logo
    • Magazine
    • Membership
    • Donate
  • Racial Justice
  • Economic Justice
    • Collections
  • Climate Justice
  • Health Justice
  • Leadership
  • CONTENT TYPES
  • Subscribe
  • Webinars
    • Upcoming Webinars
    • Complimentary Webinars
    • Premium On-Demand Webinars
  • Membership
  • Submissions

Saudi Prince to Give $32B to Charity

John Godfrey
July 7, 2015
Share
Tweet
Share
Email
Print

 

Prince-Alwaleed

July 6, 2015; Arab News

Saudi Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal, one of the world’s richest men, announced last week that he would give away his entire fortune, estimated at $32 billion, to charity. Prince Al-Waleed is a direct descendant of the founder of Saudi Arabia, King Abdul Aziz Al Saud, and a nephew of the present monarch. His mother was the daughter of the first prime minister of Lebanon. His business interests traverse the Middle East and the Western world.

Amongst significant interests, he is a major shareholder in Twitter and in Apple. He has been a major shareholder in Fox Corporation, though he recently reduced his stake. Rupert Murdoch and son James, nonetheless, continued to be investors and active supporters of the Prince’s entertainment company, Rotana. The prince owns such luxury hotels as Paris’s fabled King George V Hotel and the New York Plaza. He has extensive property investments in Saudi Arabia, where he is currently constructing what will become the world’s tallest building.

The size of Al-Waleed’s fortune is of great pride to him. He famously sued Forbes for miscalculating his fortune and publishing what he considered to be an amount less than his true worth. He has also taken great pains in the past to insist that his fortune is self-made and not a proxy for Saudi royal family wealth.

By Saudi public standards, he is undoubtedly a liberal. He has been an exponent of women’s rights. His Saudi holding company employs more women than men. He employed Saudi Arabia’s first woman pilot and first woman jockey. Women working with the prince are not expected to wear the traditional Saudi veil.

Announcing his intention to leave his wealth to charity, the prince said:

Sign up for our free newsletters

Subscribe to NPQ's newsletters to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

By signing up, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of use, and to receive messages from NPQ and our partners.

“I have had the opportunity to witness, firsthand, the challenging conditions of many communities across the globe, firsthand, and have stood among those who were suffering and in great need. I have also learned of overwhelming obstacles through meetings with the leaders of countries and communities around the world.

“I am making this announcement today as an illustration of God Almighty’s blessings, following His words in the Holy Qur’an: ‘But tell of the favors of your Lord.’”

The full text of his pledge announcement speech is available from Gulf News.

Prince Al-Waleed has supported philanthropy for more than 35 years, donating $3.5 billion thus far through his Al-Waleed Philanthropies. One gift that created a controversy was made in the wake of the 9/11 Twin Tower attacks. The then-mayor of New York City, Rudy Giuliani, rejected a donation of $10 million from the prince because he issued a press release that stated, “The United States of America should reexamine its policies in the Middle East and adopt a more balanced stance towards the Palestinian cause.”

Other donations by the prince support an international network of centers devoted to the promotion of better mutual understanding between the World of Islam and the West. The centers are hosted by universities such as Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.; Harvard University; the America University of Beirut; the American University in Cairo; the University of Cambridge; and the University of Edinburgh.

At the press conference in Saudi Arabia announcing his commitment, Al-Waleed said that since the size of his fortune is so “immense,” he intends to have it distributed globally, although the priority will be Saudi Arabia and the rest of the Arab region.

“This will go to humanity, which has no religion, no race and no sex. The radius of our contribution will cover the whole globe, not just [Arabs or Islamic countries],” Al-Waleed said.—John Godfrey

Share
Tweet
Share
Email
Print
About the author
John Godfrey

John is a consultant and trainer to nonprofits. His specialties are major gift fundraising, capital campaigns and business partnerships. John Godfrey has degrees in performing arts, management and marketing . He worked in festival and theatre management in Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom before turning to fundraising. Since then he has worked with clients and trained representatives of numerous nonprofit organisations in the UK, India, Middle East, Singapore and Australasia. John has published a popular fundraising book: “Artful Major Gift Fundraising”. Currently he is researching philanthropy in India for a PhD. He lives in Auckland, New Zealand.

More about: wealthy donorsgiving pledgehigh-wealth donorsIndividual GivingNonprofit NewsPhilanthropy

Become a member

Support independent journalism and knowledge creation for civil society. Become a member of Nonprofit Quarterly.

Members receive unlimited access to our archived and upcoming digital content. NPQ is the leading journal in the nonprofit sector written by social change experts. Gain access to our exclusive library of online courses led by thought leaders and educators providing contextualized information to help nonprofit practitioners make sense of changing conditions and improve infra-structure in their organizations.

Join Today
logo logo logo logo logo
See comments

Spring-2023-sidebar-subscribe
You might also like
Arab American Philanthropy
Tamara El-Khoury
The Nonprofit Sector and Social Change: A Conversation between Cyndi Suarez and Claire Dunning
Claire Dunning and Cyndi Suarez
Nonprofits as Battlegrounds for Democracy
Cyndi Suarez
Sankofa Philanthropy: Hip Hop’s Sixth Element
Jason Terrell
Why Social Change Films Matter
Cyndi Suarez and Saphia Suarez
Philanthropy Must Move from Charity to Solidarity
Son Chau

NPQ Webinars

April 27th, 2 pm ET

Liberatory Decision-Making

How to Facilitate and Engage in Healthy Decision-making Processes

Register Now
You might also like
Brown-skinned Arabic woman wearing a bowler hat and looking into the camera. She is standing in front of a bougainvillea plant.
Arab American Philanthropy
Tamara El-Khoury
The book "Nonprofit Neighborhoods" leaning against a wall
The Nonprofit Sector and Social Change: A Conversation...
Claire Dunning and Cyndi Suarez
Nonprofits as Battlegrounds for Democracy
Cyndi Suarez

Like what you see?

Subscribe to the NPQ newsletter to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

See our newsletters

By signing up, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of use, and to receive messages from NPQ and our partners.

NPQ-Spring-2023-cover

Independent & in your mailbox.

Subscribe today and get a full year of NPQ for just $59.

subscribe
  • About
  • Contact
  • Advertise
  • Copyright
  • Careers

We are using cookies to give you the best experience on our website.

 

Non Profit News | Nonprofit Quarterly
Powered by  GDPR Cookie Compliance
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.

If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.