Charles Feney He is a 92-year-old American businessman who decided to donate his $8 billion fortune to humanitarian causes, vowed to be left with nothing and die broke. He now he lives without luxuries, in total austerity.
Money you’ve never used to provide a lifestyle commensurate with your income. You don’t own a house or a car e is famous for wearing a watch bought for only 15 dollars. “I had an idea that never left my mind: that you should use your wealth to help people”the philanthropist often said.
What’s special about Feeney is that he did it anonymously. It has always been her dream to donate her millions of lei to charitable causes. Also, despite her high net worth, she has never spent on luxuries or mansions. And she complied. He donated his entire fortune for several years, until 2016, when he kept what was right and necessary.
The bulk of his fortune came when he changed businesses in 1960: he decided that the shops he used to sell products to US servicemen en route to Europe would become duty-free shops. So he created, together with his partner Robert Miller, a business empire that everyone who took a plane will have helped to build. His company, Duty Free Shoppers (DFS), now employs more than 9,000 people worldwide.
However, beyond his successes in business, what Charles Feeney was really interested in was helping others and he started donating money to different charities and projects around the planet. Feeney has traveled the world with his businesses, but he took the opportunity to learn about the needs of different groups to which, he secretly and disinterestedly handed over large sums of money.
His biographer, Conor O’Clery, claims that Feeney’s life changed after reading “Wealth”, the work of a famous American philanthropist named Andrew Carnegie, also known as “The Gospel of Wealth”. Some sentences like “To die rich is to die in disgrace” they changed Charles Feeney.
When he turned 50, the business mogul decided to set up a foundation to channel his donations. Thus was born in 1982 The Atlantic Philanthropies, an NGO dedicated to distribute your fortune around the world through donations to the most diverse causes.
However, during the first 15 years of its existence, these donations continued to be made in secret, which is why some people have given it the nickname of being the James Bond of philanthropy. Now, at 89, Charles Feeney can look back and be satisfied with what he’s done with his life.
As published by the BBC, His philanthropic organization will cease to exist later this year because he accomplished his purpose: giving all of his money to good causes while he was alive. In total, about 8 billion dollars, more than 7 billion euros in exchange.
The cause closest to his heart was education and he received the highest percentage of donations. Cornell University, his alma mater, has received nearly a trillion dollars over the years for projects like building a technology campus.
An additional $870 million was earmarked for human rights-focused social causes. She has donated $62 million in grants to groups working to abolish the death penalty in the United States and $76 million to campaigns promoting Obamacare.
Health was another of the great causes to which Feeney turned his attention. It has donated more than $700 million in aid to this sector, including a $270 million grant to improve the public health system in Vietnam and a $176 million check to the Institute for Global Brain Health at the University of California, San Francisco.
Charles Feeney, Chuck for his friends, Today he lives with his wife in a small two-room apartment in San Francisco.. She doesn’t need anything else because she’s happy like that, just like with her ten dollar watch. Her way of seeing life has influenced other great millionaires such as Warren Buffet or the Gates couple, who have joined her “donate while you live” initiative. A great man.
Sources: The Confidential / BBC
Source: Clarin
Mary Ortiz is a seasoned journalist with a passion for world events. As a writer for News Rebeat, she brings a fresh perspective to the latest global happenings and provides in-depth coverage that offers a deeper understanding of the world around us.