Throughout my research on The Giving Pledge, it seems that despite the Pledges’ relative success in the American context, it has floundered a little bit on the international stage. This is not to say that is hasn’t garnered some support; it has, but that support is not at the same level as the U.S. based support. Gates and Buffett have had to dramatically up their “sales pitch” to international billionaires. I think it would be interesting to look at some of the reasons behind why this is so, i.e. the difference between the U.S. context and the various international contexts. It seems like many of the stumbling blocks do, indeed, seem to be cultural in nature. Yet, on the flip side, maybe looking at both the American and international contexts may be biting off more than I can chew in the sense that it may take away from a more in-depth analysis of the American context. This is particularly poignant because of the Pledge’s relatively short lifespan. It still needs time to develop and there is not a whole lot of information on the international context as compared to the American. Yet, the differences between the two contexts are interesting, more information can be found here:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/randalllane/2013/02/19/the-giving-pledge-goes-global-warren-buffett-details-americas-latest-export/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/trevor-neilson/the-giving-pledge-goes-gl_b_2726157.html
http://www.wealthx.com/articles/2013/why-only-5-of-the-world’s-billionaires-have-signed-the-giving-pledge/