‘James Bond of Philanthropy’ Chuck Feeney, Giving Pledge founder Warren Buffett and the billionaires giving more than half their wealth to charity (but not Jeff Bezos)

Oct 14 , 2020

Notable billionaires who have pledged to give the bulk of their wealth to good causes include Warren Buffett and Nandan Nilekani. Photo: Reuters

Duty Free founder Chuck Feeney made headlines after giving away his US$8 million fortune – which other influential American and Asian billionaires have committed to give away billions to improve health and education, aid earthquake relief and other good causes?

Irish-American businessman and philanthropist Chuck Feeney, co-founder of Duty Free Shoppers Group, grabbed headlines in September when he announced he had achieved his mission of wanting to give away his US$8 billion fortune over a span of four decades.

The 89-year-old businessman pioneered “Giving While Living”, an idea that “touches on donating wealth to charities instead of funding a foundation upon death”. By championing this initiative, he was dubbed by Forbes, the “James Bond of Philanthropy”. It’s not clear what that would make Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, the world’s richest man whose own philanthropy has been decidedly more modest.

To mark Feeney’s accomplishment, we took a closer look at him and the other billionaires who followed suit and gave back huge sums to charitable causes.

Chuck Feeney

Feeney might have succeeded in donating all of his wealth – but what makes him truly stand out from your typical billionaire with an altruistic streak is that he chose to keep all his donations secret. Atlantic Philanthropies, the foundation he established in 1982 and where he funnelled his wealth, has now run out of money. However, he revealed to Forbes he has set aside US$2 million for his and his wife’s retirement.

Yu Pengnian

The late Chinese real estate mogul gave all of his remaining US$500 million fortune to his foundation to aid in education, reconstruction after the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, and paying for operations for those afflicted with cataracts. “This will be my last donation,” he declared in an April 2010 press conference. “I have nothing more to give away.”