Spreading gospels of wealth

EVEN more private jets than usual landed at Santa Barbara airport on May 9th, as some 35 billionaires and a score or so of spouses flew in for a behind-closed-doors meeting in the luxurious Bacara resort. They included Warren Buffett and Bill Gates, America's two richest men; Melinda Gates, Ted Turner and Steve and Jean Case, as well as youngsters such as Elon Musk, a founder of PayPal, Pierre Omidyar, the founder of eBay both in their 40s. Their mission: to help each other become better philanthropists.

This was the second meeting, after last year's in Tucson, Arizona, to be held under the auspices of the Giving Pledge, launched by Mr Buffett and the Gateses in June 2010 to encourage America's billionaires to make a public promise to give away at least half of their wealth. So far 81 people have signed the pledge, a total which has surprised Messrs Buffett and Gates, given all the reasons that might have been found not to do so. The signatories range in age from 27 to 96; one of the youngest, Mark Zuckerberg, was a no-show in Santa Barbara, instead touting the initial public offering of the firm he co-founded, Facebook, which is expected to earn him around $30 billion and thus at least half that for good causes.

The Santa Barbara gathering was evidence of a rapid evolution of the Giving Pledge from a collection of individual promises into a movement focused on collectively achieving results. Whereas last year's meeting was largely a “get to know you”, according to its host, Mr Case, this year's was a “serious conversation about lessons learned.” It included a discussion on the role of philanthropy in society, led by David Rubenstein, a private-equity tycoon, which stressed the growing need for public-private partnerships to solve society's toughest problems. There were also sessions on reforming education, medical research, tackling poverty, giving outside America and how philanthropists can better collaborate with each other.

The hottest topic, says Mr Case, was “impact investing”, a phrase describing how to invest money to make profits and do good at the same time. Although Mr Buffett is sceptical about the idea, many of the other attendees were so gripped that they plan to convene a follow-up discussion on it. This focus on being an effective philanthropist addresses one of the many criticisms of the Giving Pledge, namely that it emphasised how much a person gives rather than how much difference their giving makes.

Each signatory is required to explain why they signed. Mr Buffett describes the letters, many of which are inspiring examples of the American dream, “81 Gospels of Wealth”—a reference to the essay, “The Gospel of Wealth”, written by a 19th century steel tycoon, Andrew Carnegie, which inspired Mr Buffett's own giving, along with that of Mr Gates.

Yet whereas Carnegie's philanthropic message was driven in part by his belief that giving could help protect capitalism from socialism, this thought is not even hinted at in most of the Giving Pledge letters. “I do not see any of the philanthropic activity I run into motivated by the idea that this is going to calm the masses,” explains Mr Buffett, who confesses that “it is amazing to me the degree of inequality that exists without people really getting upset.”