Wealthy denizens of Hollywood and Silicon Valley have pledged large donations amid the global economic chaos to help those afflicted by the coronavirus
, who has outdone everyone by pledging $1 billion in proceeds from stock sales of his payments company Square — nearly one-third of his wealth — to create a fund initially focused on COVID-19 relief efforts.
Dorsey’s $1 billion pledge “is so staggeringly large,” she says, that it could put pressure on other high-net-worth individuals to give more. That said, the vast majority of billionaires are not publicly disclosing if or how they are giving in response to the global health crisis. It’s safe to assume many billionaires are not making any charitable gifts to address the pandemic.
Is there more behind the phenomenon than simply trying to help? Dorsey, in a Twitter thread, wrote: “The needs are increasingly urgent, and I want to see the impact in my lifetime. … I hope this inspires others to do something similar.” The 43-year-old exec also expressed a doing-well-by-doing-good motive, explaining the fund should benefit both Twitter and Square over the long term “because it’s helping the people we want to serve.
Amid the surge in giving, history suggests that overall philanthropic efforts likely will decline, despite a bump in corona-virus-related donations, says Jane F. Karlin, an adjunct associate professor at the NYU School of Professional Studies Center for Global Affairs. During the recession of 2007-10, total charitable giving in the U.S. dropped by 10.9%.
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