Atlantic Philanthropies
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| Founded | 1982 |
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| Founder | Chuck Feeney |
| Focus | Ageing, youth, human rights, poverty, progressive advocacy |
| Method | Grantmaking |
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Key people
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Christopher Oechsli, Martin O'Brien |
| Endowment | $1.4 billion (2012) |
| Website | www |
The Atlantic Philanthropies (AP) is a private foundation created in 1982 by Irish-American businessman Chuck Feeney. The Atlantic Philanthropies focuses its giving on health, social, and politically liberal public policy causes in Australia, Bermuda, Ireland, South Africa, the United States and Vietnam. It is among the largest foreign charitable donors in each of the countries in which it operates, and is the single largest funder of programs that encourage the civic engagement of older people and of comprehensive immigration reform in the United States. With the single largest advocacy grant ever made by a foundation, the Atlantic Philanthropies committed $27 million to win passage of the Affordable Care Act in the United States. About half of the Atlantic Philanthropies' grants have been made in donations that allow lobbying.
Since its founding in 1982, the Atlantic Philanthropies has given out about $7.5 billion. The Atlantic Philanthropies is a limited-life foundation which will close its doors in 2020. The President and CEO of the Atlantic Philanthropies is Christopher Oechsli. He was appointed in 2011, succeeding Gara LaMarche. Martin O'Brien was appointed Senior Vice President of Programmes shortly thereafter.
One tactic used by the Atlantic Philanthropies is to use the promise of substantial gifts to compel governments and other donors to match. A total of $226 million in Atlantic grants have leveraged $1.3 billion of government money to the Irish university system. Atlantic's most recent grantmaking statistics are from 2014. The Atlantic Philanthropies commenced a spend-down process in 2012, and its entire portfolio will be liquid by the end of 2016. It plans to fully shutter its doors in 2020.
Irish-American businessman Chuck Feeney established the Atlantic Philanthropies in Bermuda in 1982. Born in 1931 to an Irish-American family from New Jersey, following service with the USAF, Feeney went on to study hotel management at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. Feeney made his fortune in the duty-free business, co-founding Duty Free Shoppers (DFS). In 1982, the Atlantic Philanthropies made its first grant of $7 million to Cornell University.
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