Some of the 500 wealthiest Irish people are just beginning to realise that they can't take their money with them. But with Irish philanthropy in its early stages, are our rich modest or mean, asks Kate Holmquist
In the golf clubs, the luxury beach resorts and private jets, the newly minted, ultra-rich of Éire Ireland are talking about what they are going to do with their money when they go. Increasingly, wealthy parents are expressing the view that they will bequeath their children "enough money for the best education and a home of the quality they're accustomed to, but after that they'll have to work for it".
Like the billionaire investor William Buffet, Irish entrepreneurs are looking for people other than their children to leave their money to.
Buffet gave more than $30 billion (€24 billion) - 85 per cent of his wealth - to the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation this week because, as they say in New York, a hearse hasn't got a roofrack. Buffet has famously declared that the super-rich should leave their children "enough money to do anything but not enough to do nothing".
It's a secretive issue, though, because money - especially the ridiculously vast amounts enjoyed by the 500 Irish people who have fortunes of €100 million or more - is still a dirty word in Ireland. When contacted by The Irish Times this week, 29 of the State's super-rich, all with at least €200 million, declined to talk about their philanthropic efforts.
'PHILANTHROPY IS A new word in Ireland, people confuse it with philately," quipped one fundraiser. In a week when it was revealed that 43 Irish people earning €1 million paid less than 5 per cent tax, and that the State's 400 top earners paid a cut-rate of 24.4 per cent in 2002, people are asking what the ultra-rich are giving back to society, if not their fair share of taxes. But the rich don't want to talk about it. Are they mean, with no substantial generosity to report? Or merely modest?
Ireland's philanthropy isn't anything to boast about, at 0.55 per cent of GDP, which is half the US rate of 1.01 per cent. The Centre of Nonprofit Management (CNM) at Trinity College Dublin School of Business recently published research showing that a mere 10.5 per cent of the income of 3,215 charitable organisations came from private donors, compared to 60 per cent from the State. That 10.5 per cent was worth €200 million - the same amount as the personal fortune required for one individual to scrape into the top 50 on the rich list.
Liam O'Dwyer of Philanthropy Ireland doesn't think the super-rich are mean. "I was in a room recently with three individuals whose total value was about €2 billion and each of them is doing things privately which are quite significant," he says.
Those who associate with the technology, software and property millionaires say that many are exceedingly generous, but make privacy a condition of their giving. "Having your picture in the paper for having given a huge amount of money is seen as tacky and self-serving. It's not done in Ireland. We have a culture here of quiet, low-key generosity," says a spokeswoman for one of Ireland's seven billionaires. Security fears and the danger of becoming swamped with begging letters is part of the motivation, but mainly it's about not wanting to be seen to flaunt your cash. A fundraiser says: "No one wants to be associated with the yummy mummies who lunch in order to get their pictures in the paper and their name on boards, when the total value of the wardrobes and jewels on display is worth far more than the money raised." On the other hand, €1.5 million was raised for a charity at a recent €15,000 per table lunch, which got no publicity because those who attended would have stayed away if it had.
Among those who refused to talk to The Irish Times this week about their philanthropy were U2 (worth an estimated €690 million according to this year's Sunday Times rich list). The band does not regard Bono's public awareness campaign on Third World poverty as part of their philanthropy. Equally reticent were Margaret Heffernan (€603 million), Eugene and Brendan Murtagh of Kingspan (€568 million), Dr Michael Smurfit (€403 million), the Sisk family (€341 million), Pat McDonagh (€447 million) and Barry O'Callaghan (€271 million) of Riverdeep, Sean Quinn and his family (€3 billion), Thomas and Anne Roche of Jury's (€482 million), Denis O'Brien (€904 million), Larry Goodman (€379 million) and others.
Many donors even refuse to have their names put on buildings that they fund. One exception is Sir Anthony O'Reilly who has honoured his parents with contributions towards the O'Reilly Institute at TCD and the O'Reilly library at DCU, amongst other projects. Regarded as a philanthropic visionary, O'Reilly began the Ireland Funds with Dan Rooney in 1976, using his influence to draw in major Irish-American donors, who take pride in having their names associated with their giving.
Also following the US-style of allowing his name to be used, Smurfit has donated significant seven-figure sums to endow the Chair of Medical Genetics in TCD, beginning in 1989, and towards the Smurfit Institute of Genetics, which also received funds from Atlantic Philanthropies and Martin Naughton. Likewise Sir Allen McClay (worth €375 million) went public when his trust funded the McClay Research Centre for Pharmaceutical Sciences at Queen's University, Belfast, among other projects.
James Mansfield of Citywest Group is one of the State's quietest tycoons, but has donated millions of euro to various projects, as well as valuable land to the people of Saggart for use as a graveyard, and a proposed aviation museum at Weston Executive Airport (which he owns) that will include the Air Force One, worth €15 million, that flew Eisenhower and Gen Patton. The museum will be free to the public.
Dublin-born Philip Berber (€296 million) and his wife Donna Berber have been very open about their Glimmer of Hope foundation, which has helped an estimated 1.5 million Ethiopian people and intervened in the lives of thousands of children at risk in London and in Austin, Texas. The Berbers, listed among the 50 most generous benefactors in the US, have taken the US approach to high-profile giving as a way of attracting further support from other benefactors.
In Ireland, though, we have to rely on the occasional, almost folkloric descriptions about the largesse of individuals because the area is unregulated and there are no statistics. The richest Irish person, Hilary Weston - who, with her family, is worth €7 billion from a retail portfolio that includes Brown Thomas and Selfridge's - gives to the children's charity Barnardo's, which gets nearly €4 million a year in total funding from trusts and foundations.
Sean Quinn, the second-richest person, with €3 billion, keeps his giving "small and local", usually in four or five figures, and "feels uncomfortable" talking about it, his spokespeople said.
Sources say that Denis O'Brien, worth €904 million, reads every begging letter and researches each request personally. The Special Olympics and Frontline, a human rights organisation launched last month and also supported by Peter Sutherland (€221 million), are among O'Brien's projects.
MARTIN NAUGHTON, OF Glen Dimplex (€721 million), has given €5 million to Trinity College Dublin for a nanoscience centre. Tony Ryan's son, Declan, has invested his share of his family's €1.3 billion fortune in the One Foundation, but doesn't speak about it publicly. A rare example of a benefactor who reluctantly receives occasional public recognition is JP McManus (worth an estimated €694 million), who raised €30 million for Limerick projects with a golf classic, which he underwrote.
For those in the fundraising business, the reticence of most donors can be frustrating. Big givers encourage more big givers, on one level. But in the broader scheme of things, Ireland is in its infancy in developing philanthropy and the mega-wealthy need role models and accountable foundations that can help them contribute effectively, rather than responding emotionally.
As Liam O'Dwyer explains: "The difference between philanthropy and charity is that charity is impulse giving to deal with the effects of a social crisis or emergency, while philanthropy is strategic giving to deal with the causes of that crisis. Philanthropy is about encouraging social change from a social justice perspective."
Freda Donoghue of CNM says: "There's a need for the culture to change in favour of people saying what they are doing in philanthropy, so that they can contribute in a more strategic and planned way. Long-term strategic planning is not happening in relation to giving in Ireland - we don't compare well to the US. Yet planning is essential for organisations who are resource dependent and have to develop long-term strategies for three, five, 10 and even 20 years ahead."
Many extremely wealthy individuals feel a little lost when it comes to the shift from making money to investing it in social causes. "I've heard individuals saying that there are people with money who want to know how they can do something that will affect social change, but they don't know where to turn," says Donoghue.
The purpose of Philanthropy Ireland is to assist budding philanthropists in using their funds strategically, rather than responding randomly or emotionally. "Members of Philanthropy Ireland have €75 million to spend and at least twice that money is being spent anonymously and privately. In the next five years, we could increase that by a factor of 10," says O'Dwyer.
Ireland is about half a generation behind the US in its philanthropy, which is still in its infancy, everyone working in the area agrees. Charlie Lamson, a professional fundraiser working with Frontline, began his career in the US and moved to Dublin after marrying an Irish woman. Comparing the US and Irish approach to giving, he says: "People in the US are more explicit about their support. People are quicker to want their name attached to a project, whereas here people tend to do their thing quietly. The problem for fundraisers is that we don't know how to access these people. There is a lot of new money in Ireland and a country is formed in large part by its philanthropy. It's a new concept to Ireland and it has not taken off yet."
It's a bit ironic that thousands of Irish travel to New York to do their shopping, yet the Irish are still holding out the begging bowl to the diaspora. Chuck Feeney's Atlantic Philanthropies has spent €1 billion on the island of Ireland and has a further €4 billion to spend worldwide in the next 15 years. Current priorities include health care in Vietnam and disadvantaged young people in Ireland. Is Feeney disappointed that more Irish have not given on the scale that he has?
His spokesman says: "I think that Chuck Feeney's great hope would be that the work of Atlantic Philanthropies would be a spur to others to contribute."
Kingsley Aikins, CEO of the Ireland Funds, which has raised €300 million since its inception, has moved his base from Boston to Dublin so that he can help to "train up" the expertise required to develop home-grown philanthropy.
"The biggest challenge is the lack of leadership in Ireland in the philanthropy area," he says. "To develop strategic philanthropy, as opposed to spontaneous charity, we need a regulated and registered foundation sector, with tax incentives for donors, consultancies specialising in philanthropy and strong foundation management."
The clout of a large public donation creates leverage. For example, when Irish Life and Permanent gave €4 million to a longitudinal study of 10,000 over-55s, which will begin at TCD this autumn, it attracted additional funding from Atlantic Philanthropies and the State, to a total of €20 million. Similarly, Martin Naughton's contribution of €5 million to TCD's nanoscience centre helped bring in another estimated €40 million.
Yet the US donations are still flooding in to the Ireland Funds. This week, 100 US donors were in Ireland to see examples of some of the 180 projects that will receive up to €9 million over the next six months, such as integrated education and sport in Belfast and in the Republic, mental health programmes and Barrettstown Gang Camp in Co Kildare.
It would take only 100 major Irish benefactors to change this situation forever and raise quality of life, while keeping taxes low, believes Paul G Schervish, director of the Centre on Wealth and Philanthropy at Boston College and Fulbright professor at UCC. He believes that philanthropy is a type of "moral biography" that allows an individual to leave behind an account of his or her values. As Andrew Carnegie once said: "He who dies rich, dies in disgrace".
IF THAT'S THE case, Ireland's newly rich have their work cut out. There's a lot of money to spend - billions, actually. This is partly because so much of the wealth created is new, but also due to the relative youth of most Irish super-rich. This is in contrast to the US, where three-quarters of the wealth is owned by people aged 65 and older, which has made the issue of "wealth transfer" a priority. Between $50 and $135 trillion will be transferred to heirs, foundations and governments in the next 40 years.
Who controls this money and how - for good or ill - is increasingly an issue, as entrepreneurs such as Gates engage in hands-on "venture philanthropy", where they apply the same values and skills they used to become rich to help the disadvantaged. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation focuses on health and education, fighting HIV, TB and malaria in poor countries and improving schools in the US.
Warren Buffet may have set an important precedent by giving his money to an existing "mega" foundation, Aikins believes. Like Chuck Feeney, Buffet has expressed the hope that his actions will convince others to do likewise. Says Aikins: "These are early days and the American culture of giving back is not as prevalent here but it will develop in the coming year. With a Government intent on creating 'social capital' and open to creating the conducive conditions to encourage private giving the future is looking bright."
That all depends, of course, on exactly how generous - and how open - the secretive mega-rich decide to be.