Apparently prompted by the much-touted Giving Pledge of Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, more than 60 US foundations have set up their own pledge, Philanthropy’s Promise, by which they undertake to channel at least 50 per cent of their grant money to the poor and other disadvantaged people.

If the immediate stimulus for the Promise is the Gates-Buffett Pledge, however, the real mover is the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy (NCRP), which has been agitating for a number of years for foundations to give at least 50 per cent of their grant money to help the poor and other groups the NCRP defines as economically disadvantaged: minority groups; disabled people; women and girls; those who live in rural areas; or lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people.