Why are Houston billionaires Rich and Nancy Kinder giving away 95% of their wealth?

In an interview with ABC13, the Kinders confirmed their pledge to donate most of their fortune. They are one of the wealthiest couples in the country and have a net worth of $11.3 billion, as per Forbes.

Houston billionaires to donate over $10 billion

The billionaire couple’s decision comes as the Kinder Foundation announced plans for an $18.5 million expansion of Emancipation Park, which is located in the centre of Third Ward.

“We’ve been very fortunate. You know, whatever wealth you accumulate is the result of a lot of other people helping you along the way. And we just felt early on that the right thing to do was to try to give most or all of that away,” Rich Kinder told the media outlet.

Notably, he also helped establish the oil and gas pipeline company Kinder Morgan before stepping down as its CEO over a decade ago to focus on what he describes as a bigger cause.

The billionaire couple were also among the first to sign a pledge started by billionaires Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett. “There were only, I think, 20 people when we joined. The first meeting was 20-something families or people, couples,” Nancy told ABC13’s Melanie Lawson.

The pledge called for giving away at least 50 per cent of their wealth. However, the Kinders decided to go much further and chose to donate 95 per cent of their fortune to charity through their foundation.

Investment in city parks, arts

Although other major donors focused on projects across the world, the Kinders chose to contribute to local issues.

One of their first projects was establishing a park among the skyscrapers downtown. The result was Discovery Green, which was completed at a cost of about $25 million.

The billionaire couple have also contributed large sums to other city parks, including $77 million to establish the Kinder Institute for Urban Research at Rice University and nearly $86 million to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

Their biggest donation, $150 million, is for a new hospital to treat childhood cancer and is a joint effort between Texas Children’s and MD Anderson, the report said. Altogether, the Kinders have contributed more than $900 million to causes and organisations across southeast Texas.