Billions are wasted on ineffective philanthropy. Philanthropy is decades behind business in applying rigorous thinking to the use of money. - Michael Porter

You know the way music brings you back to a very specific place? Like the jazz vocals of Etta James remind me of summer showers, singing "Misty" at the top of my lungs, or the way any Sublime song takes me to the treehouse terrace parties in Prague. This morning leaving my morning lesson, I took a bite out of a fresh peach, the first I've had since I've been in Thailand, and immediately I was in my bathing suit, sitting on the pier in Currituck. I wonder what it will be, when I get back to the states, that immediately transports me back to Bangkok and Mercy.

How many of you have seen the book The Billionaire Who Wasn't: How Chuck Feeney Made and Gave Away a Fortune Without Anyone Knowing? It's on bookshelves everywhere and I remember seeing it in the news before I left for Thailand. I always wondered why my Aunt had four copies in her upstairs library. Now it all makes sense. Chuck Feeney is the co-founder of "Duty Free", obviously making billions of dollars, but lives by philanthropic philosophy of "giving while living". He is also a friend of Mercy and will be here tomorrow.

In 1997 his years of anonymous giving was unvieled, against his wishes and in 1998 Time Magazine named him man of the year, noting: "Feeney's beneficence already ranks among the grandest of any living American and may someday make him the most generous philanthropist of all time. The only thing that astonished more than the size of Feeney's largesse was his determination to keep it hidden. In an age of aggrandizement, Feeney showed that humble hearts still beat."
(http://www.time.com/time/moy/runnerfeeney.html)

In February 2011 Feeney became a signatory to The Giving Pledge. In his letter to Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, the founders of The Giving Pledge, Feeney writes:

I cannot think of a more personally rewarding and appropriate use of wealth than to give while one is living - to personally devote oneself to meaningful efforts to improve the human condition. More importantly, today's needs are so great and varied that intelligent philanthropic support and positive interventions can have greater value and impact today than if they are delayed when the needs are greater. (From givingpledge.org)

Still looking for a summer read? I think it's time to go to the bookstore...

(outside Bangkok's Art and Culture Center)

ABA