Why should there be hunger and deprivation in any land, in any city, at any table, when man has the resources and the scientific know-how to provide all mankind with the basic necessities of life? There is no deficit in human resources. The deficit is in human will.
Martin Luther King Jr.
Human rights are not only violated by terrorism, repression or assassination, but also by unfair economic structures that create huge inequalities.
When wealth is centralized, the people are dispersed. When wealth is distributed, the people are brought together.
A justice and wealth initiative
Move Humanity is a new global initiative aiming to mobilize each year at least 1 percent of the wealth of the world’s super-rich for the Sustainable Development Goals, either through philanthropy or taxes.
It highlights the power and potential that the world’s wealthiest individuals can have by donating just 1% of their wealth each year to addressing this century’s most pressing challenges.
The initiative aims to help close the SDG financing gap in the lowest income countries (LICs) by mobilizing greater private funding for basic health and education, critical infrastructure, and environmental conservation priorities.
Move humanity is a partnership of Human Act, Copenhagen and the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network. With the billionaires’ wealth estimated to be around $10 trillion, Move Humanity calls for mobilizing at least $100 billion per year in philanthropy and wealth taxation of the world’s estimated 2,208 billionaires on behalf of the SDGs. Move Humanity was founded by Human Act in 2016.
Move Humanity is a new global justice and wealth initiative
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are the world’s goals to end extreme poverty, achieve decent work for all, promote social justice, and protect the natural environment from human-caused harms.
They are an agreement by all 193 UN member states of the priorities for a prosperous, fair, and sustainable world.
Join Move Humanity calling on the world’s richest people to help end extreme poverty.
Though the total SDG financing gap is daunting, on the order of an average $400 billion per year for the world’s 59 low-income developing countries (LIDCs), it amounts to just 0.7 percent of the advanced economies’ GDP, and just 0.4 percent of the world economy as a whole. In this paper, SDG Costing and Financing for the LIDCs, SDSN proposes a plausible portfolio of financing actions that would increase budget revenues for SDG outlays by ...Read more
Move Humanity aims to foster a greater culture of giving. Our global challenges of extreme poverty, wealth inequality, conflict and climate change will escalate quickly and dangerously if we do not urgently change course. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) give us a globally agreed upon plan to fight these challenges and foster a better world for future generations.
There is no plan B, because there is no planet B
Former UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon
Move Humanity aims to close the financing gap in Low Income Countries (LICs) by mobilizing greater funding from the philanthropic sector. For those who do not, Move Humanity will urge national governments to implement an SDG wealth tax of 1% of individual net worth on the worlds billionaires to raise critical funds to meet urgent SDG needs. Achieving the SDGs will require rapid mobilization of financial resources from all sectors of the global economy.
Estimates suggest that an incremental investment of $2-3 trillion per year will be necessary to achieve the goals. For the poorest countries, the financing gap for critical expenditures is much smaller, estimated at $300-$400 billion per year. If business-as-usual continues, governments alone will be unable to finance the SDGs.
Move Humanity aims to establish SDG-focused philanthropy as a global norm. Official development assistance is not enough, we need private funding to help close the SDG financing gap. The capacity of the world’s wealthiest individuals to help bridge the financing gap and achieve the goals is significant.
The paradox of our time is that rich countries are freezing or cutting international aid at the same moment that private wealth is soaring. In fact, 26 individuals now hold as much wealth as the poorest half of the worlds’s population, 3,8 billion people according to Oxfam 2019 report.
In March, 2019 Forbes reported that there are now a record 2,153 billionaires in the world. These individuals possess a collective net worth of $8.7 trillion USD, one percent of which could close approximately one third of the SDG financing gap in the world’s lowest income countries.
Move Humanity will build on a long tradition of large-scale philanthropy. The idea of large-scale philanthropy has a venerable global tradition. The collective generosity of individuals like Andrew Mellon, Henry Ford, Bill and Melinda Gates, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur, Gordon and Betty Moore, William and Flora Hewlett, Robert Wood Johnson, Oprah Winfrey, Elon Musk, George Soros, Warren Buffet, among many others, has had and continues to have immense global impact. The results of their pioneering philanthropic work include cutting-edge contributions to governance, health care, education, environmental conservation, technological advancement, and other areas of great social significance.
If you’re in the luckiest one per cent of humanity, you owe it to the rest of humanity to think about the other 99 per cent.
– Warren Buffet
Move Humanity is calling upon all 2000+ of the world’s highest net worth individuals – those with wealth of $1 billion USD or more – to direct at least 1 percent of their net worth each year towards the SDGs. We believe that many donors will answer this invitation voluntarily and come forward to support the SDGs in line with their individual expertise, regional preferences, and business experience.
For those who do not, Move Humanity will urge national governments to consider an SDG tax of 1% of individual net worth to raise critical funds to meet urgent SDG needs. Move Humanity will work with the United Nations, civil society, academia, youth and the private sector to ensure sufficient and timely SDG funding through international vehicles like the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, as well as a number of other entities with the capacity to act transparently and at scale for maximum impact.
Follow the Move Humanity journey through each milestone towards the process of eradicating extreme poverty.Join Move Humanity
Move Humanity Conference in Copenhagen with UN SDSN, ActionAid, Oxfam, Danish politicians and civil society and many more.
Presentation of Move Humanity at the UN High-level meeting on Financing for the SDGs at UN Headquarters in New York
Move Humanity shows their logo from the world's highest pointtop – the peak of Mount Everest at 8848 meters