Altruism (Score 3, Interesting)

I seem to remember reading that Bill Gates only started his philanthopic spree when his mom confronted him about his vast wealth and insisted he donate much of it to charitable causes. (I hope I'm not getting my facts wrong here.)

Paul Allen has given a lot of money to medical research, but being ill seems to have been the impetus for that.

Both men also have their name slapped on many of the non-profit projects to which they donate.

I'm not saying this makes their contributations any less important. But it does seem to make the spirit of the donations a little less impressive, since the men likely would not have been so generous without such "external" pressures.

Does anyone agree or am I being too idealistic to hope for true altruism?