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Billionaire Chuck Feeney – Photo: Atlantic Foundation
For those wondering about the philosophy of “Give while I’m alive”, I want to tell you this: Give it a try, then you’ll love it.
Billionaire Chuck Feeney sends a message to the super-rich after signing the Atlantic Fund shutdown.
He’s my hero, Bill Gates’s hero, and he should be everyone’s hero.
Billionaire Warren Buffett talks about the generosity of Chuck Feeney who has inspired billionaires like him and Bill Gates.
If you are born empty-handed, you leave empty-handed. The American billionaire Chuck Feeney has that point of view and he has done it well. When giving gifts, he often wanted to see for himself whether the money he donated could get to the right people, the right job or not.
“The meeting that day gave me a different perspective on the purpose of money. I had a number of questions on my mind: Who is Chuck Feeney? Why did he give them to strangers like me?” So much money to study? … “- Mr. Phan Thanh Tung, one of the hundreds of Vietnamese who received a scholarship to study in Australia from billionaire Chuck Feeney, recalled a special meeting 15 years ago.” He is a living Buddha, “Tung said of the billionaire Chuck Feeney as soon as he started a conversation with me on the night of September 19.
The 89-year-old American billionaire has just fulfilled his greatest goal in life – to give away all the wealth of $ 8 billion, leaving only $ 2 million for the rest of his life. Atlantic Philanthropies, which he secretly founded in 1982, officially ended his mission last week. Millions of people have benefited from the billionaire’s philanthropy with the “Give when live”.
The predestined relationship with Vietnam
By becoming a billionaire with Duty Free Shoppers, Mr. Chuck Feeney decided what makes sense while alive, so the Atlantic Fund was born. Unlike other moguls, he chose to contribute anonymously because he wanted to meet people, speak, learn and act naturally and deeply.
In 1997, the sale of a stake in Duty Free Shoppers exposed its Atlantic Fund. The New York Times had a great headline: “This Man Gifted $ 600 Million, But Nobody Knew It.”
His two-decade relationship with Vietnam also began the same year when Feeney read an article about the East Meets West Foundation (EMWF), a humanitarian organization based in San Francisco, America. EMWF had several volunteer programs in Vietnam at the time, but it faced a great challenge: it had enough budget for 5 months of operation and no other support.
A feeling arose within him at the time, as he later confided: “The United States did not do enough to help rebuild Vietnam after the war. I think Vietnam has been through a difficult time. I want to help out.” Feeney immediately called the EMWF director and wrote a check for $ 100,000 to support. That modest money opened the door to a long-term mission 16 years of the Atlantic Fund in Vietnam.
In a book published by the Atlantic Foundation in 2018, Robert Matousek, an old friend of billionaire Feeney, recalls the days when the two went to Vietnam to learn about the activities of the FEMWF. “He used to walk around every corner of shabby schools and hospitals, muttering, ‘I can renovate this, rebuild that.’ Chuck realizes that Vietnam is a great place to be. Private charity,” shared Mr. Matousek.
Projects awarded in Vietnam at that time were hardly based on a specific strategy. The decision is based on something special about Feeney’s affection and the specific value of each individual thing. For example, during a visit to the EMWF office in Da Nang, Feeney discovered that there was a job at the university library in progress on the opposite side. After a discussion with the administrators, she decided to help complete the library. Seeing the crowded patients in the old Hue and Da Nang hospitals, Feeney also extended his hand in support, but firmly maintained the principle of anonymity.
Mark Conroy, then director of the EWMF, had to exclaim in a kind of regret that he would not be able to work with the local government if Feeney remained mysterious without saying why. But Feeney upheld that principle everywhere he volunteered, from Ireland to Cuba, Bermuda, Australia … where people thought he was … laundering money. An official at RMIT Vietnam University, where Feeney funded more than $ 42 million, later revealed that the application procedure was very complicated at first and dragged on only because the billionaire wanted to hide his identity.
Phan Thanh Tung (left) told the writer about a special meeting in the past with billionaire Chuck Feeney – Photo: BAO DUY
Special meeting
Mr. Tung still cannot forget the first time he met “benefactor” Feeney on a 2005 Lunar New Year afternoon in Australia. As Tung and other Vietnamese international students from the University of Queensland were busy preparing for a New Years Eve party, a man with white hair and a faded coat entered. “This is the billionaire Chuck Feeney, who gave him this scholarship,” the young man introduced.
That was the first time Tung heard this name and it was also the first time he learned that the amount of $ 56,000 he received was from a stranger on the other side of the world. “The surprise visit that day only had two people, the billionaire Feeney and his partner. He didn’t seem to like wandering around, he didn’t celebrate anything, he just calmly entered the school to visit us, they shook hands. They’ve each and then back, “Tung recalled.
That meeting followed Mr. Tung in his life to earn money later. Then came the time when he decided to open a noodle shop with the idea that this was also a way to create jobs for the community. When things gradually stabilized, Tung began to accept a number of special staff: deaf and dumb people.
“Billionaire Feeney has a great influence on the way I see money and how I teach my children to value money. Without him, I probably wouldn’t have enough money to continue my studies in Australia. When I heard the fund closing charity, I was a little depressed, like I was missing something, “Tung said. He hopes that former international students who have received the Billionaire Feeney Scholarships can come together to establish a charitable fund, although not great, but it also has Chuck Feeney’s “Give in Life” direction and philosophy.
Billionaire Chuck Feeney visits a hospital in Vietnam – Photo: Atlantic Foundation
From 1998 to 2013, billionaire Chuck Feeney sponsored $ 381.6 million for projects in Vietnam through non-governmental organizations, universities, and research institutions. Education and health care are the top two priorities.
Through Australian universities such as the University of Queensland, the University of Melbourne … billionaire Feeney has awarded hundreds of full Vietnam Masters and PhD scholarships, university learning centers and foreign language centers. The Atlantic Fund builds 940 community-level health clinics, serving more than 9 million people in 2013.
