查克·费尼是有史以来最伟大的慈善家之一 | 盖茨笔记

I was very sad to hear about the passing of Chuck Feeney. He was one of my personal heroes and one of the greatest philanthropists of all time.

听到查克·费尼去世的消息，我万分悲痛。他是我心目中的英雄之一，也是迄今最伟大的慈善家之一。

Chuck had four important traits that made him so special.

查克所具备四个特质使他如此与众不同。

First, he was totally dedicated to giving away everything he had. In the 1980s, at the height of his entrepreneurial success, he gave his entire stake in his company to his foundation and then spent the next 32 years awarding all of that money to nonprofits around the world. He and his foundation helped build more than 1,000 buildings across five continents, and yet Chuck decided he didn’t even need to own a home. After giving away his $8 billion fortune, he and his wife lived in a rented apartment.

首先在于他倾力奉献自己的一切。20世纪80年代，他在其创业巅峰时期把他所持的公司股份倾数捐给了自己的基金会，并在接下来的32年里，把那比钱捐给了世界各地的非营利组织。坐拥80亿美元的财富，他选择将其倾数捐出，他的基金会帮助建造1000多座房屋，这些建筑遍布五大洲，而他却决定不拥有房子，而和妻子住在租来的公寓里。

Second, Chuck started humble and stayed humble. He was born during the Depression and had a very modest upbringing in New Jersey. He went to college on the G.I. Bill after serving as an Army radio operator during the Korean War. Once his wealth enabled him to start giving away huge sums of money, he insisted on doing so without any publicity; his giving was strictly anonymous until his identity was revealed in 1997. Chuck wanted to give away his entire $8 billion fortune without anyone outside his immediate circle knowing.

其次是他出身贫寒，始终保持谦逊。平民出身的他生于经济大萧条时期，在新泽西州长大。朝鲜战争期间，他在军队中担任无线电报务员，后因退役士兵法案获得了上大学的机会。随着财富的积累，他捐款的金额愈来愈大，却从不声张；直至1997年，他都是以匿名的形式捐款。查克希望以低调的方式捐出其价值80亿美元的资产，而不引起公众的关注。

Third, he was passionate about philanthropy. I’m sure he felt pride at what he created in his business life, including not only Duty Free Shoppers but also the investment firm General Atlantic Partners. But I know he got a lot of personal satisfaction helping solve big social problems around the world. He loved meeting people, learning about issues, and thinking about the best ways to help out with his time, knowledge, and money.

第三是他热衷于慈善事业。在商业领域，他创建了DFS环球免税集团和投资公司——泛大西洋投资集团，想必他为此成就无比自豪。但我相信，他在为解决全球重大社会问题做贡献的过程中获得了更多的满足。他喜欢与他人相处，了解社会问题，思考如何才能用自己的时间、知识和财富最充分地帮助到别人。

Fourth, as a result of all of the above, he was a very effective philanthropist. He had a major hand in bringing about the Irish Republican Army ceasefire in 1994 and the historic peace agreement in Northern Ireland. His “big bets” helped rebuild Vietnam’s primary health care system for the benefit of millions of rural families. In education and health care, he helped his grantees build strong institutions that will produce meaningful, measurable change for many years.

第四则是他得赖于上述美德，作为慈善家所做出的杰出贡献。在推动1994年爱尔兰共和军停火以及北爱尔兰达成历史性的和平协议中，他扮演了尤为重要角色。他的“豪赌”帮助越南重建了其基础医疗保健系统，造福了数百万农村家庭。在教育和医疗保健领域，他资助建立了许多强大的机构，这些机构将在接下来几年中产生深远的影响。

I had the honor of meeting Chuck at the time Melinda, Warren, and I were starting to think about launching the Giving Pledge. We were blown away by how approachable he was. And we could tell immediately that Chuck really enjoyed giving. As he later put it when he joined the Giving Pledge, “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.”

在梅琳达、沃伦和我开始考虑发起“捐赠宣言”时，我有幸见到了查克。他的平易近人让人难以置信。见到他的第一眼，我们就感到他对捐赠事业的热衷。正如他之后加入捐赠宣言时所说的那样：“对我而言，最令我感到满足的，就是在有生之年进行捐赠，亲身投入到改善人们生存状况这样有意义的工作中去，而这也是我财产最恰当的去处。”

Despite his soft-spoken nature and desire for anonymity, he was always glad to talk about what he was learning in the hope of helping others find the same joy and impact that he did. As a result, he had a very positive influence on many other givers. He inspired others to think about the merits of spending down a foundation’s assets, or as he put it, “giving while living.” He helped donors see how rewarding it was to get deeply and personally involved. His bold stand on HIV encouraged others to support advocacy.

他说话细声细语，做事不愿留名，但他从不吝啬谈论自己的心得，希望以此帮助别人同他一样，在捐献中找到快乐，意识到其带来的影响。因此，他对许多捐赠者产生了非常积极的影响。他引导他们意识到捐献基金会财产的好处，或者用他的话说，“趁你还在世时捐赠。”他帮助捐赠者认识到，亲身深入地参与到慈善中是多么有意义的事情。他在艾滋病问题上敢于摆明立场，这一行为也鼓舞了其他人支持这方面的宣传活动。

I’m grateful to have known and learned from Chuck. His remarkable legacy will live on for generations to come, through all of the organizations he strengthened and all the ways he influenced others to give of their fortunes and of themselves.

我有幸认识查克并向他学习。他所参与改善的组织，以及他在鼓励他人奉献财富和自我方面所做的一切，必将使他留给世界的伟大遗产世代相传。