Why the Giving Pledge has become a punchline
Once a billionaire fad, the philanthropic dream is now out of style.
From The Times
March 31, 2026

Long after an era when big capitalism tried to match big philanthropy, the Giving Pledge, which Warren Buffett and Bill and Melinda French Gates dreamed up in 2010, has fallen out of vogue.

An illustration showing several expensive-looking pens, bound together like sticks of dynamite, topped by a fuse that’s been lit.

Matt Chase

Now, it’s stylish, in a Silicon Valley contrarian sort of way, to bash the Pledge. →

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