Money Magazine Article
Money Magazine
Give like a billionaire - even on your salary
By Dan Kadlec, contributing editor | December 14, 2010
Warren Buffett says he will donate 99% of his wealth.
Bill Gates and his wife, Melinda, have given $14.5 billion to fund vaccines.
Oprah Winfrey has given $40 million to start a school for girls in South Africa.
Mark Zuckerberg pledged $100 million to improve schools in Newark.
You?
Among the über-rich, giving über-big has become über-chic.
In June, Warren Buffett and Bill and Melinda Gates challenged the nation's billionaires to give away at least half their net worth. To date, about 40 have heeded the call, including New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, eBay founder Pierre Omidyar, and moviemaker George Lucas.
Then, in September, the world's youngest billionaire, 26-year-old Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, sat down with fellow billionaire philanthropist Oprah Winfrey to announce that he was pledging $100 million in company stock to the Newark public school system.
Inspiring stuff. Of course, not too many of us can part with half our dough. But if you think and act like a billionaire, you can make a bigger philanthropic impact than you ever thought possible.
And right now charities can really use your help: Donations to the nation's largest nonprofits plunged 11% last year -- the biggest falloff in at least two decades, according to the Chronicle of Philanthropy. So try these seven strategies of the super-rich.