Chuck Feeney

Charles “Chuck” Feeney, 89, who cofounded airport retailer Duty Free Shoppers with Robert Miller in 1960, amassed billions while living a life of monklike frugality. As a philanthropist, he pioneered the idea of Giving While Living—spending most of your fortune on big, hands-on charity bets instead of funding a foundation upon death. Since you can't take it with you—why not give it all away, have control of where it goes and see the results with your own eyes? 

“We learned a lot. We would do some things differently, but I am very satisfied. I feel very good about completing this on my watch,” Feeney tells Forbes. “My thanks to all who joined us on this journey. And to those wondering about Giving While Living: Try it, you'll like it.”

Over the last four decades, Feeney has donated more than $8 billion to charities, universities and foundations worldwide through his foundation, the Atlantic Philanthropies. When I first met him in 2012, he estimated he had set aside about $2 million for his and his wife's retirement. In other words, he's given away 375,000% more money than his current net worth. And he gave it away anonymously. While many wealthy philanthropists enlist an army of publicists to trumpet their donations, Feeney went to great lengths to keep his gifts secret. Because of his clandestine, globe-trotting philanthropy campaign, Forbes called him the  James Bond of Philanthropy. 

In 2019, I worked with the Atlantic Philanthropies on a report titled Zero Is the Hero, which summarized Feeney’s decades of go-for-broke giving. While it contains hundreds of numbers, stats and data points, Feeney summarized his mission in a few sentences. “I see little reason to delay giving when so much good can be achieved through supporting worthwhile causes. Besides, it’s a lot more fun to give while you live than give while you're dead.”

On September 14, 2020, Feeney completed his four-decade mission and signed the documents to shutter the Atlantic Philanthropies. The ceremony, which happened over Zoom with the Atlantic Philanthropies’ board, included video messages from Bill Gates and former California Gov. Jerry Brown. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi sent an official letter from the U.S. Congress thanking Feeney for his work. 

-- Steven Bertoni, Forbes

MacKenzie Bezos signs The Giving Pledge

5/29/19 - Bezos, whose fortune is now worth an estimated $36.6 billion, signed the Giving Pledge, which encourages the world's wealthiest people to dedicate a majority of their wealth to charitable causes.

Gates to pay Nigeria's debt

Billionaire philanthropists Bill and Melinda Gates will pay off $76 million of Nigeria's debt.

It's part of a promise the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation made to the African country in an effort to end polio. The payments, which will be made over the course of 20 years, are due to begin this year.

In 2014, Nigeria borrowed the money from Japan to fund its fight against the preventable disease, Quartz reports. The Gates Foundation had agreed to repay the loan if Nigeria met certain conditions, namely "achieving more than 80% vaccination coverage in at least one round each year in very high risk areas across 80% of the country's local government areas," according to an email from the foundation to Quartz.

Nigeria held up its end of the bargain, and no new cases of polio were reported in the country in 2017. That's a drastic change from 2012, when Nigeria had over half of all polio cases worldwide, according to Quartz.

In a recent blog post, Gates acknowledges the significant strides made towards wiping out the disease globally — 30 years ago, there were 350,000 cases of polio per year worldwide, while last year, that number dropped to just 21.

"The heroes who have made this progress possible are the millions of vaccinators who have gone door to door to immunize more than 2.5 billion children. Thanks to their work, 16 million people who would have been paralyzed are walking today," Gates writes.

Polio is "a crippling and potentially deadly infectious disease," which, after invading the nervous system, can cause paralysis. Among those paralyzed, two to 10 percent die.

The Gates Foundation spent $3 billion in 2017 to help stop the spread of the disease, and names polio eradication one of its "top priorities." The foundation says it has supported the Global Polio Eradication Initiative's efforts to wipe out the disease by contributing technical and financial resources to accelerate targeted vaccination campaigns, community mobilization and routine immunizations.

The Gates' donation is not out of character; in 2017, they gave $4.6 billion to their namesake organization. In addition to its work with polio, the foundation has also spent $1 billion in an effort to send over 20,000 kids to college and has committed millions more toward fighting Alzheimer's and providing resources to women in developing countries.

Thanks in part to his massive philanthropic efforts, Gates is no longer the richest person in the world, a title that he had held for much of the last decade. Jeff Bezos is currently the richest person, with a net worth of more than $108 billion, according to Forbes. Gates is currently worth $92 billion.

However, Bloomberg notes that Gates would have a net worth of $150 billion if he had not been so generous. While Bezos is not know for being particularly philanthropic as billionaires go, in January he announced a $33 million donation toward TheDream.Us, an organization that provides scholarships undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children, known as "dreamers."

Gates also founded The Giving Pledge with Warren Buffett. Its billionaire signers have promised to give away at least half of their wealth.

"We have been blessed with good fortune beyond our wildest expectations, and we are profoundly grateful," Bill and Melinda wrote in their Giving Pledge letter, CNBC Make It previously reported. "But just as these gifts are great, so we feel a great responsibility to use them well."

Soros gives away $18 billion

George Soros just gave most of his wealth to his charitable organization, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.

The billionaire philanthropist transferred $18 billion to Open Society Foundations, a sprawling international group of charities that works in more than 100 countries on projects focused on refugee relief, public health and many other topics.

The $18 billion figure amounts to almost 80 percent of the financier's total net worth. Before the transfer, Soros had a net worth of $23 billion, according to a Forbes tally Tuesday. The site ranks him as the 29th wealthiest person in the world.

Soros began his charitable giving in 1979, nine years after launching Soros Fund Management, the hedge fund that would propel him into America's ultrawealthy. He has given away $12 billion in the four decades since, according to his official biography, available on his website.

His first charitable work involved providing black South Africans with scholarships during the country's apartheid. During the Cold War, he provided photocopiers to people living in eastern Europe in order to reprint texts banned by communist governments. He has also underwritten the largest effort to integrate Europe's Roma, according to the biography available on his website.

lending money

Many of us may have been in a situation where a family member or friend has asked to borrow money. In 2011, 7 percent of homebuyers borrowed from a relative or friend to help purchase a house, and 14 percent of business owners also borrowed from family and friends to help cover costs. Lending money can help someone in need and create goodwill. But lending money also can be cause for harm in a relationship or lifestyle.

Here are some tips on how to lend money and still keep the relationship on track:

1) Don’t lend money you can’t afford. If you are struggling with your finances, lending money to another person struggling with finances will not only hurt the relationship if it is not paid back but also will set you back financially, resulting in a double whammy. Make sure you prioritize your personal finances so the money will not adversely affect your living situation.

2) Consider it a gift. If you can afford to lend it, it is safe to assume that the money will not be paid back. If the person borrowing doesn’t pay it back, you will not be disappointed and it will not affect the relationship. If you are willing to take the risk, the gift can be seen as a nice gesture to help someone in need. Relationships are more important than money, so if you do end up getting paid back, it will be a nice surprise.

4) Know when to say no. Consider why the person needs the money. If you feel the person is borrowing to fund their lifestyle as opposed to paying for emergencies, you are only supporting their habits. Saying no may force them to re-evaluate their own financial situation. In the long run you will be helping them out.

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and more

[4/14/15] The first rule of loaning money to friends.

$9.8 billion to charity

America's 50 top givers in 2014 donated $9.8 billion to charity, up 27.5 percent from the top 50 gifts in 2013, according to a new report.

Bill Gates was the top giver last year, according to the Philanthropy 50, assembled by the Chronicle of Philanthropy. Gates and his wife, Melinda, made a gift of $1.5 billion in Microsoft stock to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

[and here I thought he didn't own any more MSFT / no, not yet]

Ranking second was Ralph Wilson, late owner of the Buffalo Bills football team, who made a bequest of $1 billion to the Ralph C. Wilson Foundation in Detroit, which will aid charities in New York and Michigan.

Ranking third was Ted Stanley, founder of collectible company MBI, with a gift of $652.4 million to the Broad Institute and other groups to fund mental-health research.
The report also showed a surge in giving by new tech titans. There were 12 tech donors on the list, twice the number in 2012 and more than the 11 donors from finance.

Among the top tech givers were Jan Koum, the WhatsApp founder who gave $556 million to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation. Facebook billionaire Sean Parker gave $550 million to his own foundation and the Donor Advised Fund at Fidelity.

GoPro founder Nick Woodman and his wife, Jill, gave $500 million to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, while Google guys Sergey Brin and Larry Page gave $382.8 million and $177.3 million, respectively, to different foundations.

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Why isn't Buffett on the list?  He gave $2.8 billion to the Gate Foundation last year.

Eugenia Dodson

Eugenia Dodson came to Miami from Minnesota at age 20 in 1924, got work as a beautician at the Flagler Street Burdines, married well, invested wisely after her husband died, lived frugally to almost 101 and now has surprised her community by donating $35.6 million to local diabetes and cancer research.