Bigger is better as bushfire donors flaunt their philanthropy

Press conferences. Pledges on Twitter and Instagram. Silent donations are a thing of the past.

Mining billionaire Andrew Forrest and his wife Nicola have pledged $70m towards bushfire relief via their Minderoo Foundation. Picture: Zak Simmonds

Call it competitive philanthropy. Or a good version of one-upmanship.

The rush of donations from the nation’s wealthiest people and biggest corporations to various causes related to the bushfires which have ravaged Australia encapsulates the changing nature of the way the rich give away their money.

It is never a bad thing to be seen to be generous. But the days of a billionaire’s charitable foundation quietly and steadily giving away millions across a variety of causes could be a thing of the past now.

Instead, the past few weeks has seen many members of The Australian’s The List – Richest 250 openly announce bigger and bigger donations for bushfire causes.

They have held press conferences. Put out media releases. Announced pledges on Twitter and Instagram. They have been anything but reclusive.

Shopping centre magnate John Gandel and wife Pauline moved quickly two days after Christmas, publicly pledging $1m to help the national response to the fire crisis.

Since then, Anthony Pratt and his family’s Pratt Foundation pledged $1m, as did Alex Waislitz’s Waislitz Foundation.

James Packer announced a $5m donation, the Ramsay Foundation of the late billionaire Paul Ramsay announced a $30m package and then Andrew Forrest, the mining billionaire, joined wife Nicola this week to tell a media pack assembled in Perth they were making a $70m gift via their Minderoo Foundation.

Forrest followed that up by challenging business leaders and the wealthy elite to help create a $500m bushfire mitigation fund.

Clive Palmer offered the assistance of his helicopter and boats on Twitter, and billionaire Canberra Airport owner Terry Snow himself defended his 2000-acre Willanga Park on the NSW south coast from fire, a move also credited with saving the nearby Bawley Park township.

It is part of a bigger trend, where the rich are feeling it is okay to be both seen to be making a lot of money, and also to be seen to be giving increasingly big chunks of it away publicly.

The same has happened with corporate Australia. While it may have taken some cajoling from Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, big banks like NAB pledged $5m this week and Commonwealth Bank shelled out more than $1m to buy Shane Warne’s baggy green cap at auction in a bushfire fundraiser.

Others have joined in. BHP made a $2m donation, Fortescue Metals Group $1m and Bluescope $1m. Coles has contributed $3m, Qantas $1m and Westpac $1.5m. There are countless other examples across big companies, but the big individual names got the lion’s share of the publicity.

Take Forrest, whose $70m announcement is the latest in a strategy of big set-piece philanthropic announcements which, while enhancing his public standing, are designed to be thought-provoking and encourage other wealthy people — and governments — to follow suit.

Forrest has pledged more than $1bn to his Minderoo Foundation in the last two years alone, which has made big announcements such as committing $US300m ($442m) to help end plastic waste worldwide as part of the Sea the Future program Forrest launched at the United Nations last September.

Alex Waislitz, the billionaire investor, describes the “generosity and leadership” he says Forrest and other major donors have shown as “inspiring”.

He notes there has been a long history of private giving in Australia and much of what he has done has fallen into that category, including helping build housing for the homeless with AFL club Collingwood.

But Waislitz says the bushfires show how that mentality is changing. “In these unprecedented circumstances it feels right to give publicly and to encourage others to do whatever they can to help, no matter what form that takes.”

The encouraging Waislitz talks about also happens when the wealthy meet and talk to each other directly about business matters as well as indirectly via their public pledges — both of which appeal to their competitive natures.

US billionaire investor Warren Buffett has been one influential figure in particular, cajoling other rich people around the world to sign up to the Giving Pledge initiative. The Pledge involves the wealthy committing to give away at least half their fortune to charity.

Meanwhile, the competitive aspect of giving to causes came to the fore in another fire which attracted world headlines: the Notre Dame cathedral fire in Paris last year.

Gucci and Saint Laurent owner Francois Pinault and his son pledged €100m ($160m) towards the rebuilding, and his rival billionaire Bernard Arnault of luxury goods group LVMH followed suit, pledging €200m.

Closer to home, one exception has been Australia’s richest woman Gina Rinehart. Despite being badgered to reveal her donations, Rinehart has chosen to not discuss the extent of her fundraising efforts. It cannot be said that the mining magnate does not contribute to charitable causes — she gives more than $10m annually ranging from Australian athlete support to saving Cambodian children from poverty.

These endeavours are just as effective as what her wealthy peers are announcing publicly. She has just chosen to be different in how the details are revealed, or otherwise.