The Rich Giving To Charity I think we have all seen this. Sometimes someone who lives to a ripe old age decides they have the answer to a long life and they want to tell us how we can do the same. While it is very nice of them, it never takes into account their genetic background, which is probably more important than anything else. I have found in my life, there are many good people on this earth, but you wouldn’t know it reading the news every day. A multi-billionaire named Chuck Feeney was a philanthropist, not only just an ordinary one, if there can be such a thing, but one who decided he had to give all his money away while he was still alive. He moved into a two bedroom apartment and gave away his 9 billion dollar estate to the needy. In case you are thinking he ignored his children, this wasn’t true, they had inherited large sums of money from their mother’s side. Before this he had been giving money away anonymously. Another very rich person named Yvon Chouinard put his money where his mouth is. He believes climate change will destroy the planet and it doesn’t matter what your position on the matter is, we are not talking about that, he believes it and has given away all the money his company has made which was Patagonia. The billions were given to fight climate change because he believed he was doing good. The amount of money you give away is not the subject here, what I am talking about is the amount you have verses how much you gave away. If a person gives everything or almost everything away it is just as hard or harder for them to do, whether is hundreds, millions or billions. Remember the old lady in the bible who gave her one coin to charity? That must have hurt her as much as anyone giving away all they had. She did it because she wanted to help others and that was the very best she could do. Frano Selak, was not a rich man. He had a lucky life avoiding getting killed in several accidents and I am sure thanked God for his good fortune. He wasn’t a young man anymore being 81 years old. He still had to work. One day he was informed he had won almost a million dollars in a raffle. He had bought a new house with some of the money, but after thinking things over, sold it, kept a little money for a hip operation and gave the rest to have a religious monument built to show his thankfulness. Whether you agree or not on how the money should have been used, he believed he was helping others to reinforce their religious beliefs. People who feel they have to help the poor or humanity in some way exist all over the world as evidenced by Yu Panglin a Chinese tycoon in the area of hotels and real estate. He gave away everything he had to charity, but left nothing for his sons. He said he didn’t want them to get corrupted by too much wealth. It is estimated he gave away 1.2 billion dollars in value. You may not agree with him in cutting his sons off from his fortune, but he felt he was doing a good thing for them. One of the most generous Hollywood actors is Gary Sinise who is always giving away large sums of money to charity. While it may not be everything he has, he is generous to a fault. Most recently he paid for 1750 children of fallen soldiers to go to Disneyland. Another very big hearted actor is known for his great generosity. He donated tons of money to charity and never says anything about it. He is generous to a fault with his crews on set and with many others. He had heard a crew member on the set of the Matrix had financial problems and that man found a large bonus in his paycheck from the actor. The actor is Keanu Reeves. Karl Rabeder was a millionaire and Austrian businessman. He decided he was not really happy even with all his money and sold his business, and property, giving the money to charity. He said he and his wife are a lot happier now. He lives in a small cabin on about 1350 dollars a month, but gives talks and is writing. While his friends question what he did, he feels much better and enjoys his life more. Over 120 billionaires have signed a pledge to give away 50 percent of their money. Don’t worry they will still have plenty left. It also depends on what they consider a charity. Some of them are Warren Buffett, Diane Von Furstenberg, David Rockefeller and many others. Buffett is planning to almost double that amount and give 99 percent of his 63 billion to charity. He is known for living a relatively simple life for a billionaire. Michael Bloomberg has donated millions to charity. His fortune is said to be about 31 billion dollars. He heads a foundation which has given to various charities, and notably given 220 million dollars toward fighting tobacco use. He has also taken the pledge to give away half of his fortune. Mark Zuckerberg has been very generous with his money. His fortune is estimated at about 32 billion dollars. He gives to various charities, and has given shares of Facebook worth 990 million dollars at the time to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation. This is the largest charitable foundation in Silicon Valley. He also committed to giving away 50 percent of his fortune. Ted Turner is known for his charitable gifts. He gave 1 billion dollars to the United Nations Foundation to form it. His fortune is said to be about 2.2 billion dollars and has taken the pledge to give away 50 percent of his fortune. It seems the Western world might have the most generous rich people. While charitable giving is worldwide, there seems to be more of it in the United States considering how many rich Americans have taken the pledge to give 50 percent of their money to charity. I have only mentioned a few but there are plenty more such as Bill Gates, George Lucas, and others.
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