WEBVTT FILE

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-I’m not here to tell anybody
what they should do with their money.

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If you make your money,
you do what you want with it.

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But I’m just convinced that

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the satisfaction one can achieve
from helping people

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is a level of satisfaction
that you can’t get otherwise.

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-The whole 'giving while living'
philosophy of Chuck

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is intensely personal.

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Make a difference now?
What are we waiting for?

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-Chuck set a wonderful example.

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He stayed true to this total
dedication to give everything away.

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-His idea is that there will
always be more money tomorrow,

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more millionaires, more billionaires
and more problems,

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and you can deal with
those problems tomorrow.

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Let’s solve today’s problems today.

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-Dear Chuck, I am writing
to simply say, ‘Thank you’.

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I can’t express how much
your story moved me

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and your actions inspired me
to shape my own life.

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-For some 35 years,
Chuck Feeney’s entire fortune,

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which grew to over
$8 billion, has been used

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to transform lives and institutions
all over the world.

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He created the Atlantic
Philanthropies

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to give it all away
within his lifetime.

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-Give it away today – you can see
what it’s going to do.

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Giving while dead,
you don’t feel anything.

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[laughing]

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GIVING WHILE LIVING

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GIVING WHILE LIVING
Making a Difference

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GIVING WHILE LIVING
Narrated by Timothy Hutton

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-When I first brought Chuck Feeney
here, there was nothing.

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Now we have buildings everywhere.

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-Chuck and Atlantic Philanthropies

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played a major role
in making that happen.

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-That…eh.. that glass effect -

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will it be coming out
from the side here?

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-Building from the ground up,
in every sense of the word,

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has been a hallmark of
Chuck Feeney’s philanthropy.

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-Chuck is teaching us to think big.

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He keeps telling us
to try and think about

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how we can do something
which is on a large scale

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and do something which is dramatic.

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-The real reasons for
major deaths in the country

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are cardiovascular and cancer.

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And the time is now, I’m convinced
that the time is now,

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to make progress in these areas.

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We can find solutions
and we will find solutions.

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-That ‘can-do’ spirit and caring
nature are in Chuck’s DNA.

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He was born during
the Depression, in 1931,

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to a working class Irish-American
family in New Jersey.

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Money was scarce

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and he joined the Air Force
straight out of high school.

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-He went to Cornell on the GI Bill

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which he could not
otherwise have afforded.

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His family would not have
been able to send him.

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-Cornell was Chuck’s
gateway to success.

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A born entrepreneur,

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he capitalized on that education
and his overseas experience

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to spot a sure-fire business venture,

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selling booze to sailors stationed
with the Atlantic fleet.

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-If it’s good for the military,
it must be good for the tourists.

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So, we started doing
the same thing for the tourists.

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They said, well, if you can sell
liquor, why can’t you sell perfume,

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and so we sort of expanded
our range of products.

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-A business empire was born,
DFS – Duty-Free Shoppers.

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-By the late 70s,

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they were the largest duty-free
retailer in the world.

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The volume by that time
was $3 billion a year or so.

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By the 80s they had houses
in the South of France, Hawaii,

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New York, just outside of Paris,
Lakeville, Connecticut...

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I may be missing one.

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-I grew up having a grand old time.

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We were the house where people came

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and had barbeques and had parties,

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and people always
came with their kids.

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It was always kids
and adults parties.

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-They were living the American dream.

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But by the age of 50 Chuck
grew weary with all that wealth.

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-It was by 1980 that I started
thinking about what…

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where was all this leading,
what am I going to do with it…

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You know… I’m a guy who
said that I could be happy...

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with a grilled cheese
and tomato sandwich.

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-Chuck is uncomfortable with displays
of wealth and lavishness,

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and I think that grew over time.

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-I got a phone call one day
from him and he said,

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‘I have a big announcement,
I’ve given everything away.’

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And I said, ‘Every penny?’

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And he said, ‘I’ve given it all
away to a foundation.’

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-In 1984, around Thanksgiving,
we met and had a closing

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in which all of the assets
were transferred.

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It left the family with
an agreed amount

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and everything else was
transferred to the charity.

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I said, ‘This is irrevocable.

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You have to understand that if
you do this, it doesn’t come back.

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It’s gone forever and if you don’t
like it, it’s gone anyway.

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Are you sure you want to do this?’

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And he actually was
impatient with that

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because he’d made up his mind
and thought it was fine.

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He said, ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah,
let’s get on with it.’

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-Atlantic Philanthropies’ first
big bet took place in Ireland.

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-Ireland was a place that was
in some distress at that time

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and he saw an opportunity
to be helpful.

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-It really is almost a sixth sense.

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The environment is ripe,
the people are ready,

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the culture is at a particular stage.

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-The University of Limerick was

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where he started the experiment
of giving in a very substantial way.

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-In the 1980s Irish universities
were in dire straits,

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along with the national economy.

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Atlantic’s grants turned Limerick’s
tiny campus into a dynamo.

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-The thing he liked about
the university program

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was that there were buildings
there was bricks and mortar –

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you could kick them, you could
touch them, you could feel them –

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they were there and he’d
helped to put them there.

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-Helping universities
is helping the economy,

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is helping yourself,
is helping your neighbors.

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It’s bang for your buck.

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-And, ever the pioneer,

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Chuck figured out how to leverage
that Limerick investment.

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-He made the decision
to do on an all-Ireland scale

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what he had done on
a small scale here in Limerick.

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And this triggered the government,
or helped trigger the government,

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to mount a major commitment.

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-Within the span of a few years,

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higher education in Ireland
was transformed.

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Chuck was hooked on
'giving while living.'

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In late 1996, after DFS was sold,

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the foundation was flooded with cash.

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Now, Chuck could make more big bets.

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-It’s about that time that he says,

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‘Let’s do it all in a limited
period of time around my life

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because I want to become involved
and I have some ideas.’

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-Vietnam had been really ravaged
by decades of war

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and gotten a bad deal.

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-When Chuck first set
foot in Vietnam,

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he felt that the Vietnamese
people deserved better.

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The first thing that Chuck was shown
were the hospitals.

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When he saw how bad
the conditions were,

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his immediate sense
of responsibility was,

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‘Let’s do something about it.’

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-You can see sick people in front
of you and you think,

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‘Jesus, someone’s got to come up
with a solution for that.’

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-Over the course of a decade,

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Atlantic invested hundreds
of millions of dollars

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to help bring Vietnamese healthcare
into the 21st century.

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-He chose Vietnam because
with modest amount of money,

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you can have huge amount of impact,
affecting lives of many people.

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As a businessman,
that was… excite Chuck.

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There are many people
who live in the rural area

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who would never be able
to get to hospital.

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So, you have to address
the primary healthcare system.

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-In the provinces, so-called
commune health centers,

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were the only game in town.
That’s where healthcare happened.

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Chuck wanted to see for himself.

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-You see overcrowding,
you see crumbling buildings,

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you see lack of equipment, you see
people sleeping on the ground.

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But we see the seed of
potential is already there.

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The doctors, the staff –
very dedicated.

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-With funds from Atlantic,

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over 900 commune health
centers in 8 provinces

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were built or upgraded,
serving 9 million people.

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And their staff received
top-notch training.

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-Once the first commune
health center was built,

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the next one and the next one,

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the successes came rapidly

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and before long the whole
province was covered,

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and then other provinces
started taking notice

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and it just snowballed.

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-There is a sustained outcome
that will live well beyond Atlantic

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and continue to influence
and be part of

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how Vietnam delivers
its health services.

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-And knowing that it will continue
to be built on in the future

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is an added bonus… who lives on.

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-Chuck really set a model.

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It’s just such an inspiring story.

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And when Microsoft
was super successful,

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the idea of how would that wealth
go back to society

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was something I started
thinking about.

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-Like Chuck, Bill Gates is using
his entrepreneurial background

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to fuel his philanthropy.

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-And the idea – could we take
great science and innovation

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and somehow uplift those lives

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and give everybody the things
that we were lucky enough to have.

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-Just as South Africa
was forging democracy

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from the pain of Apartheid,
Atlantic came on the scene there.

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-Here we were asking for
an investment in a dream.

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A dream of taking the past of pain,
degradation, humiliation,

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and of transforming it into positivity.

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-In 1994 the majority of
South Africans were illiterates.

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Our challenge has been
to get as many South Africans

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to understand the significance
of modern knowledge.

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This is why universities
are so important.

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-In South Africa,

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Atlantic once again saw higher
education as an engine of change,

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a way to unleash human capital.

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And government again
had to match those grants

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to multiply the impact.

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-You should see the university

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on a day when it’s
filled with its students,

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more than a thousand at a time.

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All these young Black South Africans

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doing science and doing it proudly.

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It was the expectation that this
would never happen in South Africa.

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We surprised the world.

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[demonstrators singing]

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-Beyond academia,

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Atlantic also pioneered critical
support for the gay community

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and for activists taking on
the scourge of HIV/AIDS.

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[demonstrators singing]

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-And all of that activism
led to landmark progress

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against the devastating
toll of the disease.

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-Whereas in 2004, not one single
person in South Africa

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was receiving treatment through
the public health sector,

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today 2 million people
are receiving treatment

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and a lot are alive as a result
of receiving that treatment.

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We’ve effected a revolution of sorts

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and that revolution would
not have been possible

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without the steadfast
support of Atlantic.

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-I had the opportunity
to be presented a book.

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It was the life story of Chuck Feeney

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and it’s this incredible journey
of an amazing, amazing man.

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I just said, ‘Wow.’ I mean, what
a fascinating journey… I mean…

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you know… how much has one man
really made his life count!

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-Investment banker Amit Chandra

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soared to financial success
before the age of 40.

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-Success came early

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but somehow there was always
still a sense of emptiness.

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-The power of Chuck Feeney’s story

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launched Amit and his wife
onto a bold new trajectory.

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-We decided to structure our entire
wealth in such a way that

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we divided it up and we said

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we’ll keep what’s enough
for our family,

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and everything else from there on
will go towards philanthropy.

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There is a part of this journey
which is deeply selfish.

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My satisfaction is far higher
than I would have ever had

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if I wouldn’t have gone on that path.

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-Chuck Feeney gets
more zest and fulfillment

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giving away the last of his billions
than he ever did making them.

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That’s his passion
and his prescription.

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-What can you do before
you leave this planet?

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To leave it a better place,

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with better prospects
for those who come.

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There’s nothing more satisfying.

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That’s the message to all of us,

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and that’s particularly the message
to those who have wealth.

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-To me, personally, I think… it seems
to be a complete no-brainer.

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-As you sit in the world
and you look around you, you say,

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why would you… why would you reduce
the amount of good you can do

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if there’s a lot of good
that’s required?

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Use your wealth to help people.
When it comes down to it, it’s always people.
-Chuck Feeney

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Atlantic made its last grant in December 2016, bringing its
total investments to more than $8 billion since 1982.

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Over 35 years Atlantic concentrated its grantmaking in: Australia, Bermuda,
Cuba, Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland, South Africa, United States, Viet Nam.

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[music playing]