Bill Gates' Philanthropic Impact Put in Perspective

#1

Post by mike2477 » Fri, Apr 22, 2016, 10:43 PM UTC

Bill Gates' Philanthropic Impact Put in Perspective
insatiablefox.com

Re: Bill Gates' Philanthropic Impact Put in Perspective

#2

Post by mike2477 » Fri, Apr 22, 2016, 11:03 PM UTC

Hey there, data geeks!

I am doing research on the rise of social entrepreneurship and got sidetracked by what a badass Bill Gates is. I found out that his foundation is 4x larger than the next largest private foundation in the US. And if you add up the wealth pledged as a part of The Giving Pledge it is 10x larger than that.

I compiled The Giving Pledge data on my own by researching net worths of each pledgee. Planning to put the data on the Wikipedia page shortly.

I found the other data from the following sources (see direct links in article):

Foundation Center The Giving Pledge NP Trust GBD Compare AVAC

Happy to answer any questions and would love feedback.

Re: Bill Gates' Philanthropic Impact Put in Perspective

#3

Post by vezycash » Sat, Apr 23, 2016, 12:43 AM UTC

mike2477 wrote: post #2

Hey there, data geeks! I am doing research on the rise of social entrepreneurship and got sidetracked by what a badass Bill Gates is. I found out that his foundation is 4x larger than the next largest private foundation in the US. And if you add up the wealth pledged as a part of The Giving Pledge it is 10x larger than that. I compiled The Giving Pledge data on my own by researching net worths of each pledgee. Planni…

How about a comparison with historical philanthropists like Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie in constant currency?

Re: Bill Gates' Philanthropic Impact Put in Perspective

#4

Post by swampthinker » Sat, Apr 23, 2016, 12:54 AM UTC

Website needs some work for mobile view:

http://i.imgur.com/vlwi2hh.jpg

Re: Bill Gates' Philanthropic Impact Put in Perspective

#5

Post by dharmon » Sat, Apr 23, 2016, 1:04 AM UTC

If you put aside the "M$ was evil and he is just atoning" arguments, Gates is a huge inspiration, at least for me. This guy finds problems that he's passionate about and attacks them with such ferocity that it is truly awe inspiring.

I'm mildly embarrassed to admit it, but he was my childhood hero through the 90's. Even later when everyone thought Jobs was the bee's knees, I wanted to be as effective as Gates.

Re: Bill Gates' Philanthropic Impact Put in Perspective

#6

Post by amelius » Sat, Apr 23, 2016, 1:26 AM UTC

dharmon wrote: post #5

If you put aside the "M$ was evil and he is just atoning" arguments, Gates is a huge inspiration, at least for me. This guy finds problems that he's passionate about and attacks them with such ferocity that it is truly awe inspiring. I'm mildly embarrassed to admit it, but he was my childhood hero through the 90's. Even later when everyone thought Jobs was the bee's knees, I wanted to be as effective as Gates.

Also worth mentioning is that, over the years, Microsoft has published an impressive amount of research, whereas (e.g.) Apple has always been disappointingly closed.

Re: Bill Gates' Philanthropic Impact Put in Perspective

#7

Post by throwaway_xx9 » Sat, Apr 23, 2016, 1:28 AM UTC

Before you lionize a convicted monopolist ...

1) The USA tax code encourages wealthy people to create foundations. The money in the foundation is still controlled by them and has tax benefits.

2) In other countries, wealthy people are taxed to provide social services like education and healthcare. In the USA, they're not - the capital gains rate of 15% is basically a round-off error compared to 90% last century.

3) Foundations work very well for tax planning. Who knows what their efficiency is as charity?

Re: Bill Gates' Philanthropic Impact Put in Perspective

#8

Post by prodigal_erik » Sat, Apr 23, 2016, 1:38 AM UTC

dharmon wrote: post #5

If you put aside the "M$ was evil and he is just atoning" arguments, Gates is a huge inspiration, at least for me. This guy finds problems that he's passionate about and attacks them with such ferocity that it is truly awe inspiring. I'm mildly embarrassed to admit it, but he was my childhood hero through the 90's. Even later when everyone thought Jobs was the bee's knees, I wanted to be as effective as Gates.

If we put aside that the money isn't his, he kneecapped better products with such ferocity that a generation later our industry is still struggling to make up for the lost progress.

Re: Bill Gates' Philanthropic Impact Put in Perspective

#9

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Apr 23, 2016, 1:49 AM UTC

throwaway_xx9 wrote: post #7

Before you lionize a convicted monopolist ... 1) The USA tax code encourages wealthy people to create foundations. The money in the foundation is still controlled by them and has tax benefits. 2) In other countries, wealthy people are taxed to provide social services like education and healthcare. In the USA, they're not - the capital gains rate of 15% is basically a round-off error compared to 90% last century. 3) F…

[deleted]

Re: Bill Gates' Philanthropic Impact Put in Perspective

#10

Post by the_economist » Sat, Apr 23, 2016, 2:00 AM UTC

throwaway_xx9 wrote: post #7

Before you lionize a convicted monopolist ... 1) The USA tax code encourages wealthy people to create foundations. The money in the foundation is still controlled by them and has tax benefits. 2) In other countries, wealthy people are taxed to provide social services like education and healthcare. In the USA, they're not - the capital gains rate of 15% is basically a round-off error compared to 90% last century. 3) F…

The capital gains tax rate is not 15%. It is 20%, plus a 3.8% Obamacare tax. So Bill Gates is probably paying 23.8% on investment profits.

Here in California there is a lovely 13.3% tax, bringing the total to 37.1%. Bill Gates is a resident of Washington, though, so he doesn't pay that.

You can't blame Washington for not having a state income tax, though. Their tax laws seem to have worked out very well for them in attracting companies like Microsoft and Amazon.