlie and I established our family foundation in 1987, we knew that giving effectively would require us to bring the same focus, due diligence and risk-taking to our philanthropy that we employed in our energy business. For the first decade or so, we experimented; we made various kinds of grants, both small and large, and for different lengths of time. We looked to strengthen existing organizations and institutions, to establish new ones and to build coalitions. And we pursued excellence every step of the way.

We learned much in our early years, lessons that continue to inform our philanthropy today. Our focus remains narrow, our foundation is professionally staffed and we continue to take advantage of opportunities as they arise in our primary areas of interest: enhancing the quality of life in Tulsa, assuring the future of the Jewish people, and ensuring the safety and security of the State of Israel and all its inhabitants.

We believe in the importance of investing in young people by providing them with educational experiences of high quality and by nurturing their creativity. We live in a time of unparalleled prosperity in some parts of the world, deep impoverishment in others and growing willingness of the next generation to strive to bridge the gap between the two. In the Jewish tradition, this desire to serve is captured best when people express a desire to engage in "tikkun olam," which is often translated as "repairing the world." This concept is based on the idea that God could have created a perfect world, but deliberately decided not to do so in order that humankind could join God in attempting to perfect it. Such a lofty goal demands our attention and deserves our support.

So, too, does the educational reform effort currently sweeping the country, a movement powered by an emerging generation of inspiring and effective young leaders. These men and women represent what is best about our nation, and we share their optimism and their drive. If those of us with the good fortune to have received an excellent education work together to make certain every child enjoys that same opportunity - and is free from abuse and neglect at home - the dreams of the reformers can be realized and the future of this country brightened.

Like many of the other signatories to the Giving Pledge, I travel extensively and have seen for myself the extent to which the United States contributes to the rest of the world in ways that far exceed the financial aid we provide. While times are difficult and our standing in the world is under challenge, we remain an unparalleled driver of innovation as well as a beacon of freedom, democracy and justice for much of humanity -- a status we will maintain only by pursuing and achieving excellence in every corner of our educational system. A better educated populace is not just good for America; it is good for the world.

Our funding of Jewish causes and involvement in Jewish life is driven by a similar conviction: that ensuring a vibrant Jewish future is important not just for the Jewish people, but also for society as a whole. That is why much of our giving, and virtually all of my time, is directed to deepening the Jewish identity of young Jews and to strengthening Jewish communities all over the world.

In his book, The Gifts of the Jews, Thomas Cahill writes:

The Jews started it all - and by "it" I mean so many of the things we care about, the underlying values that make all of us, Jew and gentile, believer and atheist, tick. Without the Jews, we would see the world through different eyes, hear with different ears, even feel with different feelings.

By "we" I mean the usual "we" of late-twentieth century writing: the people of the Western world, whose peculiar but vital mentality has come to infect every culture on earth so that, in a startlingly precise sense, all humanity is now willy-nilly caught up in this "we." For better or worse, the role of the West in humanity’s history is singular. Because of this, the role of the Jews, major contributors to and significant innovators in Western culture, is also singular: no other group is remotely like them; theirs is a unique vocation.

From monotheism and the Ten Commandments, to the contributions of Nobel laureates in the fields of medicine, science, literature and more, to the technological innovations emanating from modern Israel, the Jewish people have given much to civilization over the millennia. There are many theories about how and why the Jews have managed to survive when other peoples and cultures have disappeared, and understanding this phenomenon is important to the extent that it helps us decipher the flow of human history.

What drives our family's investment in Jewish life, however, is more than anthropology, sociology or even pride; it is a fervent belief that the Jewish people still have much to contribute to society and a deep sense of responsibility to ensure that the opportunity to share those gifts exists in the future. It is with all this in mind, and with the memories of how modestly Charlie and I began our philanthropic journey, that I pledge to devote the majority of my resources to the pursuit of the charitable agenda Charlie and I set for our family more than 20 years ago. I do so with respect and admiration for the efforts of those with whom we are engaged in similar endeavors, and in full recognition of the scope of the challenges that confront us.

I also pledge to continue working to encourage others, including emerging philanthropists of all ages and all capacities, to join us in seeking to repair the world; the further we broaden our reach, the more we will benefit from a diversity of people, perspectives and approaches as we strive to tackle problems of common concern. The same is true in the Jewish community, one I hope will receive greater support in the future from those with the means to assist.

Although the issues that confront all of us are daunting, we accept the teaching of Rabbi Tarfon in Pirkei Avot: "You are not obligated to complete the task, but neither are you free to desist from trying."

Sincerely,

Lynn Schusterman

Dear Warren:

While I'm pleased to respond to the appeal you are making with Bill & Melinda Gates to promote "Giving Pledges" among our peers, I made that commitment long ago. As you know, I've already contributed quite a bit, beginning in earnest 35 years ago with my first significant contribution to the Zoo.

As long as health permits, Sue and I plan to be active and engaged philanthropists. Like our good friend Chuck Durham, who made some wonderful gifts in his final years, we enjoy seeing the fruits of our philanthropic efforts. Upon my death, virtually all of my remaining estate will go into the Walter Scott, Jr. Foundation.

My interests, that I hope my foundation's successor trustees continue, are twofold. Number one is causes that serve young people. I have nothing against old people. I am one! But I believe society will get the most bang-for-the-buck if I invest in things that help us produce educated and productive citizens, whether through youth social services or assisting them pursue a college education through scholarships.

My second major interest is causes that help improve our community. That can take many forms, beginning with our Zoo. But it can also include causes like helping Dr. Maurer build a world-class research institution, or helping improve engineering and information science education at the Peter Kiewit Institute. I like to invest in causes that move our community forward because if we don't, we will find that it has begun to deteriorate.

Our community is fortunate to have had a series of exceptionally generous philanthropists. I don't know if Mary Lucretia Creighton was first, but Creighton University is quite a legacy. The people of Omaha enjoy a higher quality of life because of the significant charitable investments made by wealthy individuals for more than a century.

In my remaining years, through my foundation, I'll continue to invest in our community, including additional gifts to our Zoo. There's still room for a Buffett exhibit. Call me when you're looking for an idea!

Sincerely, 

Walter

We and our children have determined that the great majority of our wealth will be devoted to philanthropic purposes.  We are very fortunate to be in this position,  and we find the execution of our philanthropic work to be both challenging and deeply satisfying.
 

I grew up in a middle class family in Canada.  My dream was to be a writer who tells stories that make a difference in the world.  Along the way, when I got out of business school, I became the first full-time employee and the first President of a fledgling company with an online auction service called AuctionWeb.  That company later became better known by its corporate name, eBay.  When the company went public in 1998, all of a sudden I went from being in debt and living in a house with five roommates, to having hundreds of millions of dollars in the value of my eBay shares.

Until then, I had not thought much about philanthropy.  But with my newfound paper wealth, I resolved to do good things for the world with that money, in smart ways.

The first thing I did, in 1999, was to start the Skoll Foundation.  Today, the Skoll Foundation has become the leading organization in the world supporting social entrepreneurs to drive large-scale impact.   Each year, we find innovative social entrepreneurs from around the world – people like Paul Farmer of Partners in Health or Ann Cotton of Camfed – and we support them over a multi-year period.  We also convene the annual Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship, at Oxford University.  I am proud of the work we are doing together with our partners and grantees.  In the words of one of my heroes, John Gardner, we are “betting on good people doing good things.”

In 2004, I resurrected my original vision of telling stories that make a difference in the world by creating Participant Media.  Since then, Participant has released over 25 movies, including Good Night and Good Luck, The Kite Runner, Charlie Wilson’s War, An Inconvenient Truth, The Cove and Syriana.  Our films have won four Academy Awards and received 18 nominations.  But I am most proud of the impact that these films have had on social issues – human rights, Afghanistan, climate change and so on.   We even have a social action network called TakePart that is rapidly becoming the online community for social activists and concerned citizens alike.  For me, Participant is another form of philanthropy, as I believe that good stories well told can inspire and compel social change.

In 2009, I started a new foundation, called the Skoll Global Threats Fund, to deal with urgent threats that imperil humanity.  The first five issues are climate change, Middle East peace, nuclear weapons, pandemics and water scarcity.   These are all issues that could bring humanity to its knees if we don’t tackle them together now.

I have already donated about half of my net wealth to these organizations in the last eleven years.   I expect to contribute almost all of my wealth to the betterment of humanity either during or after my lifetime. 

In the meantime, I will continue to tell stories that awaken enlightened self-interest, activate citizen engagement, and galvanize political will.  I will continue to double down on innovative solutions that have enduring social impact.  And I will continue to support catalytic mechanisms, like the Skoll World Forum and TakePart, that unite the forces of change from all corners and cultures of humanity.

In doing so, I hope also to inspire others to do the same.  The world is a vast and complicated place and it needs each of us doing all we can to ensure a brighter tomorrow for future generations.  Conrad Hilton said it is the duty of successful people to give back to the society from which their success was derived.  I feel privileged to have grown up in Canada and to now live in the US, two countries that value and reward education, hard work and good choices.  I feel lucky to have been able to pursue my dreams and I hope that my contributions will in some small way lead to a sustainable world of peace and prosperity.

More than 99% of our wealth will go to philanthropy during our lifetime or at death. We have already started our giving. Our children have already been provided for.

Virginia and I wanted to give back something more valuable than money to the millions of people who made our success possible with American Century Investments. We wanted to give people "Hope for Life"- Hope for a better life. Our vision is to make a significant contribution to humanity through medical research by expanding our understanding of the secrets of life and by improving life's quality through innovative approaches to the causes, treatment and prevention of diseases.

In 1994 we began by creating the Stowers Institute for Medical Research to pursue a very distinctive approach to basic science. It took six years to plan and develop the world-class campus and its laboratories in Kansas City, Missouri. The doors finally opened in November 2000.

Today, the Institute is already recognized as one of the best basic biological research organizations in the world.

The Institute focuses on outstanding science.

Many of the scientists have been acknowledged both nationally and globally for their individual excellence.

The scientists are not given tenure - rather they are given term appointments that are renewable based on research excellence and productivity.

The Institute's Scientific Advisory Board composed of seven internationally recognized scientists. It is extremely important to note that this independent board must unanimously determine which investigators the Institute can accept and which it can retain.

The research scientists enjoy the benefits of a world-class campus and state-of-the-art Technology Centers, both of which enable them to make discoveries at an unprecedented rate. Our scientists have given all their intellectual property to the Institute so that they can receive 50% of the profits once it is commercialized.

Other features which are extremely important

Our scientific effort is made possible by the proceeds the Institute receives from the Hope for Life Endowment; which is truly the lifeblood of the Institute.

When you make a gift to the Stowers Institute, the experience is radically different from giving to other worthwhile causes. Why is it different?

• Your money is not immediately spent. All proceeds are added directly to the "Hope for Life Endowment" of the Institute.

• You will become personally involved in the long-term effort, because you are issued "Hope Shares."

Each year at least 3 ½% of that dynamic long-term endowment will be spent for scientific research. The endowment is invested for long-term appreciation and, over time, should earn more than the 3 ½% that is paid out for scientific research each year. This is endowment-based research.

The Institute issues you Hope Shares to indicate your degree of investment in the endowment for uninterrupted scientific research.

The minimum initial Hope Share investment is $1,000.

The Hope Shares are registered in your name, while the value remains with the endowment of the Institute. The value of your shares fluctuates along with the value of the endowment.

As an owner of Hope Shares, you will:

• Become personally involved in the long-term effort to provide "Hope for Life" - Hope for a better life for everyone.

• Be remembered forever for your gift to research, because your gift keeps on giving each year.

• Receive regular Stowers Reports so that you can follow our progress in medical research.

• Receive your "Hope Share Statement," informing you:

* The amount you invested during the year.

* Your total investment.

* The present value of your "Hope Shares"

* The amount you are contributing to scientific research this year.

We believe whenever the very best scientists work together as a team, supported by dedicated leaders, advanced technology and uninterrupted funding, great discoveries will happen.

Giving back was instilled in me by my father at a young age. In addition to being active with Rotary and other civic organizations, my dad was also philanthropic with his own small resources. Not only did he make contributions to causes that he cared about, he also supported the tuition of two African-American students at his alma mater, Milsaps College in the late 1950s. It made a big impression on me to see someone as hard-charging as my father take the time to quietly help out two young people like this. Sometime during the 1970s, before I made a significant amount of money, I attended a seminar on philanthropy. At dinner I was seated next to a man who was quite a bit older than I and we began discussing charitable foundations. He told me about his family’s foundation and the good things they were doing around the world. I filed this away in my mind and told myself that if I were ever wealthy enough to have a foundation, I’d be sure to make it a family foundation so that my children would be involved and understand the importance of giving back.

Fast forward twenty years to September 1997.  I was being honored as the 1997 Man of the Year by the United Nations Association and I was contemplating what I’d say that evening.  Good thoughts about my family’s foundation, the Turner Foundation, starting flooding my mind, and I smiled at the fact that we had already invested several hundred million dollars in grants and had made a significant impact on so many people and organizations around the world.  I wish I could remember who that man was who first gave me the idea for a family foundation, because I owe him a debt of gratitude.  The Turner Foundation helped me understand the impact we all can have through philanthropic contributions. My experiences with organizations like the Better World Society opened my eyes to the power of assembling a team of international leaders to address global issues. Had I not experienced working with these two organizations, I don’t think I would have had the confidence to move forward with what I was about to propose to the United Nations that evening.  That was the night my $1 billion pledge was heard around the world and the United Nations Foundation was born.  I also made it clear that while the amount I was giving away was certainly a lot of money, I was also putting other rich people on notice that I would be calling on them to be more generous. Now that I was pledging such a large amount, I could lead by example, and it was time for me to get out in front of the parade.

Over the years, the United Nations Foundation has done innovative work to make the world a better place and has helped strengthen the U.N. in the process.  This gives me a lot of satisfaction, as have my efforts to influence other wealthy people to become more active in philanthropy. After the billion dollar pledge, I challenged my fellow billionaires to do more. I realized that many of them used their net worth as a way to keep score and they enjoyed seeing where they ranked on lists put out by magazines like Fortune and Forbes. Understanding how competitive most of these people were, I called on the media to start publishing lists of people who gave away the most. I figured that this would not only motivate people to try to get to the top of the philanthropy list, it could also shame some whose names didn’t show up. Slate.com was the first to take up the list idea and other media outlets joined in later.

To date, I’ve visited more than 60 countries in every part of the world. In addition to making a lot of friends, I’ve also seen firsthand the desperate challenges facing so many people. It’s been eye-opening for me and I’ve discovered that the more people you meet, the more you learn, and the more you learn, the more you want to help, and the  more you help, the better you feel.  These days, I’m putting my resources and energies toward tackling the worlds more important issues. The three problems that concern me the most are the threat of nuclear annihilation, climate change and the continuing growth of the world’s population. Sometimes these problems can seem overwhelming, and when they do, I remind myself of a conversation I had many years ago with Jacques Cousteau. I asked him if he ever got discouraged or worried that the problems he was working on were insurmountable. He looked at me and said, “Ted, it could be that these problems can’t be solved, but what can men of good conscience do but keep trying until the very end?”  At that moment, his very words inspired me to want to do even more.

I don’t measure success in numbers, but I consider my contributions of more than 1.3 billion dollars to various causes over the years to be one of my proudest accomplishments and the best investment I’ve ever made.  Those dollars have improved lives, saved species, fought disease, educated children, inspired change, challenged ideas and opened minds; and at the time of my death, virtually all of my wealth will have gone to charity. 

Looking back, if I had to live my life over, there are things I would do differently, but the one thing I would not change is my charitable giving. I’m particularly thankful for my father’s advice to set goals so high that they can’t possibly be achieved during a lifetime and to give help where help is needed most. That inspiration keeps me energized and eager to keep working hard every day on giving back and making the world a better place for generations to come.

We are delighted to lend our support to Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett’s novel idea of a “Giving Pledge.”  We applaud their leadership and encourage others to join this effort at a very important time in our history given the severe economic impact virtually everyone and every institution has experienced over the last couple of years.

Our Pledge is this: We will continue to give away all of the wealth we have been so fortunate to make except for a small percentage allocated to our children and grandchildren between now and the time we pass because we are firm believers that shrouds don’t have pockets.  Furthermore, we pledge to continue to work tirelessly each and every day, donating our time, energy, experience, passion and intellect to the causes and organizations we have been involved with for many years because, for us, philanthropy is much more than just writing a check.

Philanthropy has been a large part of our lives over the last three decades and is something we are deeply passionate about and enjoy doing together.  In the early days, we used to say that Joan took care of the streets and Sandy took care of culture.  In any case, we look at a non-profit the same way we look at a company – investing in a nonprofit is like buying stock in that organization.

Education and partnership are at the heart of everything we do philanthropically and we make long term commitments to the organizations we lead: Sandy is currently the Chairman of the National Academy Foundation (since 1980); Carnegie Hall (since 1991); and Weill Cornell Medical College (since 1996), while Joan is Chair of Alvin Ailey Dance Foundation (since 2000); Paul Smith’s College of the Adirondacks (since 2005); and Co-Chair of the New York Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center Women’s Health Symposium (since 2000).  

Each day we are touched by the incredible work people from the organizations we are associated with, as well as countless others are doing.  They are changing the world and helping bridge cultural divides thru education, healthcare and the arts.  Among some of our proudest moments in philanthropy to date include: opening up the first American medical school overseas in Qatar in 2001 following the tragic events of 9/11 and at a time when many questioned doing something in the Middle East, as well as aiding in the development of a medical school in Tanzania and an HIV/AIDS clinic in Haiti; seeing Alvin Ailey be recognized as one of the most acclaimed international ambassadors of American culture and having a home which is the nation’s largest facility dedicated to dance; raising $60 million in one evening at Carnegie Hall to establish broad reaching music education programs; and working with nearly 50,000 students in over 500 academies of finance, hospitality and tourism, information technology and engineering each year and seeing 90% of them graduate, often the first in their family to do so. 

Our journey together through life over the last 55 years has been nothing short of amazing.  We have learned a lot and been blessed beyond our wildest imaginations.  From our experiences in philanthropy, we have found the following lessons very useful: Keep it focused, you can’t do everything; the busiest people can always do more; you can run a better private business if you help run philanthropic enterprises; don’t be afraid to hire people smarter than you; don’t be afraid to make mistakes; and whatever you do, be passionate about it.  

In the years we have left, we want to continue to try and do whatever small part we can to leave the world a little better than we found it.  That return on investment would be unquantifiable and something we would cherish the most.  

Sincerely,

Sanford and Joan Weill