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International Carnegie Philanthropy Award Winners


5 September 2005 at 1:09 pm
Staff Reporter
The international recipients of the Andrew Carnegie Medals of Philanthropy 2005 have been announced and the winners will receive their awards in Scotland in October – the first time the ceremony has left its traditional home in the US.

Staff Reporter | 5 September 2005 at 1:09 pm


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International Carnegie Philanthropy Award Winners
5 September 2005 at 1:09 pm

The international recipients of the Andrew Carnegie Medals of Philanthropy 2005 have been announced and the winners will receive their awards in Scotland in October – the first time the ceremony has left its traditional home in the US.

The recipients of these awards, which are regarded as the Nobel Prize for philanthropy are:

– His Highness, the Aga Khan, the 49th hereditary Imam of the Ismaili Community

– Anna Southall, Chair of the Barrow Cadbury Trust, on behalf of the Cadbury family

– Eleanor Hewlett Gimon, on behalf of the Hewlett family

– Susan Packard Orr, on behalf of the Packard family

– Sir Tom Farmer, Scots billionaire founder of Kwik-Fit car repairs

– Agnes Gund, chair of the New York Museum of Modern Art

For the first time, the Medal ceremony will take place in Scotland, where Andrew Carnegie was born. The Debating Chamber of Scotland’s Parliament at Holyrood, Edinburgh, will be the setting of the presentations on October 4 to six philanthropists and their families, deemed to have contributed their philanthropy to improve the conditions of mankind.

They will be presented in front of an invited audience of over 400 from the worlds of philanthropy, politics, the media, and non-governmental organisations, who will have taken part in an international philanthropy symposium organised by Carnegie earlier in the day.

Presented every two years to inspirational philanthropists and their families who have dedicated their private wealth to public good, previous recipients of the awards include the Gates, Rockefeller and Sainsbury families, media tycoon Ted Turner, and financier George Soros.

Named after Scots-American philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, who left the equivalent of $15 billion to philanthropy, the Medal is awarded to inspiring philanthropists.

The announcement comes on the anniversary of Carnegie’s death on August 11, 1919. The Scots-American gave away the equivalent of nearly $15 billion, establishing a family of 23 foundations worldwide.

These foundations have been responsible for providing benefits such as 2,500 free libraries across the world, the Carnegie Hall in New York, and the International Peace Palace in The Hague.

Carnegie’s philanthropy funded JK Galbraith’s The Affluent Society and the discovery of insulin. Even the children’s favourite Sesame Street was supported by Carnegie.

Today the Carnegie foundations support cutting edge scientific research into global ecology; millions of dollars of educational and social development projects in Africa; conflict resolution and democracy-building in the former USSR, China and the Middle East; and civil society and community development initiatives in Europe and North America.

William Thomson, a great grandson of Andrew Carnegie, is Chair of the Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy 2005 Organising Committee and the International Selection Committee 2005.

He says the Medals of Philanthropy commemorate Carnegie’s philanthropic legacy and belief that private wealth should be used to benefit mankind. Recipients of the Medal share Andrew Carnegie’s vision that distributing one’s accumulated wealth for the common good is just as important a task as building up that wealth.

Thomson says philanthropic work must also reflect a range and depth of endeavours and a sustained record of accomplishment. Additionally, the impact of the philanthropy on a field, a nation, or on the international community needs to be strong and continuous.

Medal Recipient Biographies located at http://www.carnegieinstitution.org/carnegiemedal2005/.




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