(Inside Philanthropy) A lot can change in a decade. Back in 2009, as the world’s economy reeled from crash and recession, a coterie of billionaires gathered over dinner in New York City to talk philanthropy. Oprah was there, and so was New York’s billionaire mayor, Michael Bloomberg. The late David Rockefeller was in attendance, and so were Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, the richest people in the world at the time.
The Giving Pledge went live the following year to great fanfare. A detailed rundown in Fortune by Carol Loomis characterized it as the “biggest fundraising drive in history,” with “the potential to dramatically change the philanthropic behavior of Americans, inducing them to step up the amounts they give.” If Inside Philanthropy had been around back then, we might have harbored high hopes, too.
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