For six of the richest who have taken The Giving Pledge, ‘this is what gives true meaning’

Fourteen of the world’s wealthiest people have promised to give away half their wealth. They are part of The Giving Pledge, a project created by Warren Buffett and Bill Gates, who flits between being the world’s richest and second richest man with a fortune of about US$92 billion (Dh337.6bn). Here are six people who made the pledge. Garrett Camp, 39

The Canadian businessman founded the web discovery service StumbleUpon and its successor Mix. He is best known for Uber, which he co-created in 2009 with US$250,000 (Dh918,125) of his own money. Mr Camp is now worth about $5.3bn. His pledge came after an “eye-opening” visit to Kenya. He wrote: “Philanthropy isn’t just about donating money, but also sharing your advice or spending time solving important problems.”

Richard and Melanie Lundquist, both 65

For the past 10 years, the couple have given $5 million a year to schools in Los Angeles. It is just part of the $50m the couple donate each year to causes that include medical research and health care. They own the Continental Development Corporation, whose assets include shopping malls and the InterContinental Hotel in San Francisco. In their pledge letter they said: “For us, philanthropy is the meaning of life and also what gives our lives true meaning. Our philanthropic journey has been our richest experience.”

Dong Fanjun, 45

The founder of Dongfang Huiquan Financial Holdings Group has a rags-to-riches story. He grew up in an impoverished village in the Yimeng Mountains of Shandong Province. At least of his family were killed in conflict. At 27, he was badly injured in a car accident. “Suffering did not shake my determination to change fate, but strengthened my confidence in helping disadvantaged groups,” he said. His Dongfangjun Charity Foundation has “implemented a variety of philanthropic projects in caring for veterans, disaster relief, poverty alleviation, reviving traditional culture, supporting education and building a harmonious society, from which I gain happiness and power to go forward”.

Sir Stelios Haji-Ionnou, 51

Mr Haji-Ionnou is best known for founding the low-cost airline easyJet in 1995 at 27 and is estimated to be worth $1.58 billion. He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2006 and now lives in Monaco. His charitable work includes the Stelios Philanthropic Foundation, which offers university scholarships and provides relief work in Greece and Cyprus, where he was born. He has also offered rewards to promote peace between Muslim and Christian Cypriots on the divided island. He says in his Global Pledge: “I think all wealthy people have a debt to repay because it is thanks to their customers who bought their goods and/or services that they acquired their fortune.”

You Zhonghui

Ms Zhonghui, the first Chinese woman to sign the Giving Pledge, is the founder of Shenzhen Seaskyland Technologies, an educational software company. She is little known outside China and her wealth and age are unrecorded. In her pledge letter, she reveals her first donation was to a school in Guizou, a mountainous province in the south of the country. Her causes include more educational philanthropy. She is also a keen supporter of the environment, supporting conservancy efforts in Guizou. She writes: “We Chinese say, it is better to teach people how to fish than to give them a fish. That’s why I’m so glad to see the achievements made after the donation of my educational evaluation programme.”

Sunny and Sherly Varkey

The founder of Gems education was born in Kerala but moved to Dubai as a child in 1959, where his parents taught English to locals, including members of the Maktoum family. They set up the Varkey Foundation in 2010, to help 100 deprived children for every one enrolled in their schools. In 2014, he announced the annual $1m Global Teacher Prize. Now in his early 60s, he is estimated by Forbes to be worth $2.6 billion. Taking the Global Pledge he wrote: “I have been fortunate that I grew up in a family where charity was ingrained in us from a very early age … Even when my father earned a small amount, a large percentage was shared with the community, sometimes at the cost of our own comfort.”