20130731V1 - The Giving Pledge

Bernie & Billi Marcus
Dear Warren,
Thank you for calling to discuss my participation with you and Bill Gates regarding your philanthropy
philosophy. It brought back memories of our conversation 15 years ago when I tried to convince you to
do the very same thing. As you might remember, it has always been my belief that leaving enormous
wealth for our children does nothing to stimulate their ability to make it on their own. I too believe
that all our efforts in creating the wealth that we have would give us a great deal more joy if we were to
disperse as much of it during our lifetimes.
We’ve been focused on this work at The Marcus Foundation since our conversation many years ago.
For example, The Georgia Aquarium, which is the largest in the world, has given over 12 million
visitors the joy of seeing fish and mammals that the overwhelming majority would have never had
the opportunity to see in their lifetime. It also helped stimulate our downtown economy offering jobs
and new opportunities. The work we do with hospitals, education, and children through the Marcus
Autism Center (MAC), has enabled us to take care of well over 36,000 children since its inception and
approximately 4,000 children annually. If it weren’t for the MAC in Georgia there would be nowhere
for many of these families to go.
I share this with you because of happiness one can conceive by watching the joys of their work. I
remember very vividly a child that I had seen about a year ago that was severely autistic in my walk
through MAC. Someone pointed this child out to me and when he looked at me he went into total
hysteria, e.g. screaming, butting his head against the wall, etc. These actions happen with children of
these disabilities. Approximately one year later we were doing a documentary with NBC and I walked
into a classroom where the producer asked me to appear with one of the children. There was this same
young man and I was horrified he would have another episode as he had in the past. Instead he came
over, sat in my lap and talked! By the way, he had not spoken for the six years of his life before going to
MAC. I cried, the teachers cried, the cameraman cried, and the parents cried. What a blessing this was
to have changed one life and to have had such an impact on a life. I encourage you to always try to see
the faces of the recipients you help.
This has happened to me many times over the last 15 years and it’s made my life fuller. To make
quarterly profits is one thing but changing just one life is so much better. However, I must say that
just because we were involved with charity we didn’t lose our fundamental business acumen. Our
staff insists on outcomes for every grant we make. If outcomes are not achieved, we don’t hesitate to
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