Bolder Giving

Buffett and friends Bill and Melinda Gates want billionaires to pledge at least half their money to charity, while another group is asking the rest of us to pledge “bolder giving.”

In fact, this month Buffett and the Gates Foundation made a three-year, $675,000 grant to Bolder Giving, formed in 2007 to encourage people to increase the amount of money they donate. With that money, Bolder Giving hired Jason Franklin as its first executive director and began ramping up its outreach and pledging program.

Last month, Buffett and the Gateses began their “Giving Pledge” campaign, asking billionaires to pledge at least 50 percent of their wealth to charity. Bolder Giving, Franklin said, “is focused on everyone with less than a billion.”

Bolder Giving was founded by Christopher and Anne Ellinger of Arlington, Mass., following up on the interest they developed in donors after receiving an inheritance from Christopher's grandmother. They gave almost all of it away and then wrote an influential book, “We Gave Away a Fortune,” in 1992.

Bolder Giving established a website and began campaigning to encourage more charitable pledges, using inspirational stories about donors. One of those givers was Buffett's sister Doris, whose Sunshine Lady Foundation makes a wide range of donations.

The Gates Foundation heard about Bolder Giving and made the grant.

So far, about 150 people have signed the online, nonbinding pledge at boldergiving.org: “I commit to explore this year how to become bolder in my giving.”

Each signer works out a giving plan and requests follow-up from Bolder Giving. The nonprofit group, which is moving from Boston to New York City, has work sheets, calculators and other materials to help donors stay on track.

“We can give a lot more than we think,” Franklin said. “We see this giving process as a journey. Our hope is to support people along that journey. Once you're inspired, you often get stuck if you don't have the support to translate that inspiration into action.”