Philip Wollen OAM (born 1950) is an Australian

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private good, focusing on material ...

environmentalist An environmentalist is a person who is concerned with and/or advocates for the protection of the environment. An environmentalist can be considered a supporter of the goals of the environmental movement, "a political and ethical movement that se ...

and

animal rights activist The animal rights (AR) movement, sometimes called the animal liberation, animal personhood, or animal advocacy movement, is a social movement that seeks an end to the rigid moral and legal distinction drawn between human and non-human animals, ...

. He is a former Vice-President of

Citibank Citibank, N. A. (N. A. stands for " National Association") is the primary U.S. banking subsidiary of financial services multinational Citigroup. Citibank was founded in 1812 as the City Bank of New York, and later became First National City ...

and was also General Manager at Citicorp. Wollen is a vegan and funds projects that protect children, animals and the environment.The Banker Who Gave It All Away: The Age article
/ref> At age 34, '' Australian Business Magazine'' named him in the "Brightest and Best" top 40 headhunted executives in Australia. In 2005 he received the

Medal of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gove ...

and in 2007 he won the Australian of the Year (Victoria) award. Wollen went to school at the

Bishop Cotton Boys' School Bishop Cotton Boys' School is an all-boys school for boarders and day scholars in Bangalore, India, founded in the memory of Bishop George Edward Lynch Cotton, Bishop of Calcutta. The school has been described as "The Eton of the East". Th ...

Bangalore Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...

. He delivered the General Thimayya Memorial Lecture in

Bangalore, India Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...

in 2008. He lives with his wife Trix in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a metro ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

Winsome Constance Kindness

Wollen's main project, Winsome Constance Kindness, is a global initiative whose

mission statement A mission statement is a short statement of why an organization exists, what its overall goal is, the goal of its operations: what kind of product or service it provides, its primary customers or market, and its geographical region of operatio ...

is "to promote kindness towards all other living beings and enshrine it as a recognisable trait in the Australian character and culture". The initiative emphasises

ethics Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that "involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior".''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' The field of ethics, along with aesthetics, concer ...

compassion Compassion motivates people to go out of their way to relieve the physical, mental or emotional pains of others and themselves. Compassion is often regarded as being sensitive to the emotional aspects of the suffering of others. When based on n ...

and

co-operation Cooperation (written as co-operation in British English) is the process of groups of organisms working or acting together for common, mutual, or some underlying benefit, as opposed to working in competition for selfish benefit. Many animal ...

, and opposes

cruelty Cruelty is the pleasure in inflicting suffering or inaction towards another's suffering when a clear remedy is readily available. Sadism can also be related to this form of action or concept. Cruel ways of inflicting suffering may involve ...

humans" \n\n\n\n\nThe robots exclusion standard, also known as the robots exclusion protocol or simply robots.txt, is a standard used by websites to indicate to visiting web crawlers and other web robots which portions of the site they are allowed to visi ...

and non-human animals. In 2020 it had initiatives in 40 countries. Wollen awards the annual Kindness Gold Medal and $20,000 cash prize to people who have devoted their lives in the service of others. Past recipients include

David Attenborough Sir David Frederick Attenborough (; born 8 May 1926) is an English broadcaster, biologist, natural historian and author. He is best known for writing and presenting, in conjunction with the BBC Natural History Unit, the nine natural histo ...

, UK;

Jane Goodall Dame Jane Morris Goodall (; born Valerie Jane Morris-Goodall on 3 April 1934), formerly Baroness Jane van Lawick-Goodall, is an English primatologist and anthropologist. Seen as the world's foremost expert on chimpanzees, Goodall is best kn ...

, UK; Maneka Gandhi, India; Paul Watson, USA;

Andrew Linzey Andrew Linzey (born 2 February 1952) is an English Anglican priest, theologian, and prominent figure in Christian vegetarianism. He is a member of the Faculty of Theology at the University of Oxford, and held the world's first academic post in Eth ...

, UK; Jill Robinson, China; Christine Townend, Australia; T. Colin Campbell, USA;

Peter Hammarstedt The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (SSCS) is a non-profit, marine conservation activism organization based in Friday Harbor on San Juan Island, Washington, in the United States. Sea Shepherd employs direct action tactics to achieve its goa ...

, Sweden; Pradeep Nath, India; Christopher DeRose, USA; Damien Mander, Zimbabwe; and Chinny Krishna, India.

Kindness House

"Kindness House" - an "incubator" for growing NGOs - provides free use of heavily subsidized serviced office facilities to activist groups. It is located in the Melbourne suburb of Fitzroy.

References

External links

Kindness Trust on Facebook

Winsome Constance Kindness Trust

Australia Day Awards 2005
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wollen, Philip 1950 births Australian animal rights activists Australian philanthropists Australian veganism activists Bishop Cotton Boys' School alumni Living people Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia