Fairfax Financial - Fairfax Company and Group Donations to Charity

[John Hjorth]

In the Fairfax Shareholder Letter released by Mr. Watsa on March 8^th 2024 for 2023, on p. 33, lower part, I found this today :

 

Quote

As you know,we think business can be a force for good.Taking Fairfax as an example,we have written cumulative premiums of $258 billion while providing outstanding service to our customers.We are paying annual salaries and benefits to our employees all over the world of $2 billion. We have made cumulative donations of $315 million since we began our donations program in 1991 and, yes, over the 38 years we have paid cumulative taxes of $5.7 billion. This is why we consider business a force for good and why countries that are business friendly succeed mightily. We are a small microcosm of what business does worldwide.

 

In 2023, we donated $27 million, for a total of $315 million since we began our donations program in 1991. Over the 33 years since we began our donations program, our annual donations have gone up approximately 155 times at a compound rate of 17% per year. We are now donating 2% of pre-tax profit each year to charities across the globe– 1% through each of our insurance companies and 1% to our Fairfax foundations.

 

At our AGM, we will distribute our first annual report on our charitable givings and donations by company across the world. We are grateful because our company is successful, we can make these donations. “Doing good by doing well”, we call it at Fairfax.

 

I'm nosy about this activily, but today I haven't really been able to find reporting on this as promised by Mr. Watsa anywhere I looked.

 

I suppose I'm not looking at the right places. Any help from any fellow board member about this will be greatly appreciated, thank you in advance.

 

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Just for information for those, that may not have any knowledge about it by now before I'm writing this : Mr. Watsa has beein a material donor - [personal donor, that is, [not Fairfax]], to Dakshana Foundation [set up and formed by Monish Pabrai and his former wife Harina Kapoor in 2005].

[SafetyinNumbers]

1 hour ago, John Hjorth said:

In the Fairfax Shareholder Letter released by Mr. Watsa on March 8^th 2024 for 2023, on p. 33, lower part, I found this today :

 

 

I'm nosy about this activily, but today I haven't really been able to find reporting on this as promised by Mr. Watsa anywhere I looked.

 

I suppose I'm not looking at the right places. Any help from any fellow board member about this will be greatly appreciated, thank you in advance.

 

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Just for information for those, that may not have any knowledge about it by now before I'm writing this : Mr. Watsa has beein a material donor - [personal donor, that is, [not Fairfax]], to Dakshana Foundation [set up and formed by Monish Pabrai and his former wife Harina Kapoor in 2005].

 

I think this is what he’s referring to.

 

https://www.fairfax.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023-Fairfax-Financial-Holdings-Limited-ESG-Performance-Report.pdf

[John Hjorth]

2 hours ago, SafetyinNumbers said:

 

I think this is what he’s referring to.

 

https://www.fairfax.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023-Fairfax-Financial-Holdings-Limited-ESG-Performance-Report.pdf

 

Thank you very much, @SafetyinNumbers,

 

This must be what Mr. Watsa is referring to in the shareholder letter.

[John Hjorth]

22 hours ago, SafetyinNumbers said:

 

I think this is what he’s referring to.

 

https://www.fairfax.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023-Fairfax-Financial-Holdings-Limited-ESG-Performance-Report.pdf

 

Now I have had the time and opportunity to read the whole thing, and the philantropy programs inside Fairfax group are financed by the employeés in Fairfax Financial Group, not the Fairfax companies, so this is not a cost at group level, instead it rests on the shoulders of Fairfax employeés.

 

The whole thing in this ESG Report about this is resonating rigingly hollow. It's simply false information.

 

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I have dived a bit into Mr. Watsa's donations to the Dakshana Foundation set up originally by the original Pabrai couple [now diworsed] :

 

2022 - $1,001,255 [#1 donor for the year],

2012 - $1,004,819 [#1],

2020 - $  997,001 [#1],

2019 - $  970,404 [#2],

2018 - $  976,003 [#1],

2017 - $1,034,288 [#1],

2016 - $1,000,150 [#1],

2015 - 1,002,761 [#1 - number rounded! ],

2014 - $1,046,836 [#1 - number rounded],

2013 - $  948,129 [#1] [='Watsa Family'],

2012 - $ 1,000,000 [#1][='The Watsa Family'],

2011 - $1,000,000 [#1][='The Watsa Family']

2010 - $0,

2009 - $0,

2008 - N/A,

2007 - N/A,

2006 - N/A, &

2005 - N/A.

 

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This is a serious amount of money - USD 12 millions since 2011, and counting, and likely ex. 2023 [unless 2023 is $ zero]! It tells us quite a bit about Mr. Watsa and how he is wired!

Edited April 14 by John Hjorth

[SafetyinNumbers]

3 hours ago, John Hjorth said:

 

Now I have had the time and opportunity to read the whole thing, and the philantropy programs inside Fairfax group are financed by the employeés in Fairfax Financial Group, not the Fairfax companies, so this is not a cost at group level, instead it rests on the shoulders of Fairfax employeés.

 

The whole thing in this ESG Report about this is resonating rigingly hollow. It's simply false information.

 

 

You think they are lying in these two slides?

 

 

[Parsad]

9 hours ago, SafetyinNumbers said:

 

I think this is what he’s referring to.

 

https://www.fairfax.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023-Fairfax-Financial-Holdings-Limited-ESG-Performance-Report.pdf

 

No, he was referring to a booklet called "Doing Good By Doing Well" that they handed out at the AGM which discusses all of the various donations and organizations they've given to.  Unfortunately it's not on the website, but I would love if they put it on there!  Cheers!

[SafetyinNumbers]

3 hours ago, Parsad said:

 

No, he was referring to a booklet called "Doing Good By Doing Well" that they handed out at the AGM which discusses all of the various donations and organizations they've given to.  Unfortunately it's not on the website, but I would love if they put it on there!  Cheers!

Thanks! I’m still confused about what @John Hjorthis upset about.

[glider3834]

[Parsad]

Prem told me that they will be putting "Doing Good By Doing Well" on the website at some point.  Look forward to reading it!  Cheers!