Aussie Rich Kids to Meet Bill Gates for A Cause
Children of Australia's richest families will meet Microsoft founder Bill Gates in the U.S. Sep. 30-Oct. 3, 2013 as part of Philanthropy Australia's New Generation of Giving (New Gen) Program.
The New Gen Program is "a national membership program to grow and develop the community of young Australian philanthropists. The program is designed for people aged 40 years and under who have current and future capacity as leading philanthropic funders and investors. The only one of its kind in Australia, New Gen equips this group of influential members to take up leadership roles in the philanthropic sector."
The activity is aimed to increase Philanthropy Australia's membership to 500 by 2015. At least 20 children of Australia's most powerful families are qualified for the program. They will be at Silicon Valley Oct. 1-2, 2013 in San Francisco and Oct. 3, 2013 in Seattle spearheaded by its New Gen Project Manager Caroline Vu.
"A lot of them have a strong appetite for impact investing, in things like social impact bonds and other instruments," Philanthropy Australia Chief Executive Louise Walsh told The Australian.
Walsh said these wealthiest Australian children have independent philanthropic vision from their families and would like to introduce change through their families' efforts.
She cited Gemma Salteri and Anthony Salteri, children of Paul Salteri as good examples. Salteri is the founder of Tenix, an infrastructure company. Both Gemma and Anthony are already involved in working with the indigenous children.
"Gemma and Anthony Salteri are very interested in influencing their parents to move away from simple bequests and other forms of traditional grant-making," Walsh remarked.
According to an exclusive report from The Australian, the members of the program who are meeting with Bill Gates this week are:
- Anna Belgiorno-Nettis, daughter of Luca Belgiorno-Nettis of Transfield Holdings;
- Dan Gammell, son of Peter Gammell, media billionaire;
- Amanda Feenstra, daughter of Harold Mitchell, Australia's most powerful media buyer;
- Alison Green, daughter of Worley Parsons and former long-serving Macquarie Bank Director John Green;
- Clare Ainsworth-Herschell, granddaughter of Len Ainsworth, founder of gaming company Aristocrat;
- Lucy Myer of the Myer family dynasty;
- Sophia Ndlovu, daughter of Jurlique cosmetics founder Ulrike Klein; and
- Prue Pateras, a member of the third generation of the Fairfax media family.