Bill Pulte
| Bill Pulte | |
|---|---|
| Born | |
| 💼 Occupation | |
| Known for | Founder of Blight Authority and Twitter Philanthropy |
Bill Pulte is an American philanthropist and entrepreneur. He started the urban renewal nonprofit Blight Authority and created the Twitter Philanthropy campaign and hashtag. He is the grandson of William John Pulte. Pulte graduated from Northwestern University and resides in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. [1]
Blight Authority[edit]
Pulte founded the Blight Authority to "improve safety in inner city neighborhood." Pulte first became aware of urban blight after reading a newspaper article about how children were afraid to walk to school in their blighted neighborhoods. Pulte then raised $750,000 to create the Detroit Blight Authority. The Blight Authority then cleared 14 city blocks of blighted buildings in Detroit, leading to a reduction of crime in the surrounding areas.[2]
In total, the Blight Authority has eliminated more than 100 acres of blight in the Eastern Market and Brightmoor neighborhoods.[3]
For his efforts with the Blight Authority, Pulte was listed in Forbes’ third annual “30 under 30” issue featuring 30 young entrepreneurs including LeBron James and Snapchat cofounders Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy.[4]
Pulte and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey later co-founded the St. Louis Blight Authority to help northern St. Louis.[5]
Twitter Philanthropy[edit]
Pulte started the Twitter hashtag #TwitterPhilanthropy to "move people away from doing philanthropy the old way and onto Twitter. It's about time people give away money to people."[6]
Pulte uses Twitter Philanthropy both to crowdfund for charitable causes and to find worthy recipients of his own donations.
Some of the beneficiaries of Pulte's Twitter Philanthropy have included $10,000 to a homeless veteran, a $20,000 new car and $10,000 in cash to a single mom and combat veteran Lena Ramon, and the relatives of 9-year-old Emma Hernandez, who was killed Aug. 19, 2019, in a dog mauling while riding her bike on Detroit's west side.[7] [8] [9]
Pulte also gave a new car to homeless Army veteran Horace Scott.[10] On Aug. 24, 2019, Pulte offered $10,000 as a reward to help find a missing veteran. [11] On August 29, 2019, Pulte randomly gave away a Tesla via the internet.[12] Pulte also offered to pay for an inner city Baltimore student's private grade school tuition for an entire year.[13]
President Trump retweeted Pulte's offer to give $30,000 to a veteran, which Pulte later fulfilled with his gift to Lena Ramon. [14] Pulte later remarked that Trump "punched a hole in the reality of philanthropy." [15] Pulte also stated that President Trump's retweet allowed him to also raise $50,000 for a colonel in the military who lost all of his belongings in a fire.
Pulte stated that he is trying to "inspire other people to give. Even if I gave away several million dollars, that’s just a drop in the bucket compared to the total need in the country. And so what I’m more interested in is how do we motivate thousands, or tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of people to help their fellow Americans."[16]
Comments on Bernie Sanders Tax Plan
On "Fox & Friends," Pulte was asked about presidential candidate Bernie Sanders's tax plan.
"Lower class, middle class, even billionaires and millionaires are willing to give their own money, and what we're trying to do is show that we can use technology to do it instead of waiting for the government to show up," said Pulte. "I think what needs to happen, with social media, is Americans...need to start helping each other."[17] "Technology allows us to micro-target to people who are immediately in need," Pulte told The Detroit News. [18]
Pulte said he was inspired to start giving away money on Twitter by Andrew Yang's proposal for Universal Basic Income.[19]
Critics of Twitter Philanthropy
Followers of a now-suspended "QAnon" Twitter account accused Pulte of mounting a massive data-mining campaign. Critics on the left also accused Pulte of trying to profit off the poor since he uses the mobile payment service "Cash App" to effect transfers to needy individuals.[20]
In the analysis over charitable giving and it's perils, Randall C. Kennedy wrote, "So, kudos to Bill Pulte, Scott Adams and everyone involved in the "Twitter Philanthropy" campaign. And a great big raspberry for the naysayers and conspiracy theory trolls. It's because of crackpots like you that even charitable activities get a bad name -- at least when the internet is involved."[21]
Proponents of Twitter Philanthropy
Following the launch of Pulte's Twitter Philanthropy campaign,US poker player Bill Perkins decided to get in on the giving. Perkins announced he would give away $1,000 a week. Poker player Robbie Strazynski also "sees the plan as a way to give back – a random act of generosity," and began giving charitable donations.[22]
Pulte's "altruism" was used as an example of a means to combat extremism and hate online.[23]
Sherri Miller, a former drug addict and prison inmate, said that Pulte's Twitter Philanthropy "has been life-changing for me,” and said she would use the funds she received to purchase a car and re-activate her driver's license so she can drive to and from work.[24]
References[edit]
- ↑ Carter, Shawn M. (2019-08-29). "Meet the 31-year-old Twitter philanthropist giving away money to strangers online". Fox Business. Retrieved 2019-11-11.
- ↑ "Developer teams up with Dilbert creator to rebuild blighted communities in Detroit". Fox News. Retrieved 2019-11-12.
- ↑ https://identitypr.com/pressrelease/detroit-blight-authority-chairman-bill-pulte-recognized-forbes-30-30-list/. Missing or empty
|title=(help) - ↑ "Bill Pulte, 25". Forbes. Retrieved 2019-11-11.
- ↑ https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/st-louis-native-dorsey-and-philanthropist-pulte-visit-north-st/article_09517ade-c66e-5f01-bd38-605b62fa8a69.html. Missing or empty
|title=(help) - ↑ https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2019/07/11/pulte-twitter-free-money-viral/1705795001/. Missing or empty
|title=(help) - ↑ https://www.freep.com/story/money/business/2019/08/29/bill-pulte-twitter-philanthropy-inheritance/1934756001/. Missing or empty
|title=(help) - ↑ https://culttture.com/2019/bill-pulte-twitter-philanthropy-million/. Missing or empty
|title=(help) - ↑ Boroff, David. "Detroit millionaire Bill Pulte offers to pay for funeral of 9-year-old girl killed by dogs while riding bike". nydailynews.com. Retrieved 2019-11-11.
- ↑ "Homeless vet gets new car from millionaire 'Twitter philanthropist'". Mail Online. 2019-08-15. Retrieved 2019-11-11.
- ↑ Rubin, Neal. "Bill Pulte discovers the key to going viral: free money". Detroit News. Retrieved 2019-11-11.
- ↑ "Millionaire vows to give away his money - and all you need to do is ask". The Sun. 2019-09-01. Retrieved 2019-11-11.
- ↑ "Philanthropist Bill Pulte Offers to Pay for a Baltimore City Student's Tuition". Retrieved 2019-11-11.
- ↑ "Michigan billionaire Bill Pulte gives $30K to veteran for Trump retweet". FOX 2 Detroit. 2019-07-10. Retrieved 2019-11-11.
- ↑ Dorman, Sam (2019-07-20). "CEO Bill Pulte: Trump changed the 'reality of philanthropy' with one tweet helping combat vet". Fox News. Retrieved 2019-11-11.
- ↑ Reindl, J. C. "Detroit millionaire Bill Pulte: I'm not giving away my inheritance on Twitter". Detroit Free Press. Retrieved 2019-11-11.
- ↑ "Philanthropist Bill Pulte on Bernie Sanders' plan to tax billionaires". news.yahoo.com. Retrieved 2019-11-11.
- ↑ Carey, Alexis (2019-08-31). "Why CEO and 'inventor of Twitter philanthropy' Bill Pulte has gone viral". ISSN 1170-0777. Retrieved 2019-11-11.
- ↑ Rubin, Neal. "Bill Pulte discovers the key to going viral: free money". Detroit News. Retrieved 2019-11-11.
- ↑ "Twitter philanthropy: Noble endeavor or evil conspiracy?". BetaNews. 2019-09-09. Retrieved 2019-11-11.
- ↑ "Twitter philanthropy: Noble endeavor or evil conspiracy?". BetaNews. 2019-09-09. Retrieved 2019-11-11.
- ↑ "The Gift Of Giving: Twitter Philanthropy Fills Poker Players Feeds". www.uspoker.com. 2019-08-21. Retrieved 2019-11-11.
- ↑ "Twitter Philanthropy Can Combat Online Extremism". blogs.timesofisrael.com. Retrieved 2019-11-11.
- ↑ NEWS, AIMEE AMBROSE THE GOSHEN. "Woman gains $10K from Twitter philanthropy amid life-after-prison struggle". Goshen News. Retrieved 2019-11-12.
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