The Business Of Being Santa Claus

The Business Of Being Santa Claus Philanthropy, a deeply entrenched social convention in the West, is taking on openly competitive dimensions, says NISHA SUSAN BILL GATES Worth: $58 billion Gives $3 billion a year through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation CARLOS SLIM HELÚ Worth: $60 billion Donated over $1 billion, pledged $10 billion more GEORGE SOROS Worth: $11 billion Gives away $400 million dollars every year THE CULTURE OF philanthropy is a deeply-entrenched social convention in the West, with the wealthy battling it out for fashionable causes. Until quite recently, the classic recipient of billionaire philanthropy in the West was the arts. When millionaire Henry Clay Frick in 1935 left his vast, personal art collection to the public, the Frick Museum set standards for art endowments. Today many philanthropists collect art during their lifetimes with the express purpose of leaving it to the public. However, billionaires have begun to earmark a share of their fortune for more complicated recipients such as the poor of the Third World. But whatever the recipient, the world watches this gilded set tallying up their generosity in tidy lists every year. George Soros, currently estimated to be worth around $11 billion, is the 97th richest person in the world according to the Forbes list. The former Wall Street speculator used to provide funds for the education of black students in South Africa during apartheid. Through organisations such as the Open Society Institute, Soros has spent money to promote non-violent democratisation in post-Soviet states and to end poverty in Africa. Over the last three decades, Soros has given away a total of $5 billion and his recipients include the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh. He has been strongly involved in American electoral politics, fiercely lobbying for the ouster of George W Bush. In 2004, when he was asked whether he ‘felt’ it when he gave away nearly $20 million to the Democrats, he is reported to have shaken his head and shrugged no. Typically, he gives away over $400 million dollars a year. But in the history of competitive philanthropy, the American businessman Warren Buffet will always have a special place. Buffet is currently ranked the world’s richest businessman with an estimated worth of $62 billion. Wellknown for his frugal ways, Buffet lives in the same $31,500 house he bought in 1958. Highly critical of conspicuous consumption, he named his one big personal expense, his private jet, the Indefensible. Buffet announced a couple of years ago that he had irrevocably willed away his entire fortune, 83 percent of it to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. This decision has been much lauded, primarily because it is unlike the very rich to leave their substantial fortunes to foundations that do not bear their name for posterity. RUN RUN SHAW Worth: $3.5 billion Gives away over $3 million every year to the arts WARREN BUFFET Worth: $62 billion Will give away his entire fortune, 83 percent of it to the Gates Foundation SHI ZHENGRONG Worth: $1.43 billion Gave away $2 million in the last three years Buffet’s decision marked his best friend and bridge partner, the much younger Bill Gates, as the ‘market leader’ in social philanthropy. Gates, whose foundation is now the size of a major MNC, says that public giving makes rich people competitive. The Economist calls it Billanthropy. Gates, worth $58 billion, gives away $3 billion dollars a year to education and health, aiming to eradicate the 20 leading diseases in the world during his lifetime. In 2005, when he addressed the WHO assembly, he was the only delegate not representing a nation. This level of power is what makes the traditional non-profit world nervous about well-meaning billionaires. There has been much rumbling about the Gates monopoly driving inappropriate research into malaria, for instance. Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim Helú, the world’s second-richest person, mocks both Buffett and Gates for “going around like Santa Claus.” But Slim himself is now a huge philanthropist in a region where the governments are not particularly rewarding to the charitable. Helu was reportedly hurt by the accusations of being a robber baron amidst Mexico’s poverty. Slim is revitalising Mexico City’s historic downtown to enable more people to live, work and find entertainment in this area. He heads a $10 billion project to fund cultural projects throughout Latin America. He gave a $5.5 million gift to the endowment of one of the most important research universities in Latin America. Other Third World billionaires, though not facing as much peer pressure, have begun to display a certain charitable streak. While Syed Mokhtar’s charity is a traditional one (he funds remedial classes in English, science and maths for 20,000 underachieving students each year), some fellow Malaysian billionaires have found unusual recipients. Hishamudin, funds Deir Yassin Remembered Malaysia, a movement hoping to ending the war between Israel and Palestine. Until 2004, private charities were banned in China, because the Communist Party feared their influence. But Shi Zhengrong, the solar power king, worth over $1.43 billion, has donated $2 million in the last three years, mostly to build housing for the poor in his hometown. He has donated $5 million to Al Gore’s climate change organisation, a move criticised as slightly self-serving. Twenty-eight-yearold Yang Huiyan, China’s richest person, has a $7.4 billion fortune, based on her shares in a real estate holding founded by her father, once a bricklayer from a poor family. With her father, Yeung Kwok Keung, she donated $32 million in 2007. Hong Kong’s Li Ka-Shing has a net worth of $23 billion. East Asia’s richest man, Li is as frugal as Buffet and is wellknown for wearing cheap watches. The high-school dropout has made large donations to Berkeley, Oxford and Chinese universities. Li has announced that he plans to donate a third of his fortune to charity. Also in Hong Kong, entertainment mogul Run Run Shaw, awards three $1 million prizes annually for work in life sciences, mathematics and astronomy. The biggest new trend has been the arrival of social-venture philanthropists, taking Bill Gates’ open competitiveness to a whole new level. These folks want to participate in the strategy and apply the same creativity that made their fortunes. They don’t see any difference between running a business that contributes to society and philanthropy that might turn a profit.

From Tehelka Magazine, Vol 6, Issue 8, Dated Feb 28, 2009