If you made your billions in America, you owe America. That's the straightforward message from philanthropist Melinda French Gates, who thinks the country's wealthiest people need to dramatically increase their charitable giving.
In a recent conversation with Wired editor-in-chief Katie Drummond, French Gates made the case that billionaires who started businesses in the United States benefited enormously from systems most people take for granted. The education system that trained their workforce. The regulatory framework that enabled fair commerce. The venture capital networks that funded their growth. All of it, she argues, created the conditions for extraordinary wealth creation.
French Gates helped launch the Giving Pledge back in 2010 alongside Microsoft (MSFT) co-founder Bill Gates and Berkshire Hathaway Chair Warren Buffett. The initiative encourages billionaires to commit to donating the majority of their wealth during their lifetimes or in their wills. It's a voluntary commitment, not a legal obligation, but it represents a public declaration of philanthropic intent.
The Numbers Look Good, But Are They Good Enough?
More than 250 individuals from 30 countries have signed the pledge, according to the organization's website. The roster reads like a who's who of tech and business royalty: Tesla (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk, Meta (META) CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Oracle (ORCL) Chairman Larry Ellison, and LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman all made the commitment.
French Gates acknowledges that some signatories are giving at a "massive scale." But when Drummond asked if they'd given enough, her answer was unequivocal: "No."
"If you live in this country and started a business, you benefited from this country," French Gates said. "And I believe to whom much is given, much is expected, and they should be giving back more, far more than they are."
The Giving Pledge website features letters from signatories explaining what motivated them to join, along with examples of their philanthropic work. But the commitment remains entirely voluntary, with no enforcement mechanism beyond public accountability.
French Gates' Own Philanthropic Journey
French Gates has put her money where her mouth is. With a net worth of $17.4 billion according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, she spent more than 20 years as co-founder and co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation before departing in June 2024. Today she runs Pivotal Ventures, a philanthropic organization concentrating on issues that affect women and families.
Her comments come at a moment when wealth inequality and philanthropic responsibility are getting more public attention than usual. MacKenzie Scott, the ex-wife of Amazon (AMZN) founder Jeff Bezos, recently disclosed that she's donated approximately $7.2 billion to various organizations since her previous update. In an essay on her Yield Giving website, Scott detailed how those funds went to groups working on education, community development, and economic mobility.
Even Pop Stars Are Weighing In
The conversation about billionaire giving has even reached the entertainment world. At the WSJ. Magazine Innovator Awards in October, singer Billie Eilish used her acceptance speech to make a pointed observation about the wealth in the room.
"Love you all, but there's a few people in here that have a lot more money than me," Eilish said, adding that those wealthy individuals should be giving more of it away.
It's an interesting cultural moment when philanthropists, pop stars, and the general public are all arriving at similar conclusions about wealth distribution. The systems that enabled massive fortune-building in America—whether through technology, finance, or other industries—represent collective investments by society. French Gates is essentially arguing that extraordinary returns should come with extraordinary responsibility.
The question isn't whether billionaires should give. Most already do, at least to some degree. The question French Gates is raising is whether the scale of their giving matches the scale of what they've received. And in her view, there's still a significant gap to close.