Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft, supported by Warren Buffett, one of the world's greatest investors, has called on billionaires to pledge at least half their wealth to good causes. However, writing in the Chronicle of Philanthropy, Pablo Eisenberg, senior fellow at the Georgetown Public Policy Institute, has thrown doubt on the benefits of the Buffett-Gates pledge.

As Robert Frank noted in The Wall Street Journal's Wealth Report, Eisenberg said that the the rich tend to direct philanthropy where privilege already exists: "They give their biggest donations almost exclusively to universities and colleges, hospitals and medical centers, and arts institutions. They rarely make large gifts to social-service groups, grass-roots organizations, or nonprofit groups that focus on the poor or minorities."