LEG A CY H
ow a philanthropist ends their legacy is just as important as how they start it. Just ask Dame Stephanie “Steve” Shirley CH, who at 85 and after decades of venture philanthropy is spending out her charitable Shirley Foundation while ensuring the good work continues.
Over coffee in a City of London café, the IT entrepreneur
turned philanthropist, author, and public speaker says her approach to philanthropy has varied over the years. In some cases from originating projects and then carrying them out, to sometimes handing them over permanently in the form of a charity to a set of trustees, to dedicating three years to a goal and wrapping it up when the task is done. “And at my age I find that I’m always worried about starting a
long project, will I be here in three years’ time? Is it sensible to start this project? I always get involved and I add time and skills and contacts, and it makes it much more interesting, for me apart from anything else.” An impact evaluation of her philanthropy revealed that
84% of repondents said the foundation’s involvement was inspirational. That is in addition to the £68 million ($88.3 million) she has contributed to various causes, funded by the estimated £150 million accumulated after selling her IT firm in the early 1990s. Since being founded in 2004 by Shirley, Autistica alone has
raised more than £8.5 million in support of autism research, and become established as Europe’s leading autism research charity. However, she is unsentimentally winding up her umbrella Shirley Foundation into another charity by the end of 2018. “I don’t think of legacy except in reputation,” she says. “What does one do when we close down a charitable
foundation? Everyone said, ‘Well surely you just stop’, But you don’t because you’ve still got a legacy which you want to leave. You have got to spend out in a way that all the money is spent, but at the same time, right at the end you have still got somebody doing some clerical work. It’s quite difficult. I’m taking the chief executive of Autistica, the medical research charity, to meet the bankers, so that we can just transfer rather than having to sell all our investments and then hand over a cheque.”
I GIVE BACK BECAUSE
I WAS GIVEN SO MUCH AS A REFUGEE, BY TOTAL STRANGERS.
HOW COULD I NOT THEN GIVE BACK?
PHOTOGRAPHY: COURTESY OF DAME STEPHANIE SHIRLEY
What motivates your philanthropy? “The reasons that people do this apparently illogical thing about giving away to strangers really varies. It can be family tradition, and it can be for reputation. When philanthropists say they want to make a difference, that can also develop into wanting to be recognised for having made a difference and that is a reasonable human response. But it needs to be kept in check. “I give back because I was given so much as
a refugee, by total strangers. How could I not then give back?
CAMPDENFB.COM 101
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112
