American industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie (1835 - 1919). (Photo by Buyenlarge/Getty ... [+]
Exactly one hundred years ago today, Andrew Carnegie died in in Lenox, Massachusetts.
But on his deathbed, Carnegie would have been deeply frustrated. He was down to his last $30 million.
He was frustrated not because he wanted to die richer. Nor did he want to leave more money to family members.
It was because he had not already given it away, alongside the estimated $300 million he donated during his lifetime, making his philanthropy unrivaled, even today.
In his book The Gospel of Wealth, Carnegie wrote that no wealthy person should leave money behind. "Men who leave vast sums in this way may fairly be thought men who would not have left it at all, had they been able to take it with them".
Instead it was a millionaire's duty to make sure they gave away everything during their lifetime:
"The man who dies leaving behind him millions of available wealth which was his to administer during life, will pass away unwept, unhonoured and unsung. no matter to what uses he leaves the dross which he cannot take with him. Of such as these the public verdict will then be: The man who dies thus rich dies disgraced."
Fortunately Carnegie departed a few practical solutions to any millionaires worried about an unwept, unhonoured and unsung death.
The Carnegie Library in Herne Hill, London. One of over 3,000 around the world. (Photo by In ... [+]
"If any millionaire is at a loss of how to achieve great an indisputable good with his surplus, here is a field that can never be fully occupied," wrote Carnegie. That field was education, where he spent the majority of his $372 billion net wealth (updated into today's money).
That did not just mean giving to schools or universities. Carnegie set up over 3,000 public libraries around the world, one of his greatest philanthropic legacies.
But any potential emulators must have a mission, Carnegie believed. "He challenges philanthropists to have a clear mission to focus on what can make a difference and not just what excites their own passions," former British prime minister Gordon Brown said during a BBC Radio documentary on Carnegie.
"The man who dies leaving behind him millions of available wealth which was his to administer during life, will pass away unwept, unhonoured and unsung. no matter to what uses he leaves the dross which he cannot take with him. Of such as these the public verdict will then be: The man who dies thus rich dies disgraced".
Carnegie believed so strongly that wealth should be given away during one's lifetime that he favored a 100% inheritance tax.
Signatories of the Giving Pledge, who plan to give more than half of their wealth to philanthropy in their will, are therefore not doing enough.
Nor are those who are giving a meagre £240 ($289) annually to charity, as 18,000 ultra-high-net-worths (individuals worth more than £10 million ($12 million)) are estimated to do in the U.K.
In fact, millionaire donations are falling in both the U.K., Carnegie's birthplace, and in the U.S., where he spent the majority of his life.
This paints a stain on the centenary of Carnegie's death. But it is an occasion that every millionaire should reflect upon, believes Brown: "He would be saying that in an unequal world with so much to do so much more can be done."
