Visual-arts students from the Stuartholme School, in the Australian town of Toowon, view indigenous artist Danie Mellor’s “Exotic Lies Sacred Ties” exhibition at the University of Queensland Art Museum. The museum was established in 1976. The foundation gave $2.5 million to help the university convert a building into exhibit space.
Bricks-and-mortar projects may not seem like the most awe-inspiring programs a foundation can support, but in a new 390-page coffee-table book, Atlantic Philanthropies makes the case for such investments by presenting dramatic photos of the hundreds of building projects the foundation has supported juxtaposed with shots of the beneficiaries of that work.
Atlantic hopes the photos will strike emotional chords that enable donors to appreciate how substantial capital investments can play a strong role in improving people’s lives, says the fund’s president, Christopher Oechsli.
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Russell Shakespeare
Visual-arts students from the Stuartholme School, in the Australian town of Toowon, view indigenous artist Danie Mellor’s “Exotic Lies Sacred Ties” exhibition at the University of Queensland Art Museum. The museum was established in 1976. The foundation gave $2.5 million to help the university convert a building into exhibit space.
Bricks-and-mortar projects may not seem like the most awe-inspiring programs a foundation can support, but in a new 390-page coffee-table book, Atlantic Philanthropies makes the case for such investments by presenting dramatic photos of the hundreds of building projects the foundation has supported juxtaposed with shots of the beneficiaries of that work.
Atlantic hopes the photos will strike emotional chords that enable donors to appreciate how substantial capital investments can play a strong role in improving people’s lives, says the fund’s president, Christopher Oechsli.
Atlantic gave Magnum Foundation $1 million over three years to figure out how best to convey the emotion and meaning of the more than 1,000 buildings Atlantic has supported. Magnum Photos , the international photographers’ cooperative, sent teams of professional and student photographers to the buildings, which are on five continents.
Showing a grant’s purpose in a visual way “is a whole different concept and approach than writing about it. It’s much more accessible and gives a much more immediate appreciation of what a project’s about,” said Mr. Oechsli. “We hope it imparts what a significant facility can do in a well-placed environment, whether its biomedical research, higher education, or more community-oriented smaller initiatives.”
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Cristina Garcia Rodero
Grants worth $6.8 million to the Research and Education Facilities program on the Isle of Youth in Cuba helped establish medical-care facilities focused on kidney and heart disease as well as other ailments and paid for rebuilding one of its hospitals after two devastating hurricanes in 2008. Here, the parents of 8-day-old Alain Daniel keep a close watch on him in a maternity ward.
The foundation is planning a series of events tied to the photographs, starting with a six-week exhibit in Brussels at the European Foundation Centre, and followed by public displays around the world.
The photography project is a swan song of sorts as Atlantic spends its last dollars over the next year and prepares to shut its doors for good in 2020. By the time the foundation completes its grant making, it will have given out about $8 billion, the bulk of founder Charles Feeney’s fortune. About $540 million is left to distribute in the year ahead.
The foundation’s closing is part of a plan by Mr. Feeney, 84, to give away his fortune while he is still alive. In 2002, he announced his plan to give all the foundation’s dollars away by 2016.
In 2009 Atlantic Philanthropies gave $2.7 million to build a surgery center at the Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital, in Cape Town, South Africa. Three of the operating rooms are now fully digitized, a first in sub-Saharan Africa. Here, Awombulelo Mandoyi, who had lung surgery in the pediatric intensive-care unit of the hospital plays with his big brother.
Maria directs the annual Philanthropy 50, a comprehensive report on America’s most generous donors. She writes about wealthy philanthropists, arts organizations, key trends and insights related to high-net-worth donors, and other topics.
