——The Avodah Institute's —– Faith & Work Blog

Warren Buffett and Bill Gates are up to something. No, they’re not plotting a new business venture, opining on the marketplace, or relaxing over their shared passion for playing bridge. Their new project is much more intriguing.  They’re trying to persuade their fellow UHNWI’s to unpack the suitcase. UNHWI’s? That’s private banking jargon for Ultra High Net Worth Individuals. 

A well known earlier American UHNWI, Andrew Carnegie, was one the Unites States’ most colorful capitalists and prolific philanthropists. Beginning in the oil, railroad, and telegraph industries he leveraged his experience to eventually dominate the steel industry,  forming what became the first corporation in the world with a market capitalization of over $1 billion.

Carnegie was a bold business man, and by many standards he could be also described as a ruthless tycoon who would stop at nothing to accomplish his goals. He was a complicated and driven man, both in his business pursuits and his religious convictions. Despite his aggressive and “take no prisoners” approach to business in the early part of his life,  toward the end of his career Carnegie returned to his Presbyterian Christian roots of charity, and became well known for his philanthropic and humanitarian pursuits.  Indeed, he set out to give away all of his wealth before he died. By the time he passed away in 1919 he had given away $350 million (approximately $4.3 billion, in today’s figures) of his wealth. At his death, his remaining $30 million was bequeathed to foundations, charities, and to pensioners. Carnegie was such a passionate proponent of giving that in 1889, Carnegie published an article titled “The Gospel of Wealth.”  In it, Carnegie claimed a person of wealth’s life should consist of two parts, “The first part was the gathering and the accumulation of wealth. The second part was for the subsequent distribution of this wealth to benevolent causes. The philanthropy was key to making the life worthwhile.” Revealing the influence of Calvinist theology, Carnegie understood that wealth was about more than money.  Wealth included money, but it came as a  result of ideas, energy, risk-taking, time, talents, and other ways of creating and contributing to society. 

Photo: AP Photo/Nati Harnik

Indeed, Carnegie’s choice of words,  ”The Gospel of Wealth,” was probably no accident.   Gospel comes from the Greek euangelion, which means “good news.”  So Carnegie was talking about “The Good News of Wealth.”

To be sure, Carnegie’s “Gospel of Wealth” was not like today’s tawdry televangelists’ pitching of the “Prosperity Gospel.”  No, a healthy Christian conception of The Gospel of Wealth is richer, deeper, and profoundly social. It is not about “what’s in it for me?” It is about the Other. It seeks to answer, in part, the famous biblical question, “who is my neighbor?”

This begs the question, is that just the stuff of a bygone era, or is it possible for a modern day Carnegie or Carnegies to emerge?

According to a Wall Street Journal article published June 17, 2010, billionaires Bill Gates and Warren Buffett have begun preaching their own version of the Gospel of Wealth. Gates has sought to revolutionize large scale philanthropy through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation,  and recently has been joined by Buffett and his billions. Now they have together embarked on a campaign, called the Giving Pledge, to encourage other UHNWI’s to give at least half of their wealth to philanthropic and charitable organizations during their lives or after their deaths. According to the Wall Street Journal, Gates and Buffett “hope to create an expectation in society that the rich should give away their wealth,” in addition to “creating a peer group of wealthy people that can offer advice on philanthropy.”

Many of the nation’s wealthiest individuals, including New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, investor Ronald O. Perelman, and Rockefeller family patriarch, David Rockefeller, have committed to being part of Gate’s and Buffet’s Giving Pledge campaign.

While Gate’s and Buffett’s philanthropy campaign appears not to have a religious motivation, as did Carnegie’s renowned generosity, their effort is surely laudable.  For many, however, faith teachings are an important variable that help shape their attitude toward and understanding of wealth creation, accumulation, reinvestment, and dispersal. To what end does one create wealth? How should one create wealth? Do the means have to be as pure as the ends? Having created and acquired  wealth, what then? Acquire more toys or does faith teach a heightened obligation to those less fortunate? 

The idea of charity and giving to others in need is an important part of many religious teachings, particularly the Abrahamic traditions.  Judaism teaches the concept of tithing (the giving of 10% of your income) as a minimum standard, and teaches an ethos of social responsibility and generosity.   A central pillar of Islam, zakat, requires that practicing Muslims give of an annual percentage (2.5%) of their possessions to charity, the poor and those in need.

Christianity has extensive teachings on money and wealth; both how one earns it, the role it plays in one’s life, and the responsibility that comes with it.  Of course, Jesus  was Jewish and was influenced by Jewish teachings on money and generosity.  So Christianity starts with the Jewish concept of tithing 10% of one’s income. Some say that Jesus took those teachings to another level, what we might call “radical generosity,” going beyond a formula or a duty to a way of life.  In one particular series of discussions on money, to the surprise of many, Jesus does not condemn wealth per se.   Instead, speaking to those who have attained some degree of financial means, he shifts the debate, asking essentially, now what?   Jesus said, “From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.”

You don’t have to be a Christian or a religious person to see the power in that teaching, and to find motivation toward radical generosity.   

Rick Warren, best-selling author and pastor of Saddleback Church, a megachurch in California, suddenly found himself earning millions in royalties.  Would he practice what he preached about tithing and generosity?  Well, yes, and no. He decided to do something radical. He does not tithe, in the traditional sense. He  practices what he calls “reverse tithing,” giving away 90% of his income and living off the remaining 10%.  Wow. That’s a whole new way of thinking about The Gospel of Wealth.

Okay, I know, most of us aren’t HNWI’s, let alone UHNWI’s, and we probably can’t afford to reverse tithe. And the cynic might argue that it is easy for Gates, Buffet, Bloomberg, and the rarified few who are billionaires to be generous.  So does that mean faith teachings about wealth creation and money, and  the Giving Pledge are just for the rich and famous? Of course not. If we are  honest  with ourselves, we all have greater capacity than we realize to live lives of radical generosity.  We can do it with our time, treasures, and talent.

Like Carnegie, we all need to figure out our own Gospel of Wealth, and the faith motivation that drives that way of thinking. Like Gates and Buffett, we need to figure out our own version of the Giving Pledge.  And then, we must have the courage – or perhaps simply the faith – to act on it.