Bill Gates is accelerating his philanthropy with the goal of giving away nearly all his wealth over the next 20 years. That’s notable — and noble — but even more fascinating is that Gates appears to be such an outlier at a critical moment for philanthropy worldwide.
Whenever government spending faces cuts, or when global crises demand urgent action, the conversation inevitably surfaces: Can, and should, philanthropy fill the void? This is a pressing question right now, but it’s crucial to acknowledge the context: Today’s staggering concentration of wealth is not an accident. It is rooted in decades of public policy choices around taxation and social safety nets, amplified by powerful technological and economic trends like globalization and automation.
The biggest, most durable fixes will ultimately require shifts at this fundamental policy level. But in light of Bill Gates’ example, we must also look more closely at what it would take for the ultra-wealthy to want to give more.
In 2023, the world’s ultra-high-net-worth (UHNW) population — defined as individuals with a net worth of $30 million or more — reached a high of 426,330 individuals, according to the wealth researchers at Altrata. This exclusive group is now more than 20% larger than it was five years before, and its collective net worth has expanded to $49.2 trillion.
Despite this monumental growth in wealth, philanthropic giving by the world’s ultra-wealthy still lags behind its full potential. In 2022, UHNW individuals worldwide donated a total of $190 billion, or about 0.4% of their net worth. That is the equivalent of the median American household giving away $745 each year, or about $2 per day.
Increasing UHNW philanthropy to even just 1% of their wealth would yield the equivalent of the annual giving of 50 Gates Foundations.
So what would motivate the super-rich to give more? The uncomfortable truth is that conventional approaches aren’t working.
On the government level, policy solutions to increase UHNW giving remain stubbornly out of reach.
In the United States, for example, proposals for mandatory distribution requirements from donor-advised funds have been stalled in Congress for years. Globally, policies to incentivize giving are even moving backward in many countries. A recent Indiana University study found that a rising tide of restrictive ‘foreign agent’ laws and democratic backsliding are purposefully hampering cross-border philanthropy.
Similarly, public shaming directed at the wealthy has not only failed to increase giving but may have even decreased it. Bill Gates and other mega-billionaires aside, the vast majority of the super-rich have a much smaller but still sizable net worth between $30 million and $100 million and often keep a low profile, avoiding public scrutiny and pressure. Shaming encourages them to keep their heads down.
Nor has inspiration alone proven sufficient. Stories of transformative gifts and visionary philanthropists are powerful, but they don’t automatically translate into action by other UHNW individuals. They may spark temporary interest but often lack the personal hook needed to catalyze significant, ongoing giving.
So what’s left? The answer lies with personal motivation.
First, to give significantly, UHNW individuals have to feel that they have enough for themselves. This isn’t just about hoarding wealth; research suggests this barrier to UHNW giving is related to a deep-seated psychological hurdle — a sense of scarcity rooted in comparison with an ever more rarefied peer group as their wealth grows. As a result, until they reflect more deeply on what truly brings them fulfillment and do practical planning to define their own “enough,” many UHNW individuals won’t give away significant amounts. For them, generosity requires a sense of security and abundance, even amidst vast riches.
Second, many UHNW individuals need to find a personally relevant pathway into giving. While some are driven by data and impact metrics, for most, personal connection and the alignment with one’s own life story, values or experiences serve as the bridge to social impact.
For example, American philanthropists Alex and Steve Cohen (who own the New York Mets baseball team) focus a significant part of their giving on military veterans’ mental health (through Cohen Veterans Network and Cohen Veterans Bioscience), inspired by their son’s service as a U.S. Marine. While their son returned from his deployment to Afghanistan in good health, hearing about how some of his comrades were struggling created a personal connection to an issue where their giving could have a transformative impact.
There’s also a need for the professional services ecosystem around wealth to adapt. Historically focused primarily on asset growth and preservation, the wealth advising industry must recenter the field on engaging wealth in a more holistic and comprehensive way. Frameworks like the UHNW Institute’s “10 Domains of Family Wealth” encourage advisors to help their clients look beyond mere financial capital to embrace and build other forms of abundance, including philanthropy.
Philanthropy advising, too, must evolve. If we want to get more money off the sidelines, we need more philanthropy advisors who not only know their donors deeply — their histories, values, passions and sticking points — but who also have strong connections with social-sector organizations and leaders doing the work in the field.
Finally, any potential perspective shift here has significant implications for nonprofits. Too often, their fundraising focuses primarily on selling impact to donors — presenting statistics, program outcomes and urgent needs. Of course, impact matters, but the most effective major gift officers are building personal relationships and relevance first, thereby uncovering that personally meaningful pathway into giving which can make all the difference for engaging a UHNW individual.
In a world in which so many urgent needs abound, where private wealth has become ever more concentrated and where so many policy-driven fixes are stuck, we must find an immediate and practical path forward in which the ultra-wealthy play a more generous role in our society because they want to. We need to envision a way of being wealthy where defining “enough” becomes commonplace, where personal relevance fuels philanthropic passion and impact, and where the infrastructure of wealth management, philanthropy advising, and nonprofit fundraising aligns. Cultivating the intrinsic desire to give is not just about increasing donations; it’s about fostering a healthier relationship between wealth and society.
Alex Johnston is the author of Money with Meaning: How to Create Joy and Impact Through Philanthropy. He founded Building Impact Partners, a philanthropy advising practice that has helped its clients give away over $1.5 billion since 2012.
