Bill Gates and Warren Buffett Say Give It Away

Did You Know That Bill Gates and Warren Buffett Created the Giving Pledge?

Microsoft founder Bill Gates and investor Warren Buffett are asking hundreds of billionaires to give away at least 50 percent of their wealth to charity.

They named the campaign the Giving Pledge. It does not accept any money. It asks billionaires to make a commitment to give money to charity.

Americans Continue Their Charitable Giving

Even though charitable contributions fell by 3.6% last year, Americans continued to be generous to charitable causes. The total giving was $303.75 billion dollars to non-profit charities.

Areas that saw an increase in charitable contributions included human services, health, international aid and environment/animals sectors.

Sponsors and Companies are Giving More to Causes

Corporate giving was up 5.5% to $14.1 billion, which included billions of dollars' worth of in-kind donations, particularly from information technology firms and pharmaceutical manufacturers.