Dimensions
158 x 240 x 22mm
Charles Handy, whose books have sold over a million copies worldwide, and his wife Elizabeth, a portrait photographer, have been inspired by the new generation of practical philanthropists, people who have made their fortunes and decided to move on from financial success to try to help those in need. The Handys have interviewed and photographed their subjects and the stories are inspiring; from the Sydney restaurateur Jeff Gambin, who cooks for 500 homeless people every night and will serve 1500 Christmas dinners, to Niall Mellon, who hopes to replace all the shanties in South Africa with breeze-block houses by the World Cup in 2010.
What is different about these new philanthropists is that their giving is not passing money to an agency, but using their own entrepreneurial and managerial skills to make their money work directly with their energy and skills to reach the people they want to help personnally. Niall Mellon started his South African building project with a million Euros of seed money, but he also takes an airbus of volunteers from his native Ireland to work alongside the locals constructing the new homes too. And because he knows the great and the good in South Africa he can make things happen so that bureaucratic hurdles will not
prevent his dream from becoming a reality.
This remarkable book of photographs and words reveals the energy and inspiration of a new way of using wealth, and the Handys’ collaboration is as effective as ever.
