Author: Philip Wollen

About Author

Email: philip@kindnesstrust.com

Master of Ceremonies Transcript    Philip Wollen, at 34 was Vice-President of Citibank. The Financial Press named him in the “Top 40 Brightest and Best” executives in Australia.  During his career travels, by age 40 he’d witnessed cruelty so egregious he decided to do all he could to alleviate suffering, and give away everything he owned, with warm hands, and die broke.  He jokes “And so far, we are right on budget!”  Today, he is a “Venture Capitalist for Good Causes”, supporting some 500 mission-critical projects for children, animals and the environment in 40+ countries.  He supports Children, Animals, & the Environment with schools, orphanages, animal protection, shelters, clinics, medicines, biogas plants, ambulances, bore-wells and films; sponsored his friends, a married couple (cancer survivors) to run one marathon a day for 366 consecutive days around Australia’s coast; funded marine vessels, whale & seal rescue centres, primate sanctuaries, food, disaster relief, homeless people, victims of domestic violence, scholarships, the arts, health, forests and oceans, undercover anti-poaching operations through his operational “silos”, Kindness Farms, Kindness House, Kindness Oceans, Kindness Kids, Kindness Streets, & Kindness Mobile Restaurants for the Homeless.  Philip awards the annual Kindness Gold Medal & $20,000 Cash Prize to people who have devoted their lives in the service of others.  Past recipients include Sir David Attenborough (UK), Dr Professor T. Colin Campbell (USA), Dr Ian Gawler OAM (Australia), Dr Jane Goodall DBE, Smt Maneka Gandhi MP (India), Captain Paul Watson (Canada), Dr Jill Robinson MBE (China), Dr Christine Townend (Australia), Captain Peter Hammarstedt (Sweden), Mr Christopher DeRose (USA), Rev. Dr Andrew Linzey (Oxford), Mr Damien Mander (Zimbabwe), Sri Pradeep Kumar Nath (India), Dr Chinny Krishna (India).  He has delivered speeches in the Parliament in The Hague, the Israeli Knesset Parliament in Jerusalem, the Parliament of the European Union in Brussels, the Parliament of World Religions, Universities, & international congresses in Africa, SE Asia, India, the United States, and Latin America. He has met with and discussed ethics, the environment, economics and sustainability with Presidents, Prime Ministers, Members of Parliament, Nobel Laureates & religious leaders from all the major faiths.  He is the Patron and Ambassador for many international groups; he has written Forewords for books by eminent authors on animal rights, health and ethics. His words have been read by millions around the world and his speeches have gone viral on the internet reaching over 60 million people with over 30 million viewers and have been independently translated into over 20 languages. He is a significant supporter and activist with Sea Shepherd on the antiwhaling campaigns in Antarctica, the protection of the hump-back whale sanctuary in the Indian Ocean, the anti-poaching campaigns against the Chinese and European ships in the West African Atlantic and the campaign against the egregious oil exploration in the Great Australian Bight and the destructive Adani Coal project which threatens the Great Barrier Reef. He is a significant supporter and sits on the Advisory Board of the International Anti-Poaching Foundation based in Africa, protecting the rhinos and elephants from the horn and ivory poachers, using the all-woman Akashinga team of rangers. His “Kindness House” project is a large 40,000 square feet $15 million building in the heart of Melbourne. He provides fully equipped serviced offices, rent-free to 45+ NGOs with 300 smart energetic young people. It includes Greenpeace, Sea Shepherd, Beyond Zero Emissions, United Nations, Protection of Racehorses, Lawyers for Animals, Veg Vic, Multicultural Broadcasting, Jane Goodall Institute, the Brotherhood of St. Laurence, the Dolphin Project, the Wilderness Society, Social Firms, the Australian Institute and others. Philip likes to be invisible. 

  • The National Australia Day Council wrote: “Essentially a private man, Philip seeks no personal publicity. But he is not afraid to step into the limelight for a just cause”. 
  • Rupert Murdoch’s newspapers accurately described him as “Reclusive”.
He has received the following awards:
  • The Order of Australia Medal in The Queen’s Birthday Honours.
  • Australian of the Year (Victoria). 
  • Honorary Fellow of the Oxford Centre of Animal Ethics, UK.
  • Distinguished Alumni Award from The University of Adelaide.
  • Australian Humanitarian Award, Australia
  • Supreme Master Shining World Hero Award, Asia
  • Cottonian of Eminence Award, India
  • Humanitarian Award McKee Project, Costa Rica
  • Sea Shepherd Volunteer of the Decade, Australia
  • The Albert Schweitzer Award, USA
  • The Peter Singer Prize and Medal, Berlin, Germany
  Ladies and gentlemen……………… Mr Philip Wollen

The Jains Gift of Ahimsa – Path to Change October, 2020 Philip Wollen

The Anglo-Indian writer and Nobel Laureate, Rudyard Kipling wrote of young men dying in WW 1: “And if they ask you why we died; tell them that our fathers lied”. That legacy of lies continues today.