Chuck Feeney free $100 Dollars vouchers for Ireland tourists

Sceala Clann T.D. Location: Derry roots

We all know what a awesome Irish American Chuck Feeney is, and so cool.
Born to a regular NJ Irish family, Chuck Feeney has changed the lives of millions of people for the better, all over the world. Chuck Feeney's actions make us proud to be Irish. Feeney shows us how to live and how to make a better world.
Irish Community Images

The Billionaire Who Wasn't: How Chuck Feeney Made and Gave Away a Fortune Without Anyone Knowing

Chuck Feeney free $100 Dollar vouchers for Ireland tourists 2010.
Chuck is giving away free $100 Dollars to encourage more Americans to visit Ireland. Do any of you guys know more, how to get vouchers?
An Irish-American philanthropist is pitching in to save the flagging Irish tourism industry.
Chuck Feeney has offered to support a scheme giving $100 vouchers to American tourists who visit Ireland.
Tourism minister Martin Cullen said the 78-year-old Feeney got in touch after the Farmleigh conference, where business luminaries from Ireland and the Diaspora joined politicians to discuss the economy.
Feeney said he wanted to help Ireland’s tourism industry directly, Minister Cullen told the Times.
Feeney grew up in Elizabeth, New Jersey, the son of an insurance underwriter and a nurse. In his youth he travelled to Japan and Korea as a GI and he later studied at Cornell University in Ithaca. He made his money through duty free products and has often donated funds to philanthropic schemes in the U.S., Ireland and elsewhere.
In 1982 he set up Atlantic Philanthropies, a foundation that gives money to initiatives in the north of Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, as well as South Africa, the United States, Bermuda and other countries.
Feeney, who has both Irish and American citizenship, lives an abstemious lifestyle himself, according to an article on the Atlantic Philanthropies website. He wears $9 reading glasses and a $15 watch.
The billionaire only gives money to causes of his choosing – his foundation does not accept unsolicited requests for cash. In the past he has made contributions to the Northern Irish peace process and he paid for Sinn Fein’s Washington office for three years. He has also given billions to Irish higher education.

Ireland’s tourism industry slumped by 12 percent in 2009, and Feeney hopes the vouchers, which will go towards discount flights and accommodation, will help Ireland’s visitor numbers climb by about 50,000 next year.
Source.
eturbonews.com/13288/us-billionaire-gives-irish-tourism-boost
Background on Chuck Feeney

Irish Community Video

Chuck Feeney
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Charles F. Feeney (born April 23, 1931 in Elizabeth, N.J.)[1], is an Irish-American businessman and philanthropist. He made his fortune as a co-founder with Robert Warren Miller of the Duty Free Shoppers Group.
Personal
Feeney, an Irish-American with dual citizenship,[2] was born in New Jersey during the Great Depression. He served as a U.S. Air Force radio operator during the Korean War, and began his career selling duty-free liquor to US Naval personnel at Mediterranean ports in the 1950s.[3]

He attended the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration.[1]

Feeney has four daughters and one son. Two of the daughters are Diane V. Feeney and Leslie D. Feeney Baily. He married twice. His first wife, Danielle, from France, retained 100 million USD and a number of mansions and apartments after their 1990 separation and subsequent divorce.
Career

Feeney was a co-founder of the Duty Free Shoppers Group (DFS Group), which earned him his fortune.[4] When he sold it to LVMH, he set aside $26 million to give to 2400 long-term staff.
Philanthropy
Philosophy

"I had one idea that never changed in my mind — that you should use your wealth to help people. I try to live a normal life, the way I grew up," Feeney said. "I set out to work hard, not to get rich."[3]
Foundation

Feeney founded Atlantic Philanthropies in 1982, and in 1984, having made provision for each of his children and for his first wife, as well as very modest provision for himself, transferred the bulk of his wealth to the foundation.

Up to 2005, AP had given away $3.547 billion.[5]
Education

Feeney has been a major donor to his alma mater Cornell University, which has received over $580 million in direct and AP gifts. He has also donated around $1 billion to education in Ireland, mostly to third-level institutions, most notably the University of Limerick[1], and over 220 million to causes in Vietnam.
Sinn Féin

A 2003 article in Irish America magazine noted that Feeney's personal donations to Sinn Féin amounted to over a quarter of a million dollars, making him the organization's largest American donor at the time. The donations were personal ones, made outside of his foundations.
Books and Articles

Feeney first went public about his philanthropy in 1997, in an article published by The New York Times;[2] at the time, he decided to end his anonymity when it became apparent that a dispute with Robert Miller, his former DFS partner, over the sale of DFS Group was likely to lead to a lawsuit that would reveal his donations anyway.[2]

Feeney also cooperated in the publication of a biography about him by Conor O'Clery, The Billionaire Who Wasn't: How Chuck Feeney Made and Gave Away a Fortune Without Anyone Knowing
(ISBN 1586483919).
Footnotes

1. ^ a b c Jim Dwyer, New York Times, Out of Sight, Till Now, and Giving Away Billions, September 26, 2007. Retrieved September 30, 2007.
2. ^ a b c He Gave Away $600 Million, and No One Knew, a January 23, 1997 article by Judith Miller from The New York Times
3. ^ a b Book details billionaire's secret philanthropy, a September 19, 2007 Reuters story via MSNBC.com
4. ^ "Reclusive Philanthropist Steps into Spotlight" from the NPR website
5. ^ Historical Grant Statistics from the Atlantic Philanthropies website

External links

* Interview with Feeney from the Atlantic Philanthropies Web site

Register

The Irish Community have posted
15 REPLIES TO THIS TOPIC
for logged in members to view.

Irish Forums Message Discussion :: Chuck Feeney free $100 Dollars vouchers for Ireland tourists

Chuck Feeney free $100 Dollars vouchers for Ireland tourists

Irish Community Video