Pledge should inspire students to give

College students are often in a position to be the loudest voice promoting humanitarian and charitable endeavors. Still, it’s only natural that the academic environment is equally infused with students’ own self-interests. In college we’re so intensely focused on our majors, internships, finances, networking and futures that it’s easy to forget about any sort of philanthropy.

It’s especially important in this setting to recognize the benefits of altruism, especially when those practicing it are some of the wealthiest and most successful in our country. What we need is a role model or an organizational guideline from which we can learn how to incorporate philanthropy into our daily lives, and, as we leave college and become more independent, how to carry it with us into our futures.

In May 2009, highly successful investor Warren Buffett, business magnate Bill Gates and his wife Melinda Gates, a noted philanthropist, gathered a dozen of the wealthiest Americans to discuss their experiences with philanthropy. None of the participants (who included David Rockefeller, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, media mogul Ted Turner, real estate tycoon Eli Broad and TV host Oprah Winfrey) could have known quite what to expect of the gathering.

Over the course of the three-hour summit, 12 stories about philanthropy were told by 12 different individuals.

As each person recalled his own experiences, all parties, Bill Gates  began thinking about expanding the concept. Buffet and the Gates held two more dinners, one in Seattle and another in Menlo Park, Calif. At some point during these gatherings, the idea of the Giving Pledge was born.

Since then, Buffet and the Gates have been on a recruitment search to fulfill the Pledge’s mission — to “invite the wealthiest individuals and families in America to commit to giving the majority of their wealth to philanthropy,” according to givingpledge.org.

As of Aug. 4, 2010, 40 American families and individuals have pledged to give the majority of their wealth to philanthropy. The Giving Pledge is not a legal contract. Rather, it is a moral commitment. There aren’t any guidelines or a mandatory set of causes. The pledge encourages participants to contribute to causes that they personally believe are the most worthwhile.

Describing the motivation for the openness of the Giving Pledge, Melinda Gates cited the words of Australian philosopher and Princeton professor Peter Singer: “we do what our reference does” — meaning, what we see determines how we act.

The lesson that needs to be drawn from the Giving Pledge is not that one should make so much money that the only thing to do with it is give it away, or that one must be a billionaire — the Pledge’s target demographic — before one can give to a cause.

Instead, as students still building our futures, we should be aware of our own pre-existing capacity to give.

Through donations and volunteering, engaging in philanthropy “(sensitizes you) to what you can do in this world,” said Buffet in a June interview with Charlie Rose.

Moreover, thinking about philanthropy on such a level as the Giving Pledge now will prepare students for when they are in a better position to give in the future. What people are driven by in life is what drives them to give. Thinking about how and why to give back now ensures that one is able to do so effectively later.

The decision to give back in any form requires taking a leap of faith, which is often hampered by the apparent enormity of some of today’s greatest world problems.

But, according to Bill Gates, ours is  the “first generation that these issues are solvable … these things are within reach.” The money accumulated by the Giving Pledge might become the tipping point, both in how philanthropy is perceived and in its return on investment.

The families and individuals who have made this pledge deserve recognition and greater publicity so that more might follow in their footsteps. Their stories will hopefully inspire other billionaires — and even a few college students —  to think about their own capacity to give.

William Fay is a senior majoring in international relations.