Daily Lessons from Life 05 Sep 2010 - China tycoons decline charity invite from Warren Buffet and Bill Gates

"Sat, Sep 04, 2010 The Daily Chilli - China tycoons decline charity invite from Warren Buffet and Bill Gates

Two of the world's richest men - Bill Gates and Warren Buffett - are visiting China on Sept 29.

The duo have sent out invitations to 50 magnates in China to a private function to be hosted by them during their visit.

However, some of the people have rejected the invitation, worrying that they would be asked to donate money, Chongqing Evening News reported."

An interesting story though it was reported on yesterday news. I can understand why some of the 50 magnates in China asked about the intention of Warren and Bill as they had been on a mission since a few years back when Warren pledged to donate 99% of his wealth to Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Bill Gates became fully involved with charitable work recently. In the USA, they had successfully persuaded or more like facilitated or accelerated 20 billionaires to pledge to give away at least HALF their wealth to charity.

Lessons for me are:

1. Warren is a pioneer in this for sure. I always said that he spent his whole life building wealth through investing and yet at the end he rather gives them away to charitable! Maybe a Nirvana moment somewhere somehow? :-) Bill Gates joined the effort after still trying to maintain the dominance of his Microsoft Inc. and realizing that it is not to be with the advent of Internet. Or maybe being married and having his own children!;

2. whether the China magnates who do attend the function by Warren and Bill will be asked to donate to charity; or even if they were asked and they declined, does it mean the Chinese magnates are not as charitable as their USA counterparts? These are questions that observers will be focusing on. For me, if the Chinese magnates have their own idea of how much to give to charity, it is really their prerogative. They will do it at their own time own amount own target carry on! The key is: they do see the need to spread the wealth and create a bigger positive impact on the charities they endorsed;

3. in our own way, we can contribute to charity. Like someone said, the poorest who donated $1 out of $1 made is definitely very generous and passionate about doing good vs. a tycoon who donated $10k out of $1m or $10m or $100m made! Blessed are those who realized if they can help the less fortunate, advance education and medical and environmental protection so that the human race can live on with dignity and care for Mother Earth.

May Warren and Bill achieve, somewhat, they agenda with this visit to Beijing!!