• The Graduate
• Friends of the Earth
• Responsible Wealth
• Centers for Disease Control Foundation
• Ohio State University of School of Public Health
• The New Yorker
• The Complete New Yorker
• Forbes
• The Atlantic Philanthropies

Addicted to Giving

Addicts always operate in extremes, but contrary to popular belief, not all obsessive behavior deals in vice. Some addicts are virtue junkies - wealthy people who are addicted to donating. In recent years, a handful of philanthropic fiends have given away hundreds of thousands, sometimes even millions, of dollars for the good of mankind.

These heroes often go unnoticed; they're usually not attention seekers. For instance, few people know that Charles Webb, the author of The Graduate, gave much of his money to such do-gooder organizations as Friends of the Earth while opting to live in cheap motels and work in low-income jobs; Oscar Meyer's great-grandson, Chuck Collins, co-founder of the organization Responsible Wealth, gave his entire inheritance to charity when he was just 26.

But for some, gift giving only begets a need to do more gift giving. Zell Kravinsky, a real-estate developer from Pennsylvania, started donating large amounts of property to local schools in the late 1990s and early 2000s and soon realized he had the bug. His giving couldn't be curtailed. In the last 3 years, he's donated almost all of his $45 million fortune. Some went to building a school for the disabled in Philadelphia, and some to the Centers for Disease Control Foundation, and some to the Ohio State University of School of Public Health.

"The reasons for giving a little are the reasons for giving a lot, and the reasons for giving a lot are the reasons for giving more," he said last year in a New Yorker article (the story can be found in their archives).

But even Kravinsky is put to shame by self-made billionaire Chuck Feeney. In 1988, Feeney was included on Forbes' list of the 400 richest Americans. What Forbes didn't know was that Feeney, through his foundation
The Atlantic Philanthropies, was anonymously giving away billions he'd earned in the duty-free biz, refusing even to take tax deductions.

Feeney's credo is "giving while living." Being rich of spirit, it seems, can be just as rewarding as having a big bank account.

"I wouldn't be comfortable in an 8,000-square-foot home," he's been quoted as saying. "You couldn't find anybody in it."

 

Posted on March 20, 2006