bossy philanthropy

Does Gates & Buffett's billionaires' Giving Pledge put pressure on Dan Duncan'sfamily?

Bill Gates, left, and Warren Buffett speaking at Columbia University's BusinessSchool in New York last year
Photo by David Goldman/NBCU Photo Bank
Jan Duncan
Photo by Anthony Rathbun
Where billionaires can participate: https://givingpledge.org/

In a landmark moment for philanthropy, Bill Gates and Warren Buffett are advocating that all billionaires commit to giving at least half of their wealth to charitable groups within their lifetimes or after their deaths.

Dubbed The Giving Pledge, the initiative is the result of a series of dinners the two men held over the past year to discuss the effects of the recession on philanthropy with some of the nation's richest people, including New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Revlon owner Ronald Perelman and David Rockefeller, his family's patriarch.

The Giving Pledge aims to reverse the recession's trend of declining donations. In all, (if successful) the initiative would transfer $600 billion — a figure calculated by dividing the amount of wealth represented in Forbes magazine's billionaires list in half — to charitable causes.

The initiative could place pressure on prominent families like the Duncans of Houston to dispense more of the family's trust. (It was recently reported that billionaire Dan Duncan's heirs will avoid federal estate taxes due to a one-year lapse in that tax, instituted by former President George W. Bush.)

Duncan's wife Jan could walk away with the bulk of the patriarch's $9 billion net worth — a figure that would have been roughly cut in half by the government if Dan had passed away three months earlier or if he lived past Jan. 1, 2011. His eldest daughter, Randa Duncan Williams, is executor of the estate and it is believed she will continue the family's tradition of charitable gift giving.

Duncan gifted more than $250 million to Baylor College of Medicine, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Texas Children's Hospital and other Houston institutions during his life.

Gates and Buffetts' goal is to instill the expectation that the rich should give away their wealth while creating a peer group of wealthy people that can offer advice on philanthropy, said Melinda Gates, Bill's wife and the co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Although noble and ambitious, the initiative also makes public what is considered a personal, highly private decision.

Reports the Wall Street Journal, Mr. Rockefeller has pledged to give at his death more then $1 billion to charitable causes, including gifts of more than $100 million to the Museum of Modern Art, Rockefeller University, Harvard University and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund.

For his part, Bloomberg said he gave $254 million to nearly 1,400 nonprofit organizations in 2009, adding, "I am a big believer in giving it all away and have always said that the best financial planning ends with bouncing the check to the undertaker."

Only a matter of days ago, Gates himself teamed with the government of Spain and the world's wealthiest man, Mexican telecom magnate Carlos Slim to donate $150 million to fight malnutrition, dengue, malaria and other health problems in Mexico and Central America as part of the Meso-American Health Initiative. Last week, the Gates pledged $1.5 billion for the United Nation's women's health initiatives.

"It's really to help people to get started on their own in whatever it is they want to do," Melinda Gates said. "One of the most important things about philanthropy is that people do what they are passionate about. They won't do it otherwise."

It's a condescending statement to the nation's privileged, but the siren call has reasoning. The past 12 months marked the second consecutive year in which philanthropy experienced its deepest decline ever recorded by the Giving USA Foundation.

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bowled over

Houston artist dishes on Food Bank fundraiser happening this weekend

Picture of several artists at a table with a bunch of handmade ceramic bowls.

Photo courtesy Paula Murphy

Ceramics professor Cori Cryer and her students from Lone Star College Kingwood and the bowls they donated to the 20th Empty Bowls fundraiser

On Saturday, May 16, shoppers have an opportunity to feed those in need by purchasing unique, handcrafted items. The 20th Empty Bowls event takes place at Silver Street Studios at Sawyer Yards from 10 am to 3 pm. A preview party takes place on Friday, May 15 from 6-8 pm (buy tickets here).

The fundraiser is a collaboration between Houston-area ceramists, woodturners, and artists working in all media and Silver Street Studios.

Shoppers can purchase one-of-a-kind bowls for $25 each (larger bowls are priced accordingly). A simple lunch from Salata, a sweet treat from Ben & Jerry’s, and iced coffee from Katz Coffee is served until it runs out. Every dollar of the purchases goes to the Houston Food Bank, which estimates that for every dollar donated, it’s able to provide three meals to Houstonians in need. Since its inception, Empty Bowls Houston has raised $1,208,959 for the Houston Food Bank, which equates to more than 3.6 million meals.

The event also includes live music and art demos. More than 2,000 bowls will be available for purchase, donated by area artists.

Empty Bowls began as a grassroots effort started many years ago at a high school in Michigan and is now held all over the world. Nearly everything for Empty Bowls events, from the food served to the venues hosting events and the bowls for sale are donated.

Cori Cryer, a professor of ceramics at Lone Star College Kingwood, is one of those who, along with her students, donated bowls for the fundraiser. She’s been involved with the effort for all of its 20 years in Houston, and before that in other cities.

“When I started donating, I didn't have a whole lot of money,” Cryer tells CultureMap. “I was a graduate student, and so this was a way for me to give back to the local community. And I think my students today kind of recognize that same feel. You know, they may not have money to send a check off to someone, [but this is] an easy way for them to be able to contribute to the community.”

Cryer teaches Ceramics I and Ceramics II to a variety of dual-credit high school students, college students, and continuing education students. Those in her Ceramics II classes are required to create five bowls to donate to Empty Bowls. But her students in her introductory class often end up donating as well. This year, she and her students provided approximately 150 bowls for the event.

Cryer said that the style of bowls for sale range from something as small as a condiment bowl to much larger serving bowls As each bowl is an individual work, they represent a variety of styles and themes. One of her students this year designed a glazed, ceramic leaf-shaped bowl with ceramic insects on it.

“There's a ladybug and a caterpillar and a spider,” she says, each created out of clay and positioned around the bowl.

Cryer loves seeing how the artists use their imaginations and abilities.

“Most of my students do throw their bowls on the pottery wheel, but that's not required,” she says. “They can hand-build them. It’s completely up to them what kind of construction technique they use.”

Cryer loves knowing that this event is a way for students to see that their artistic efforts can have lasting impact on the community around them. In addition to being able to support the Houston Food Bank, the bowls her class donates, she knows, take on special meaning for those who purchase them.

“I tell my students there is a pot for every person and a person for every pot,” she says.

In fact, one of her personal favorite bowls is one she purchased from an Empty Bowls sale.

“It's a very small bowl, maybe like three inches in diameter, and two inches tall, and it's a little pink pig that I think an elementary student made,” she said. “He has no tail, and he has no ears, but he has a snout, and it is definitely a pig. And I love that little bowl. I have it sitting on my desk at home.”

Cryer knows shoppers attending the Empty Bowls sale will find similar, soon-to-be-beloved items.

The Saturday event is free. Those wishing to attend the preview party on Friday, May 15 from 6-8 pm, which offers light bites, beer and wine, and the first chance to purchase bowls, can purchase a $50 ticket online. In addition, Archway Gallery is hosting an exhibition of 30 one-of-a-kind bowls that can be purchased as part of the Empty Bowls fundraiser. The exhibit runs through May 30.