Heiress asks 50 Austrians to give away $27 million

In the coming days, about 10,000 Austrians will find an invitation in their mailboxes from an heiress asking for their help in spending 25 million euros, or about $27.4 million, of her inheritance.

It’s not a scam or a clever marketing ploy. The heiress, Marlene Engelhorn, previously said it was an attempt to challenge a system that has allowed her to amass millions of euros.

Ms Engelhorn, 31, grew up in Vienna and has campaigned for years for tax policies that would redistribute inherited wealth and tackle structural economic inequality.

Without those tax laws, she turns to the public to decide how her money should be spent.

The 10,000 Austrians receiving invitations will be reduced to 50, with the aim of reflecting the country’s population based on demographics such as gender, age and income. The group called de Guterrator good advice, will meet in Salzburg for six weekends this year to discuss how best to spend the money.

“A good plan needs many perspectives,” Ms. Engelhorn said in a statement the project website. ‘Not just from one person who happened to inherit. The simple fact that I want to improve the state of our society does not mean that I have a good plan.”

Mrs. Engelhorn’s legacy comes from Friedrich Engelhorn, who in 1865 founded BASF, one of the largest chemical companies in the world. Her family also owned Boehringer Mannheim, a pharmaceutical and medical diagnostic equipment company until it was sold for $11 billion in 1997.

Before the Guter Rat project was announced on Tuesday, Ms Engelhorn had publicly pledged to give away at least 90 percent of her multimillion-euro inheritance. She is part of a small movement of the super-rich who not only want to redistribute their money, but also challenge the structures that have allowed them to inherit their wealth. Austria abolished inheritance taxes in 2008.

It is not clear what percentage of her inheritance Ms Engelhorn has pledged to the project, which is fully called Guter Rat für Rückverteilung, or the good council for redistribution. Bernhard Madlener, spokesperson for the project, said in an email that it was a “large majority.”

On Tuesday, the project sent invitations to 10,000 people in Austria, randomly selected from a national database.

Participants must be at least 16 years old, but they do not have to be Austrian citizens or speak German.

The group will meet from March to June for professionally moderated discussions and will hear from experts on issues such as wealth distribution and the way non-governmental organizations are funded. There will be 15 replacement members selected in case someone cannot attend.

The Guter Rat members are paid 1,200 euros, or about $1,314, for each weekend. The costs of hotels, meals and travel are covered, as well as the costs of addressing issues that may prevent people from attending, such as childcare and interpreters. Members are anonymous unless they choose to speak publicly.

According to him, there are limits to how the money can be spent the project website. The money cannot go to groups or people that are “unconstitutional, hostile or inhumane,” and it cannot be invested in for-profit institutions. The money also cannot be redistributed among group members or ‘related parties’.

If the group is unable to find a broadly supported way to distribute the money, it will be returned to Ms. Engelhorn.

The unusual project is a departure from the methods some super-rich people have used to get rid of their money, such as setting up foundations for charities they support or donating it to existing groups. Ms Engelhorn said these routes still gave rich power they had not earned.

In Ms. Engelhorn’s statement about the project, she said that donating money “does not solve the problem of political failure” and that it “gives me power that I should not have.”

“Redistribution must be a process that extends beyond myself,” she said.

After the Guter Rat is established, Ms. Engelhorn will withdraw from the project and relinquish all decision-making authority, according to the project’s website.

“Of course, she reserves the right to continue commenting on the topics of wealth distribution and redistribution, but she has no right of veto or similar rights with regard to the results of the discussion in the Council and the 25 million euros,” the website says. “The Council decides.”