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FREETHE BILLIONAIRE WHO WASNT: HOW CHUCK FEENEY SECRETLY MADE AND GAVE AWAY A FORTUNE EBOOK Conor O'Clery | 432 pages | 12 Sep 2013 | The Perseus Books Group | 9781610393348 | English | New York, United States The Billionaire Who Wasn't: How Chuck Feeney Secretly Made and Gave Away a Fortune by Conor O'Clery At first glance a man who wears a cheap watch, uses a plastic bag full of books as carry-on luggage and insists on flying economy is not your usual billionaire — or philanthropist. His biography of Chuck Feeney gives an insight into the work of one of the most successful entrepreneurs and philanthropists of our time. Feeney and his three business partners in the s built up one of the largest retail businesses in the world, Duty Free Shoppers DFS. What nobody knew at that time was that Feeney had signed off the core of his funds into a foundation, Atlantic Philanthropies, 12 years earlier. This foundation worked until the end of the s, mainly in secrecy. Since the foundation is registered in the tax haven of Bermuda and because of extremely successful investments, spending down often means a crazy race against the rapidly increasing returns Atlantic manages to achieve. Most of his business activities were kept secret as long as possible so that competitors would The Billionaire Who Wasnt: How Chuck Feeney Secretly Made and Gave Away a Fortune copy ideas. This way of doing business and the fact that Feeney worked in intelligence for the US Airforce at the end of the s are indicative of the urge for secrecy behind all his actions. During his travels, Chuck Feeney would also identify philanthropic ventures to invest in. Luck, a sixth sense, a nose for leadership, the analysis of facts, advice from friends and a startling interest in world affairs guided him as a donor, particularly in the USA, Ireland, Australia, Vietnam and South Africa. In the end this proved to be the same mixture of qualities that ensured the success of his business. Characteristically, he would question prospective grantees in detail before making any grants. As an active philanthropist, Feeney gave, and gives, not only money but also time, passion and a personal commitment to the causes Atlantic Philanthropies supports. The biography shows how Atlantic Philanthropies developed into a highly professional foundation with a clear and focused strategy. It illustrates some of the challenges inherent in managing a large foundation and describes how the foundation ended up narrowing its focus to investing in just four major programme areas in the last decade of its existence. However, the The Billionaire Who Wasnt: How Chuck Feeney Secretly Made and Gave Away a Fortune why Feeney was so reluctant to go public with his philanthropic work and decided to spend down the money of the foundation can hardly be understood without learning more about him as a person. Feeney is presented as a naturally modest man. The book develops leitmotifs for his actions that are rooted in his own upbringing. He was raised in the close-knit Irish-American community of Elizabeth, New Jersey, where his mother tried to help people without others knowing about it. With this authorized biography the secret of Chuck Feeney is no longer a secret. Many will. Emails alberg-seberich activephilanthropy. Your email address will not be published. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Read more about September View Latest Issue. Read more about June View Past Issues. View related content by region and theme. Article featured in the April issue of Alliance magazine. Learning from the past to create the present Rachel Wimpee For Subscribers. Getting the have- mores to give more The Beacon Collaborative. Feminist, Grassroots and transformative visions of change in neoliberal re-structuring Jacqueline Colting-Stol. Council on Foundations appoint new members to Board of Directors Alliance magazine. Comments 0 Leave a Reply Cancel reply Your email address will not be published. Alliance magazine 1 September Dubray Books. The Billionaire Who Wasn't: How Chuck Feeney Secretly Made and Gave Away a Fortune Biographies of philanthropists generally tend to fall into one of two categories. If his compelling narrative becomes a blue-print for future efforts to record the life stories of philanthropists, then the reading public might become far more aware of the major donors who have existed in their midst. Yet this atmospheric account of the day Feeney divested his immense wealth into the Atlantic Philanthropies charitable foundation is followed by an exhaustive The Billionaire Who Wasnt: How Chuck Feeney Secretly Made and Gave Away a Fortune of how that fortune was made, serving as a master-class in business deal-making and ball-breaking. Indeed, a major attraction of this story lies in the contrast between the stubborn business operator, whose professional relationships are often injured by his recalcitrant retailing genius, and the affable donor, who retains many childhood friends and develops strong personal bonds with Irish academics, Vietnamese doctors, former sporting heroes and other recipients of his money. The purpose of this book is to inspire emulation. Feeney has revealed the hitherto concealed workings of his global philanthropic endeavours in order to encourage other rich people to put their wealth to good use whilst they are still alive. Now that Feeney is out of the philanthropic closet, it is to be hoped that he enjoys his shift from the global Rich List to the Altruistic A-List, and that he is successful in inspiring others to tread a similar path. Skip to main content. Book Review. September Publishing information:. ISBN This book review is tagged under: Inspirational donations. Understanding philanthropy. NPR Choice page Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read. Want to Read saving…. Want to Read Currently Reading Read. Other editions. Enlarge cover. Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Open Preview See a Problem? Details if other :. Thanks for telling us about the problem. Return to Book Page. Byhe was hailed by Forbes Magazine as the twenty-fourth richest American alive. But secretly Feeney had already transferred all his wealth to his foundation, Atlantic Philanthropies. Get A Copy. Paperbackpages. Published September 1st by PublicAffairs first published September 23rd More Details Original Title. Other Editions Friend Reviews. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. To ask other readers questions about The Billionaire Who Wasn'tplease sign up. Be the first to ask a question about The Billionaire Who Wasn't. Lists with This Book. Community Reviews. Showing Average rating 4. Rating details. More filters. Sort order. Mar 04, Peggy rated it it was ok. I picked up this book thinking I would read about a man who through entreprenurism made a fortune and then gave it all away. I wanted to be inspired by Chuck Feeney's story: a young man with nothing to his name makes good and does good with what he made. Instead, the story was so bogged down in details that I gave up on the book before the inspiring part could be read. I am impressed by The Billionaire Who Wasnt: How Chuck Feeney Secretly Made and Gave Away a Fortune story but not by the way it was written. I would recommend this book to people who like to be bogged I picked up this book thinking I would read The Billionaire Who Wasnt: How Chuck Feeney Secretly Made and Gave Away a Fortune a man who through entreprenurism made a fortune and then gave it all away. The Billionaire Who Wasnt: How Chuck Feeney Secretly Made and Gave Away a Fortune would recommend this book to people who like to be bogged down with details and are not in a hurry to get to the meat of the book. I was disappointed that this great story was told in this way. Jan 09, Tasha rated it really liked it. I'm not usually into detail-laden biographies or billionaires' business ventures but after meeting Chuck and Helga for lunch in SF I was intrigued by his life story - a conscious path of frugality and "giving while living" anonymously. Chuck's lifestyle choices - flying coach, wearing a cheap timex watch, and abhorring the fame and exorbitant excess that usually accompanies billionaires - is more than admirable. Just some quotes: On the keys to his success "He had an uncanny quality, a perception, I'm not usually into detail-laden biographies or billionaires' business ventures but after meeting Chuck and Helga for lunch in SF I was intrigued by his life story - a conscious path of frugality and "giving while living" anonymously. Just some quotes: On the keys to his success "He had an uncanny quality, a perception, an ability to see business opportunities that no one else could. If something doesn't work, he has four or so different thoughts. He has a multifaceted way of looking at business. He is detail oriented in his approach. Chuck would fly into Honolulu in late afternoon, and before he went to bed, he would have a lost of things to discuss. A lot of managers like to talk down and don't really listen. Chuck listened to salespeople. It doesn't drive my life. I'm a what-you-see-is-what-you- get kind of guy Money has an attraction for some people, but you can't wear two pairs of shoes at one time. He turned that extravagance on its head to defy all the lurid conventions of our society. He investigated and scrutinized, and sometimes tested the people involved with small initial grants.
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