You are extremely wealthy. What's a more altruistic use of your money?

[Delano]

Poll question: You are extremely wealthy. What's a more altruistic use of your money?

I'm annoyed by the billions being spent on "charities". Aside from the fact that they have to use half what they take in trying to raise MORE money (highly inefficient), "charities seem to be all about a) shifting the burden of societal problems from being equally spread among all citizens who can afford to contribute to just those of us with enough conscience to care, and b) stroking the egos of rich donors by putting their names on plaques, etc. ( I always thought that charity was something that should be done anonymously if truly sincere)

So...



You are extremely wealthy. What's a more altruistic use of your money?

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. C) Anonymously build a new shelter

[ewagner]

2. Yep!

That's the right thing to do.

[Delano]

3. I realize my ideas here are a bit muddled....

Building a commuinity center on your own, there would not be the problem of waste inherent to the "charities"

I don't know if I'm making sense here, but I hate that charities are filling a gap that SHOULD NOT BE THERE in the first place...

[displacedtexan]

4. I would endow janitorships (for both men and women) at $50K per year...

and hand out full liberal arts college scholarships to as many kids as possible.

[SheilaT]

5. Those are my only choices?

Not all charities spend half their money raising money. You need to check out specific charities.

Anyway, what I've long wanted to do if I had enough money, would be to work with groups already working with the homeless, to help the homeless get established in some kind of housing. I'd have a fund that would provide household necessities, because a homeless person isn't going to have the basics of living, like sheets and towels, cutlery, dishes, pots & pans, and so on. Cleaning supplies. The list goes on and on.

And I'd do it anonymously.

added on edit:
I'd also give significant money to the National Alopecia Areata Foundation.

[Delano]

8. Of course - it's a hypothetical.

In real life, you could spend half on activism, half on building centers, whatever.

I've often thought I would build some nice condos, then rent them out REALLY cheap to struggling single moms on low incomes, something like that...

[demigoddess]

18. I've thought that too

Only I was thinking houses. I would like to rehab a neighborhood for mothers with handicapped children. You know, Bathrooms with the needed changes, playgrounds or indoor play areas and transportation to doctors etc. And preschools and day care next to every elementary. If I had Bill Gates money I sure could put it to good use.

[Beaker]

6. I have to go with building the centers...

Because donating it to candidates, thinking that they are actually going to shift the tax burden would be pissing into the wind.
$200 million wouldn't make a dimes worth of difference in the process or the system, whereas the community centers might help foster more of a sense of community at the grassroots level, and change some attitudes- that's the only way that things are going to change.

[whistle]

7. Our government is already using tax money for altruistic purposes...

...read this.


Dirty Laundry
How our government screws itself, everyone else, and the disabled
by Tom Adkins
03/01/04

Did you know a government has created a special organization that competes against American companies, pays its workers third-world wages, and primarily used blind and disabled people? And this government also gives undisclosed interest-free loans and fat cash grants to this agency, who then crushes small American companies by engineering no-bid contracts. And they often charge up to four times as much for the same services. With their bloated bank accounts, they pay their directors and CEOs ungodly salaries, who then invite buddies into their organization, grant them special insider-contracts, monster salaries, and huge Enron-style parties, complete with giant feasts and world-class entertainers.

<snip>

Is it those dastardly Chinese? Those clever Indians? Maybe those new Eastern European capitalists? Hah! They wish they were so diabolical. The answer should come as no surprise. It’s the United States government.

<more>

http://commonconservative.com/adkins/adkins164.html

[sui generis]

9. both

life isn't black and white -- some foundations use the interest earned on their investments to subsidize their good works, and the relative success of those foundations is often based on association with a famous donor, which helps motivate other not-so-famous donors to participate too. Life is not egalitarian. You do what works. I agree the government needs to pick up more of the tab and more effectively, but noblesse oblige is wishful thinking. If someone is kind enough to do something extraordinary with their personal money who cares if they want credit for it or not. I don't want to be that kind of pissy judgemental if they do, and it is still unusual enough that they should get credit for it anyway. Finally, the reason people donate anonymously is not always because of humility. It's most often to keep every other charity in the world from ruthlessly hunting you down for a similar donation.

[JNelson6563]

10. My hubby and I have talked of this

and one of the things we would do if we were to wake up fabulously wealthy one day is put music into the hands of all kids who want it.

We are average income and we make the installment payments on a violin and a cello. We also pay for private lessons. This musical experience has done wonders for both of my kids in so many ways. I would make sure there was $$ available for all to do this.

The good reasons are hard to count but, for starters, they would learn a universal language (music) that would open pathways for them to have some kind of dialogue with people anywhere in the world.

Julie

[Mr.Green93]

11. no one should be "extremely wealthy"

tax wealth and income

[forgethell]

12. It's true that

most private charities are businesses run more for the benefit of the executives than for the needy. But how is this different from government beaucracies run for the benefit of the civil servants rather than the recipient? In both cases the distributors do very well, indeed.

That being said, I do not know the best way to get resources to the truly needy, although I agree it has to be done someway.

[BringEmOn]

13. Have to go with number one

The few candidates who still believe in these ideals can't get elected. Hell, they can't even get nominated and are ridiculed by many so called liberals.

Or, you could give the money to a politician who will spend half of your money trying to raise more money.

[enki23]

14. two. with a caveat

it shouldn't be anonymous, or secret. it should be out in the open, and it should involve more than direct donations to political organizations and individuals.

[IrateCitizen]

15. I'd suggest you find out about Bernard Rappoport...

... if you want one of the best examples of how to use great wealth for great societal benefit.

Molly Ivins and Lou DuBose devote an entire chapter to "B." in their book Bushwhacked. A few caveats:

1. Despite being worth a few "units" (that's Texan for a few hundred million dollars), B and his wife Audry still live in a modest, "regular" house in the Waco, TX area. Audry still shops for clothes at department stores, and the two live frugally. Their only son, a professor at the Univ. of Texas, wants nothing to do with an inheritance.

2. B started his own charter school in the Waco area that takes from the neediest students in the Waco area based on a lottery. The school spends approx. $20K per year on each student. Most are on full breakfast and lunch programs, and come from impoverished households living below the poverty line. Most are also African-American. Despite the economic status into which the students are born in, they read, on average, at a level a full grade and a half higher than the grade they are in. They check books out of the fully-stocked library in droves. B still makes a habit of visiting the school whenever he can, at which time he is often swarmed and literally climbed over by the younger children, causing B to remark how truly "rich" he really is -- not from his financial wealth, but by the difference he is able to make in these kids' lives and the love they give him in return.

Take a little time to read this chapter. I promise you you'll be misty-eyed at the end of it.

[Delano]

16. Wow - a charter school that's not a sham outfit - that's news!

Most of them are horrible.

[Cleita]

17. Although I wouldn't turn anyone way who was in need, a long

term solution would be to get government leaders elected who would push for social programs to help the underclasses rise out of the circle of poverty and ignorance into middle class prosperity.