Why a millionaire heiress gave away her $27 million inheritance to strangers

Fortune doesn’t always favor the selfish. Austrian heiress Marlene Engelhorn is flipping the script on generational wealth. After inheriting a vast fortune from her late grandmother, the descendant of BASF founder Friedrich Engelhorn didn’t splurge — she gave it away. Nearly all of it. And not just to charities of her choosing, but to 50 strangers.

According to Time Magazine, Engelhorn handed off the power—and responsibility—of distributing €25 million (around $27 million) to a group of randomly selected Austrian citizens.

"I have inherited a fortune... without having done anything for it."

Wiman hiding her face behind a bunch of cashCanva

Most people with a windfall immediately consider how to spend it. But Marlene saw her inheritance as a systemic failure. As she told the BBC,

“I have inherited a fortune, and therefore power, without having done anything for it. And the state doesn't even want taxes on it.”

A mansion and its reflection in the swimming poolCanva

According to the New York Times, Austria abolished its inheritance tax in 2008, a fact that deeply troubled her.

“Many people struggle to make ends meet with a full-time job and pay taxes on every euro they earn from work. I see this as a failure of politics, and if politics fails, then the citizens have to deal with it themselves.”

So she did something radical.

Engelhorn began by emailing more than 10,000 random Austrians, eventually selecting 50 to form a group reflective of the country’s demographics — curated by research institute Foresight. This “citizens’ council” would decide how to allocate the money.

The initiative evolved into a group called the “Good Council for Redistribution” — or “Guter Rat” in German. The heiress herself stepped away from the decision-making, stating that

“Redistribution must be a process that extends beyond oneself.”

The group’s first in-person meeting happened at a Salzburg hotel in March 2024.

Salzburg at nightCanva

How it worked

Each council member received a stipend of €1,200 (~$1,300) per meeting. All logistics — meals, lodging, travel, childcare — were covered by Marlene. But there were rules. Funds could not go to:

• For-profit ventures
• Groups with inhumane, unconstitutional, or extremist affiliations
• The members themselves or their associates

Eventually, the council allocated the funds across 77 organizations.

Fancy homeCanva

Who received the money?

The largest share — $1.7 million — went to the Austrian Society for Nature Conservation. The second largest, around $1.6 million, went to Neunerhaus, which supports the unhoused. Other recipients included:

• Climate advocacy groups
• The left-leaning Momentum Institute
• Religious organizations
• The Autonomous Austrian Women's Shelters, which received €300,000, per Euronews

Happy volunteersCanva

A democratic act of anti-elitism

“A large part of my inherited wealth, which elevated me to a position of power simply by virtue of my birth, contradicting every democratic principle, has now been redistributed in accordance with democratic values,” Marlene said in a statement reported by the BBC.

She wasn’t alone in this bold move. As she told The Guardian:

“Nobody is openly telling me that I’m doing something wrong or bad. On the contrary, my mum once said: ‘I’m going to be your biggest fan.’”

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Marlene Engelhorn didn’t just give away millions. She gave away power. And she handed it to everyday people — not out of guilt, but because she believes democracy should extend to wealth itself.

This article originally appeared last year.