GoDaddy founder Bob Parsons and his wife Renee Parsons are known to be philanthropic, and I want to share the CBS 5 video below. In the video, Renee Parsons discusses the family’s commitment to philanthropy by helping a variety of non-profit organizations. The focus of the video is local organizations in Arizona, and the accompanying article also discusses the Parsons’ commitment to philanthropy in general.
Mr. Parsons was recently named to the 2014 Forbes 400 list with a net worth estimated by Forbes at $1.9 billion. The first two members of the Forbes 400 list are Bill Gates and Warren Buffet, two noted philanthropists who started The Giving Pledge to encourage others to greatly participate in philanthropic causes by the tune of 50% of their net worth. In December of 2013, it was announced that Bob and Renee Parsons joined The Giving Pledge.
I think it is important to support great organizations that help others, and it’s good to see that Renee and Bob Parsons are doing that.
Remove tax deductions from philanthropic donations and see how many great philanthropists remain among the super wealthy. Not very many. Mega-millionaires/Billionaires tend to me one of the more vein and image conscious broods around, which charity and philanthropy definitely plays a huge role in.
Its become sort of a sacred cow that you’re not allowed to criticism but I’ve been there for the conversations very wealthy people about the tax and ‘image’ advantages of charity giving, or the ‘spreading wealth to the family in the most tax efficient manner’ that comes from having a ‘charitable foundation’ with 14 brothers, sisters, cousins and friends on the payroll as ‘consultants’ or ‘directors’.
Oops. Vain.
So… Mr Parsons is trying to fix his public image with this philanthropy stuff after he was caught hunting elephants a few years back.
.Whatevers
Despite some negative things he has done in the past, this still has to be praised (PR stunt or not)!
I’ll praise people for every dollar they give above their tax liability, or give anonymously.
Extremely wealthy people doing press releases about all the money they’re giving away is an ego stroke driven by the choice they have to either give it all to the IRS, or present themselves as great charitable givers since it seems the majority of people are just totally naive about what really motivates this which is not surprising.