Looking For New Year Inspiration? Meet Chuck Feeney–The James Bond Of Philanthropy
In the spring of 2017, I interviewed Chuck Feeney, the founder of both Duty Free Shoppers and private equity giant General Atlantic–and one of the wealthiest entrepreneurs in the world. At least, he used to be.
We met in his San Francisco residence near AT&T Park. As a FORBES reporter I’ve visited many billionaire bungalows, but Feeney’s was different from the rest. Small, utilitarian, and humble, you could have mistaken the place for a freshman dorm. The furniture was simple and efficient, the white walls barren except for photos of friends and family–all printed out on computer paper.
DAVID CANTWELL
But the plain apartment did hold one extraordinary object. Resting on the small kitchen table where Feeney, 86, sat was a lucite plaque. It read something like this: Congratulations to Chuck Feeney for $8 billion of philanthropic giving. That’s right–$8 billion.
As I’ve written before, Chuck Feeney is a billionaire who intentionally went broke Through his Atlantic Philanthropies, Feeney has given away more than $8 billion across the world–most of it anonymously. In the process, his philosophy of Giving While Living inspired Warren Buffett and Bill Gates to launch their influential Giving Pledge Project, which recruits the world’s wealthiest people to commit to charity at least half their fortunes before they die.
Feeney’s story is incredible and powerful. And as many of us take this time of year to reflect on our lives and plot improvements, I thought it was a good moment to share my recent interview with Chuck Feeney that Atlantic Philanthropies published in their report “Atlantic Insights: Giving While Living.” Hopefully, you find some wisdom and inspiration in Chuck’s words.
In the summer of 2012, Bill Gates sent Forbes a tip. It went something like this: “You guys should take a look at Chuck Feeney; he’s been a huge influence on how Warren and I think about philanthropy.”
Warren was, of course, Warren Buffett, the legendary investor partnering with Gates on The Giving Pledge—a bold campaign to coax the world’s richest to donate at least half of their wealth before or upon their deaths. Each day, thousands of story pitches flood the Forbes newsroom, but when the two richest people on the planet take the time to share a story idea, you act. So, as Gates suggested, we looked into Chuck Feeney, the billionaire founder of The Atlantic Philanthropies.
We discovered a character we would later call the James Bond of philanthropy, an entrepreneur who had traveled the globe, often in a clandestine operation, to donate virtually all his entire self-made fortune to causes like education, health, human rights, and healthy aging. Few people had given more than Feeney, and no one had gifted away their wealth so completely while still living. Throughout the years, Forbes has profiled many billionaires who went broke—Feeney was the first one we met who had done it on purpose. Like Gates and Buffett, we were intrigued.