Hundreds of billionaires pledged to give away $600 billion to charity—but the Bill Gates and Warren Buffett era of philanthropy may be over
The era of billionaire baby boomer men leading philanthropy is over—wealthy women are taking the reins, as the likes of Bill Gates and Warren Buffett close an epoch of giving. Thanks to newly proposed tax policies, trust-based 'stealth giving' and female mega-donors like MacKenzie Scott are the future of philanthropy.
Bill Gates and Warren Buffett ushered in a new Gilded Era of philanthropic giving, likened in influence to the Rockefellers and Carnegies. But charity work is about to look a whole lot different as higher taxes are threatened on liberal institutions, and new methods of giving are popularized by women mega-donors.
Earlier this month, Gates announced that he would be sunsetting his foundation, giving away $200 billion by 2045 and expediting his plans to shed his $100 billion personal fortune.
'There's an air of anticipation in terms of if and how people are going to follow in his footsteps,' Amir Pasic, dean of the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy at Indiana University, tells Fortune.
And with prolific philanthropist Warren Buffett recently announcing his planned departure from the helm of Berkshire Hathaway at the age of 94, even more change is expected. His Giving Pledge, with 240 billionaires reportedly pledging a pool of $600 billion, opened the hearts and pockets of the ulra-rich. The question arises if billionaires will pick up the torch and stay true to their promises when Buffett also inevitably parts from the pledge's limelight.
Experts agree that a shift is on the horizon—but that doesn't mean a screeching halt to philanthropy altogether. In fact, it could open the door for a more diverse group of donors to take the lead.
'We're likely to see more women come out of the shadows,' Pasic predicts.
Many billionaires have started foundations as a way to channel their philanthropic efforts, but a recent decision from the U.S. House of Representatives may upend that practice. Just this week, a budget reconciliation package was approved, which stipulated a tax of 10% on foundations with more than $5 billion in assets.
'The reason this is insidious is that it's going to really hit the big liberal foundations like Gates, Ford, and Soros,' Kathleen McCarthy, director for the center on philanthropy at CUNY, tells Fortune. 'Whereas the conservative foundations are much smaller and they will pay a much lower rate.'
Thousands of liberal foundations led by billionaires including Gates, Scott, George Soros, and Mark Zuckerberg could be hit hard by these tax hikes. This could entirely change how billionaires approach philanthropy.
'[Billionaires] will start looking at alternative mechanisms once they realize that they're going to be forced to sunset foundations,' McCarthy says. 'That's what's being jeopardized right now.'
But some ultra-wealthy donors are already rewriting the rules; MacKenzie Scott's 'stealth giving' practice entails anonymously giving money directly to non-profits, trusting them to handle the funds as they see fit, with no expectations.
According to McCarthy, as billionaires are driven away from the foundation-based model, they are pulled towards alternative ways of giving. This includes being inspired by Scott's inconspicuous, direct giving strategy as a way to get around the new taxes.
'I think she's a trendsetter and sort of moral ballast to the way that Gates has been,' Bella DeVaan, associate director of the charity reform initiative at the Institute for Policy Studies, tells Fortune. 'I do see that being not just a trend, but shifting common sense towards trust-based philanthropy.'
Scott donates through her Yield Giving foundation, which has given over $19.25 billion to date across 2,450 non-profits, and experts say billionaires could be inspired to donate directly to organizations to ease the tax hit. DeVaan also predicts that Melinda French Gates will be a pioneer of the philanthropic LLC, an alternative to traditional foundations.
Experts have pulled on a common thread between who is innovating philanthropy, and how the general make-up of mega-donors is changing: women are in the spotlight. With more than 200 new billionaires minted in 2024 alone, nearly four every week, more players are entering the field and women are stepping into wealth. Women being the face of philanthropy may become the status quo.
When tasked with naming the rising stars of philanthropy to fill the big shoes of Gates and Buffett, experts are already noticing a few frontrunners. The one person on everyone's mind: charitable vagabond MacKenzie Scott.
'This is a woman making a pretty bold statement about how she's going to give her money away: by trusting the recipients, and not asking for any reporting back,' Pasic says. 'She's in contrast to the very technocratic way that Bill Gates has approached matters.'
Experts also throw out names like Melinda French Gates, who also played a pivotal role in the Gates Foundation, and continues to be a leading voice in giving. Meanwhile, Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan are pouring out money to innovate human health. They also note that women have long been benevolent philanthropists, only behind the scenes; Madam C.J. Walker, an African American woman who became the first self-made female millionaire, was a major donor at the turn of the 20th century.
And in 2025—when U.S. women have even more access to wealth and power than ever before—this group will only be supercharged. Not only have they come into stable, high-paying executive positions, but many women have also grown to be financially savvy as they've gained control over their money and careers.
'You'll see women becoming much more prominent mega donors,' McCarthy says. 'They're very comfortable handling money. They're very comfortable doing research, and they're looking for ways to change the system.'
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
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