John Huntsman Snr has given away about $1.5bn to worthy causes - about 80pc of his total wealth. He is also spending $200m building Huntsman Springs, a golf resort and nature reserve in Idaho that will donate all proceeds of real estate sold to his family's charitable foundation. But neither of these totals include his strict tithing to the Mormon church of 10 per cent of everything he has ever earned.
'My philanthropy is not borne out of my faith,' he says. 'They require 10 per cent tithing. I don't consider that to be philanthropy and I don't consider it to be part of my philanthropic giving. I consider it as club dues.
'People who put money in the church basket and people who go to church and pay the pastor: that isn't real philanthropy, that's just like you belong to a country club. You pay your dues to belong to that church so you pay your tithing or whatever it is. I've never added that into my philanthropy in any way because I just think it's a part of a person's life.'
Huntsman, 77, one of 19 people living who have donated more than $1bn to charity, made his wealth through chemical products group Huntsman Corporation, which he founded in 1970. But he never waited until he was rich to donate. 'I have always given money away,' he says. 'I haven't always been wealthy - the opposite in fact. But I have always felt that I wanted people to share it with me.'
Indeed, at the first meeting of members of the Giving Pledge, the initiative backed by Berkshire Hathaway's Warren Buffett and Microsoft's Bill Gates that encourages wealthy individuals to give away 50 per cent or more of their wealth, Huntsman stood up and told Buffett he thought the target should be 80 per cent. 'He said: 'Why don't you be seated and let's start with 5 per cent because most folks are just beginning to learn how to give.'' Huntsman laughs.
'As a young man, I was a navy officer in Vietnam. I made $320 a month and would always give away $50 a month to a family I felt that was in greater need than me, in addition to my tithing to my church. I've just always felt in my heart, coming from a very humble background, that there are plenty of people who need a break in life. As a senior in high school with no money working several jobs, I was sent to a wonderful school on the east coast by a wonderful Jewish man. I've never forgotten that. I've sent over 5,000 young people to school around the world in memory of him because he was so gracious to me. It's been very easy in my heart to give money back and help causes that are meritorious.'
Huntsman has chosen to give the bulk of his charitable contributions to efforts to combat cancer, having lost his mother, father, grandmother, stepmother and brother from the condition and suffered it himself four times. He has set up and funded Utah's Huntsman Cancer Institute, the world's largest cancer research centre dealing with both adult and children's genetic cancers.
'I can't tell you why I give,' he says. 'People have asked me that question for the last 20-30 years and I have never come up with a satisfactory answer, other than the fact that some people think you're crazy. I love to see the twinkle in peoples' eyes. It's a high, a real feeling of excitement and exhilaration to be able to help people. It's hard to explain why. It's not something other members of my family have done; it's not something that's inherited. It's just something that for me is very important.'
Huntsman is so committed to his benevolent pledges that he has frequently borrowed money in order to lend during economic downturn, when the cash from his business has dried up. 'The presidents of these banks just have a fit,' he says. 'They wonder why you're borrowing money to give it away. I say it's because I have made a commitment to give it away and the last people who can afford to have their money withdrawn are people who are already suffering. I'm not going to put these people in double jeopardy. I will honour every commitment I've ever made. One way or another, we've found out to pay back all the banks and keep our business going. If I had to sell my home, I would do it and sell anything I have to honour a commitment to charity.'
Huntsman also has firm views on late-minute philanthropists. 'You can't call charitable people who wait until they die to leave money to charity in their will but would never give a penny to anybody if they knew they weren't going to die,' he says. 'They're only leaving it in their will because they have to. If they weren't going to die, they wouldn't leave a penny to anybody.'
Huntsman's approach is shared by Twitter co-founder Biz Stone, who has an estimated net worth of about $200m.
Stone has developed a theme around what he calls the 'compound interest of altruism' and talked about in a recent appearance before students at Oxford University's Said Business School - more details here.
He said: 'Through the compound impact of altruism, I came to understand that people are doing philanthropy wrong. People generally think about charitable work the wrong way. They think that when they're older and comfortable they'll give some amount of money to something but that's not the way to do it. The way to do it is to get involved as early on as possible because, even if it's just volunteer work or $5, the impact you'll have over your lifetime is far greater than anything you could possibly do if you wait until you think you're comfortable. You'll never really feel you're comfortable enough to give away your money but if you start now and start doing some volunteer work, donating a little bit here and there, over the next 40 years you'll have a huge amount of impact and you'll feel great about yourself.'
Stone, who is now chief executive of online video start-up Jelly Industries, a peer-to-peer online start-up that allows users to answer other users' queries, goes further, arguing that philanthropy will become one of the most important tools that corporations can use to influence customer loyalty. Jelly wanted to get across the message that it helps people so staged a promotion with the Thank You cards that it allows users to digitally send to people who have helped them online. For one week, it turned the cards red, announcing that every thank-you card sent would trigger a $1 donation from Jelly to Aids charity (RED).
'I had the pleasure of telling my board of directors that this was a marketing spend to spread the message that Jelly helps people,' Stone recalled. 'It also happened to be saving peoples' lives in Africa. Isn't that great? Philanthropy is the future of marketing is because people are attracted to a higher level of meaning. They want to be part of something more meaningful. If you have a $5m marketing budget in the future you'll spend $1m on a meaningful cause and $1m making a big deal about how you gave away $4m. Your customers will want to choose you over your competitors because they will feel that just by purchasing your product they're doing something good. They'll feel a sense of support and meaning. And you'll attract better talent. Humans are wired to help.'
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