More than 120 of the world’s billionaires have committed publicly to giving at least half their wealth to charity, including 19 on this year’s Philanthropy 50 list.
But while the number of people who have signed the Giving Pledge, unveiled nearly four years ago by Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett, has been growing, so too are concerns about whether the effort is channeling enough new money to urgent causes today and whether some people are motivated to join for...

Mark Zuckerberg, the 26-year-old chief executive of Facebook, has announced that he is giving $100-million to improve the public school system in Newark, N.J.
The money, which will come from Mr. Zuckerberg’s Facebook stock holdings, will go into a foundation he is establishing to support the effort.
This is the first such publicized charitable donation from the young entrepreneur, who is worth at least $6.9-billion according to Forbes magazine. He ranks No....

Background: Mr. Franklin, 30, has served for the past two years on the board of Bolder Giving, a group dedicated to inspiring people to give more money away and provide them with the knowledge to do so effectively. He most recently served as deputy director of the 21st Century School Fund, an organization in Washington that works to improve school buildings.
Education: He holds a bachelor’s degree in political communication from George...