“Aye, he thinks he’s Andrew Carnegie”

It was announced yesterday that Bill Gates is to give away 99% of his wealth to good causes over the next 20 years, and that his Foundation will then close.

Reading that he was partly inspired by the words of Andrew Carnegie came on the back of an amazing week for all the Carnegie Foundations (not just Carnegie UK).

It’s also been quite emotional if I’m honest. You see, this week was the biennial Carnegie medals of philanthropy ceremony which, for only the third time, was hosted here in Scotland. Not only were we inspired by the recipients of the actual medals (all great philanthropists; Bill Gates himself was awarded one in 2001), but it was also an opportunity for Carnegie foundations from across the world to gather and discuss the purposes and values we have in common.

I realised this event might be emotional within half an hour on day one, watching video footage showing Dunfermline (where Carnegie was born) and New York city, overlaid with Fife kids speaking about Carnegie’s legacy. Suddenly I was taken back to my Granny, where I first heard our founder’s name in the context of ‘Aye, he thinks he’s Andrew Carnegie’ (meaning: he’s spent on something too much/outside his means) or if asked for something too expensive ‘I’m no Andrew Carnegie’ (meaning: it’s too expensive) – and so my awareness of the man began!

So, fast forward to this week, sitting in that room in Dunfermline, hearing about his remarkable legacy, looking around and seeing people from around the world trying to help solve some of the 21^st century’s knottiest problems all felt a bit surreal, as I thought back to being wee with my Granny.

At one point I was chatting to one of Andrew Carnegie’s great great grandchildren and I told her of my Granny’s phrases.  Since then, I have kept going back to thinking what she would have made of that conversation if she were still alive. The truth is that she was a wee, understated Scottish Granny, so I’d have to have cracked the code of what she really thought, as she’d never have said it out loud. But it was strange to think about it all.

It wasn’t just the connections to my Granny and to Andrew Carnegie that struck an emotional chord this week. It was hearing about the good that people are doing in what currently (to me anyway) feels like an increasingly confusing and scary world.