I was so in shock when I read Phil Cubeta's Gift Hub blog post on March 18th: "A Philanthropy Budget for Countess Marie Douglas-David?" Here is exactly what Phil blogged:
"Countess Marie Douglas-David, divorcing a tycoon breaks down her need for $53,000 week: Mortgage and maintenance fees and rent for the Park Avenue penthouse, the Hamptons retreat and properties in Sweden account for $27,300 a week, according to a financial affidavit she filed with the court. And then there's travel ($8,000), clothing ($4,500), a personal assistant ($2,209), horse care ($1,570), domestic help ($1,480), entertainment and restaurants ($1,500), health and skin care ($1,000), dry cleaning ($650), flowers ($600) and a trainer ($250).
The personal assistant at $2,209 made me cringe. I had applied for that job, emphasizing my Morals Tutoring experience, and holding myself out as a specialist in helping families flourish, but I never got past the screening interview. I was willing to do the trainer job, plus chauffeur and would have thrown in the Morals Tutorials, and mucking out the stables, for nothing, but I was assured that her moral well being was well managed, by herself personally. It did not take a moment's thought, I was told, it just came naturally, unlike diet, exercise, personal grooming, fashion, food preparation, flower arranging, and horse care.
In philanthropic planning, we work with clients to figure out "how much is enough for the donor," or for the donor, spouse and heirs, and then we talk about philanthropy for wealth beyond that point. Nice to see that $53,000 a week does not reach that threshold. Zero here for giving, not even a dime for some religious organization, or a passing beggar. Maybe if she got $100,000 a week she might have enough to fund a small charitable gift now and again? A Botox Foundation or something for the poor? I may approach her to propose free morals tutorials for the angry mob outside her door. The riffraff who read the tabloids should know better than to judge their betters. Envy is a sin." All I can think to say is, "Wow, kind of startling if not all together difficult to imagine that she doesn't give." Now, I don't know if Countess Marie gives or doesn't give." She very well may through another purse of money. And I am not going to judge any one's lifestyle either. Hers is what it is. But, I will say this, $53K for lifestyle a week is a lot of money. If she worked or owned her own business, again, $53K would be an opportunity cost and well, okay I could get that. Yet, to make a conscious decision not to give anything from that amount of money is all together, in some way, well... it's mind blowing. There is an inherent joy, of satisfaction, one feels when they give back. Obviously, Countess Marie experiences joy and satisfaction in other ways. But I can't help but think if one were to extend themselves beyond themselves, how manifold that feeling could be.
Recently, Leonardo DiCaprio's Foundation (LDF) partnered with my hometown, Philadelphia's La Colombe Torrefaction, a national coffee roasting chain to create a new coffee line, LYON. Together, they will help save endangered orangutans on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra where the company's coffee is grown while Leonardo DiCaprio has been using his pull as an actor to help endangers tigers around the world. 
