January 08, 2009
Scottish Philanthropist Scales Back Giving
Less than two years after pledging to give about $1.5-billion to charity, the Scottish philanthropist Tom Hunter is saying he will have to slow the pace of his donations due to the economic recession.
Mr. Hunter said this week that his investment company, West Coast Capital, has been hit hard by the market downturn, losing as much as a quarter of its assets, reports the Daily Express, a newspaper in London.
Mr. Hunter said he still plans to meet his philanthropic commitment over his lifetime.
In an interview with The Chronicle in 2007, Mr. Hunter hinted that he knew fulfilling the big promise would be a gamble. (A paid subscription or free temporary pass is required to view the article.)
“I felt if I made the pledge public, I had no room to hide. We said, Let’s roll the dice, put the challenge up there, and have to keep the score,” he said.
The Independent, another London newspaper, put Mr. Hunter at the top of its list of the 30 leading British philanthropists for 2008, though the list appeared before his recent announcement.
In an article that accompanied the list, the newspaper writes that wealthy donors would be the ones who “bail out” charities this year.
Mr. Hunter’s financial problems would suggest otherwise.
What do you think?
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Dame Stephanie Shirley, a UK philanthropist who has given (actually given) more than $100 million to various charities over the past ten years, called out Mr Hunter at a recent panel, saying that there is a big difference in saying you are going to give $1 Billion and doing so. Mr Hunter got a lot of press out of his pronouncement over the years and I’m sure he felt like, in a way, that he had all ready given the billion away, from all the fanfare and press he got. Yes, of course, he is an interested man, doing interesting things, but the press was seduced. Plain and simple.
— Roberta d'Eustachio Jan 8, 01:48 PM #