The pledge of donation by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett after 15 years: only 9 of the 256 billionaires have in fact followed by giving half their wealth

The report of the Institute for Policy Studies “The Giving engages at 15” concludes that the initiative – where billionaires are publicly committed to giving at least half of their wealth to a charity – most of them are dissatisfied, with most of the signatories much richer now than when they have joined, and a majority of benefits according to the indefinite funds in private foundations and donor funds rather that operational charities to support directly. The IPS team, led by Chuck Collins, Bella Devaan, Helen Flannery and Dan Petergorsky, invites the public to examine its data and its methodology. Collins is himself an heir to Oscar Mayer who gave his fortune and devoted his career to the search for inequality of wealth.

Few have completed the commitment, according to IPS calculations. A single set of complainants from 2010 live (Laura and John Arnold) in fact gave half of their wealth. Among the 22 deceased American committers, only eight met their commitment before death – just, Chuck Feeney, gave all his fortune alive.

Commitment is a public moral commitment rather than a legally binding contract; Participants sign an open letter explaining their reasons to give and can choose provoks and support organizations in support. The initiative was designed to inspire generosity, establish new standards for billionaire philanthropy and move how major wealth is used to meet urgent social challenges

Key results:

• 256 individuals, couples or families have signed the commitment of donations, including 194 from the United States and 62 from other countries. Among the American signatories, 110 remain billionaires, with a combined wealth of 1.7 billion of dollars – approximately 13% of all American billionaires.
• Among the 57 American signatories of origin in 2010, 32 are still billionaires. Their collective net value has increased by 283% since the signature (166% adjusted for inflation). Only 11 of the original groups are no longer billionaires, mainly because their wealth has fallen below the threshold, not because of giving.
• Giving is mainly to intermediaries: Out of approximately 206 billion dollars given by the original engageers in 2010, around 80% ($ 164 billion) entered private foundations – with only a small fraction was transferred to informed funds from donors. In 2023, 44 foundations linked to these billionaires held $ 120 billion in assets and paid a median of 9.2%, often well below the appreciated value of these assets.
• Wealth exceeds donations: For the most part, the speed of the accumulation of wealth exceeds charitable gifts, which makes the pledge functionally impossible to fully achieve the current trajectories.
• Impact of the tax and the public: If all the committers of living origin gave enough to respond to the promise today, nearly $ 367 billion would pass to charitable works. However, these gifts would lead to up to $ 272 billion in federal tax revenue, reducing support for public programs, because the rich donors can claim up to 74% in charity tax deductions.
• Concentration of philanthropic power: The report warns against a great transfer of wealth “to come which, combined with a favorable tax law and slow charity payment rates, will further strengthen the foundations of the billionaire family, the power of concentration and will undermine democratic responsibility.

The political recommendations of the report include:

• The increase in minimum payment requirements and the guarantee of funds quickly pass from foundations and DAF to charities that are not parked for years.
• Increase in transparency, public responsibility and application to slow down the abuse of charities for personal or political purposes.
• Tax significant more equitable fortunes to slow excessive accumulation and reduce dependence on private philanthropy.

The report recommends returning to ethics “giving” illustrated by Chuck Feeney illustrated, and calls systemic reforms to ensure that charitable donations serve public interests – not only tax interests and inherited from ultra -wrinkle.

The pledge of donations did not respond to FortuneComment request.

For this story, Fortune Used a generative AI to help an initial project. An editor checked the accuracy of the information before the publication.