Which billionaire co-founded the Giving Pledge alongside Warren Buffett?

Bill Gates co-founded the Giving Pledge alongside Warren Buffett. The campaign was launched in 2010 to encourage the world’s wealthiest people to commit at least half of their wealth to charitable causes during their lifetimes or in their wills.

Gates and Buffett developed the idea through conversations about how wealthy individuals could make philanthropy a more central part of their financial planning. Melinda French Gates was also a founding figure, so the initiative is more precisely associated with three founders: Bill Gates, Melinda French Gates, and Warren Buffett.

The pledge is not a legally binding donation contract and does not require members to give to one particular organization. Instead, signatories publish a personal commitment explaining how they intend to direct their resources. A frequent mistake is to confuse the Giving Pledge with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which is a separate philanthropic organization founded in 2000.