Soros’s giving exceeds key Giving Pledge benchmarks
George Soros has not joined the Giving Pledge, but Forbes and philanthropy researchers say his giving has outpaced many who have.
By Sofia Marchetti · World Affairs Correspondent
3 min read
George Soros has not signed the Giving Pledge, the campaign asking the ultrawealthy to devote most of their fortunes to philanthropy. Yet Fortune reported that the 95-year-old investor and political donor has committed more than $32 billion to charitable work since 1984, a record that exceeds the giving level reached by many pledge signers.
The contrast comes as the Giving Pledge faces renewed scrutiny over whether its members have converted public promises into money reaching charities. More than 250 wealthy people have joined the initiative, according to Fortune, but Melinda French Gates, one of its founders, criticized the pace of giving in a December 2025 interview with Wired.
“Have they given enough? No,” French Gates told Wired, referring to billionaires and Giving Pledge signers.
How Soros compares with pledge signers
Soros founded Soros Fund Management and Open Society Foundations, a network that supports democracy, human rights and social reform, according to Fortune and Open Society Foundations. Forbes has ranked him among the world’s most generous philanthropists and estimated that he has given away 76% of his net worth.
That share is higher than Warren Buffett’s, according to Forbes figures cited by Fortune. Forbes estimated Buffett has given away 30% of his net worth, though his total donations exceed $60 billion, a larger dollar amount than Soros’s.
A July 2025 report from the Institute for Policy Studies found that, 15 years after the Giving Pledge began, only one living couple among the original 57 signers — John and Laura Arnold — had given away half of their wealth. The institute called the pledge “unfulfilled, unfulfillable, and not our ticket to a fairer, better future.”
The Institute for Policy Studies said the 32 original U.S. pledgers who remain billionaires had become about 283% richer since signing. The report said their wealth has grown faster than their donations have reduced it.
Fortune pointed to MacKenzie Scott as an example of that dynamic. Scott has given away $26 billion, but her net worth has continued to rise because of Amazon shares she received in her divorce from Jeff Bezos, according to Fortune.
Foundations and spending questions
The Institute for Policy Studies also said about 80% of Giving Pledge donations have gone into private foundations and donor-advised funds, which can hold assets before money reaches operating charities. A Giving Pledge spokesperson disputed the institute’s analysis in comments to CNBC in 2025, calling it “misleading” because it excluded gifts to foundations and saying the pledge had “helped create new norms of generosity.”
Soros also gives through a foundation network, Fortune reported. Forbes estimated in 2024 that $21 billion of the more than $32 billion he had committed had already been distributed.
Open Society Foundations said in May it would spend another $300 million over five years on democratic rights and economic security in the United States. The New York Times reported that the Trump administration had singled out the Soros family for scrutiny.
“We are continuing our work unabated,” Laleh Ispahani, managing director for the U.S. at Open Society Foundations, told the Associated Press. “We will not be intimidated into silence.”
What shaped his philanthropy
Open Society Foundations has tied Soros’s philanthropy to his early life in Hungary. Born in Budapest in 1930, he survived the Nazi occupation, during which more than 500,000 Hungarian Jews were killed; his family used false papers and helped others obtain them, according to Fortune.
“1944, the year of the German occupation, was my formative experience,” Soros said in a statement. “Instead of submitting to our fate, we resisted an evil force that was much stronger than we were—yet we prevailed.”
Fortune reported that Soros’s experience helped shape his focus on open societies. In January 2025, then-President Joe Biden awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the country’s highest civilian honor.
This story draws on original reporting from Fortune.