Fourth-Largest US Charity Discovered

A charity larger than the Rockefeller and Carnegie foundations combined was the best-kept secret in global philanthropy until Thursday. Businessweek reports on the strange tale of Andrew Shechtel was spending more than $100 million per year on research for Huntington's Disease—more than the U.S. National Institutes of Health was spending investing in a cure. That's nothing through. Shechtel and two other partners have created the Gabriel Trust and Endurance Funding Trust that hold $9.7 billion. The shadow philanthropists have directed more than $13 billion to causes like human rights, the environment, and disease research.