Founder of the Duty Free Shoppers trade network, the 81-year-old Chuck Finney, who earned billions of dollars on it, decided not to put the money he earned in cube, not to buy islands and yachts, but to spend everything on charity. Starting in the mid-1980s, he began his secret activities. Since then, he has spent $6.2 billion out of $7.5 billion on education, science, healthcare, civil rights protection and the maintenance of old-age homes in various countries (as estimated by experts). The remaining 1.3 billion he plans to spend until 2016. The most remarkable fact is that Finney has been hiding his charitable activities for 15 years, which is surprising in our realities, when every rich man who throws the pound to the poor, trumpets about it to the whole world.
Many of the organizations who received the money had no idea who they were from, and those who knew vowed to keep a secret. “I had to convince the board of trustees that it wasn’t something compromising, that the money wasn’t dirty,” says Frank Rhodes, a former rector at Cornell University, who later headed The Atlantic Philanthropies. It was not easy at all.” As a result, Finney was still "disclosed" (this merit belongs to Forbes), but his secrecy is nowhere done: until 2012 he gave no more than five interviews. Now that his charitable mission is gradually approaching its logical completion, he is gradually coming out of the shadow, and we have an opportunity to learn something about his life.
Finney makes it possible for charities to compete for his donations, demanding detailed and clear business plans. If something goes wrong with the project, Finny cuts funding. By promising significant donations, he forces the state and other donors to stay behind him. For example, in 1997, Finny offered to invest $100 million in the development of Irish universities, but only on the condition that the government also invests significant funds. The Atlantic Philanthropies investments, $226 million, brought the university education system $1.3 billion of government money.
Finney doesn’t have his own car, although he admits that while living in Hong Kong he didn’t own a used Jaguar for a long time. He doesn’t have a yacht either, because, as he says, he’s getting stuck. Finny wears Casio watches on a rubber ribbon because they walk like a Rolex. His ex-wife and five children, however, live in mansions that cost many millions of dollars: they shared $140 million from the sale of Duty Free Shoppers. But Finney himself lives in the apartments owned by The Atlantic Philanthropies in Dublin, Brisbane and San Francisco.
Finney formulates the main rule for charity: to sacrifice money, you don’t have to wait until you get old. Better do it now, as long as you are full of energy and can change something. “The rich have certain obligations. Finny says. “I can’t decide where to put the money for them, but my advice is to spend it wisely.”
On September 6, each university in Ireland solemnly awarded him an honorary doctorate in the field of law: such an award is awarded for the first time in history. And soon Finny, thanks to Hollywood, will have the opportunity to announce his ideas to the world. George Clooney is interested in the story of his life, and he is considering filming. Asked what kind of actor he could play, Finney replied, “Well, probably, Danny De Vito.”