“Real generosity toward the future lies in giving all to the present.” -Albert Camus
Salami on wheat. Chuck was a sandwich man, selling late night snacks to hungry students after all of the hamburger joints closed for the night. As the first person in his family to attend college, let alone the school of hotel management at Cornell University, Chuck Feeney knew what a big deal his admission was.
Born in 1931 and the son of an insurance underwriter, Chuck was a child of the great depression. So when he turned down job offers from major hotel chains to “travel and search for opportunities”, his family did not exactly jump for joy.
Winning a few thousand dollars in a Nevada casino, Chuck sailed to France, where, after completing a language course, he created a summer camp for children of US Navy staff on the French Rivera. There he met an Englishman selling alcohol to sailors to ship back to the United States. It wasn’t long until Chuck and eventually three other partners would open duty free airport stores in Toronto, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.
By 1980 Chuck’s annual DFS dividend share would exceed $23 million dollars, all in cash, and tax free.
Despite homes for his family around the world, Feeney was never comfortable with wealth. ”I continued to fly economy class and wear a $15 dollar watch.”, Chuck was quoted as saying, often shabbily dressed. He taught his children to be self-reliant and unselfish.
After being introduced to “The Gospel of Wealth“, Andrew Carnegie’s 1889 essay on his perspective on what wealthy people should do with their money to improve society, Chuck founded Atlantic Philanthropies and in 1982 transferred the bulk of his wealth to the organization.
As of 2009, Atlantic Philanthropies has provided over $5 billion dollars in grants. With a focus on education, health, and social justice issues and a mission of emptying the entire endowment in his lifetime (a timeline currently set at 2016), the organization must give over $400 million dollars a year if it hopes to achieve it’s goal of spending the remaining $4 billion dollars. [I encourage you to read The Billionaire Who Wasn't: How Chuck Feeney Made and Gave Away a Fortune Without Anyone Knowing
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]Chuck Feeney gave and continues to give. Others have taken the pledge of generosity:
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg will join Blackstone co-founder Peter G. Peterson and 38 other billionaires in giving away the majority of their wealth to charity, part of a formal pledge spurred in June by Warren Buffett and Bill and Melinda Gates.
On Wednesday, Mr. Bloomberg was among 40 of America’s wealthiest individuals and families to announce that they have signed on to a “Giving Pledge,” a push by Messrs. Buffett and Gates to ask the nation’s billionaires to publicly commit to give at least half of their wealth to charity within their lifetimes or after their deaths. -The Wall Street Journal: Major Pledges Wealth (8/5/2010)
…but it’s not just billionaires. People are beginning to take bolder action when it comes to giving by taking control while they are alive and making an impact today.
The tendency might be to think “hey, I’m normal. If I had millions or billions I would be generous too.”, but I am going to ask you to stop and flush this thought.
The average family gives 3-4% of their income to charitable organizations. While 3-4% is great, 3-4% applied in a unique way with the energy that comes with an area you are passionate about has the potential to be much more. I don’t have all the answers but I do know that putting meaning behind something creates a multiplier effect.
In our own lives we don’t currently know how best to make an impact. Nor do we fully know which areas we feel most strongly about. What we do know is that we want to make an impact. To realize a purpose.
This is why we are the 160th signer of the bolder giving challenge. Leslie and I have committed to explore this year how to become bolder in our giving:
- Give more (time, talent or treasure)
- Give more effectively
- Become fulfilled as a giver
- Encourage others to give boldly
We encourage you to think about what you feel is important and how you can serve a purpose.
- Check out: Boldergiving.org
- Read The Billionaire Who Wasn’t: How Chuck Feeney Made and Gave Away a Fortune Without Anyone Knowing
- Read Carnegie’s The Gospel of Wealth
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