This “James Bond of Philanthropy” Has Given Away 375,000% of His Current Net Worth

Photo by Live Richer on Unsplash

Former billionaire Chuck Feeney made a radical commitment almost a half-century ago to give away nearly all of his wealth before he died. He coined the endeavor: giving while living.

Before generosity and philanthropy were culturally relevant, Feeney pioneered a philosophy of life that deeply impacted future entrepreneurs. What he began decades ago has overflowed into a whole new mindset of how to approach concepts like legacy, motivation, and purpose.

You may have never heard of Chuck Feeney. Many haven’t. But as the co-founder of Duty Free Shoppers (the world’s leading luxury travel retailer), Feeney amassed quite the fortune. He was smart with his money, quick to make good investments, and as Forbes writer Steven Bertoni writes, he lived with a “monklike frugality.” Somehow coming of age in a culture that was rapidly shifting from collective morality to individual romanticism, Feeney found himself resisting one of the more devious temptations: the endless pursuit of accumulation.

He helped establish the culture and execution of big generosity into tough causes and hard projects while the person making the donations was still alive. Feeney did extensive research and had specific areas and sectors he wanted to focus on which drove his philanthropy. It is because of Chuck Feeney that people like Bill and Melinda Gates would later feel the freedom to make specific investments into particular branches of work, such as healthcare and women’s rights as described in Melinda Gates book, Moment of Lift.

Before Chuck Feeney, many millionaires and billionaires who wanted to be generous enjoyed their wealth while they were alive and then left specific instructions in their will for their wealth disbursement upon their death. But that idea never made much sense to Feeney. In fact, back in the 1970s, he set out with a personal vendetta to die broke, and recently, as he celebrated his 89th birthday, he managed to accomplish one aspect of his goal — he’s now gone broke.

During his quest to give away all of his wealth, Feeney set aside roughly $2 million for him and his wife to live on in their remaining years. Considering that he has given away over $8 billion dollars, Forbes estimates that Feeney has given away 375,000% of his current net worth over the course of his lifetime.

#1 — Seek to solve hard problems

One of the most extravagant lessons that Chuck Feeney teaches entrepreneurs about generosity is that you don’t give away money for the credit, you give it away for the impact that comes when you solve hard problems.

Feeney was incredibly specific and even went to great lengths to make sure that the majority of his $8 billion dollars given away was done in anonymity. He never wanted his name to be the biggest story connected to the generous efforts he was managing. He understood that the problems he was seeking to influence (education, social justice, healthcare, and more) were so much more important than the press that may have flocked to his name or his personal brand.

Forbes even went so far as to call Feeney the James Bond of Generosity, due to his penchant for “clandestine, globe-trotting philanthropy.”

Now at 89, Feeney understands what many of us younger entrepreneurs struggle to grasp: life is more about legacy than it is about accumulation. Yes, accruing wealth and making money is important. But at the end of the day, we don’t get to keep any of our possessions. We don’t get to keep our companies, our trusts, or even our bank accounts. Those things all pass on to other hands as we meet our end. Once we embrace this understanding, our mindset can begin to shift from that of “what can I get for myself,” to something more aligned with Feeney, “what can I give away?”

#2 — The domino effect of great generosity

If you were to go visit Feeney in San Francisco, Bertoni writes that you’d be invited into a small apartment that resembles a “freshman dorm room.” On the bare coffee table that is centered between worn furniture sits a small plaque that reads: “Congratulations to Chuck Feeney for $8 billion of philanthropic giving.”

One small plaque to represent the hundreds and thousands of ways that Chuck Feeney has impacted entire sectors of industry, and as a result, entire generations of men and women around the world.

Feeney’s Giving While Living model was an inspirational foundation for investors and other men and women with top-level wealth. When Bill Gates and Warren Buffett launched the Giving Pledge in 2010, they did so with Chuck Feeney in mind. The Giving Pledge ambitiously set out to convince some of the wealthiest people in the world to give away at least half of their net worth before they passed away, in large part as an homage to the lifelong goal Feeney had put in motion decades earlier.

That’s the secret to generosity and philanthropy that many entrepreneurs fail to recognize. In a business world that is locked in on quarterly projections and share-holder margins, we’re constantly bombarded to keep our eyes on the short-term gains. Because generosity rarely returns an immediate profit, it’s often discarded as being uninspiring and ineffective.

However, taken over the course of years or decades, great generosity is often a series of profound dominos. Feeney has seen some of the issues he’s invested in be solved over the course of the last half-century. Even more so, he’s seen his efforts domino in ways he likely could have never imagined. The plaque that sits on Feeney’s coffee table isn’t his greatest achievement. It’s the fact that his philanthropy inspired the ongoing work of the next generation of entrepreneurs. Feeney inspired Gates and Buffett, who have in turn gone on to inspire hundreds and thousands of entrepreneurs to tackle hard problems. Even once Feeney passes on, his dominos will keep falling, cementing his legacy for years and perhaps, centuries beyond.

For you: Always be on the lookout for ways to give back

You may never make upwards of $8 billion from your entrepreneurial venture(s), but you will always have something in common with Chuck Feeney. You too can give wisely and generously.

Philanthropy may seem like a crazy idea, especially when you are strapped for cash and are hard pressed to figure out what your next round of funding may come from. But consider these words from author Ted Chiang, who wrote the Academy Award winning film Arrival:

“There are people for whom being generous comes easily, without a struggle. And it’s easy for them because in the past they made a lot of little decisions to be generous.”

That’s all it takes. Chuck Feeney didn’t give away upwards of 375,000% of his net worth over night. He made little decisions over a long period of time. And you can too.