How would you spend $10M altruistically?

[stephenkohnle53]

I would give the money to some of my friends and acquaintances who have monetary issues. I would also put money into creating scholarships and to revamp my town since we have very little industry and a not so good education system. I would also use the money I donate to try to get my school to care about STEM since they currently do not. I would also put money into real estate to help fund all of this.

 

[dipole]

I think education is the number one way to make a difference in the world. If everyone were as educated as the typical people who frequent this forum, I think many of the problems people face would simply evaporate.

So I'd somehow like to use that money to promote education - possibly in poor countries were $10M can be stretched much further than in America.

 

[lekh2003]

I would invest it in the stock market, cryptocurrencies, real estate, etc. I would open a fund in which all profits from these investments would end up. When I come of age to attend university, I will use some money for my education and living expenses.

I will try and get a well-paying job and continue to send small amounts of money to investment. Eventually, I hope my money triples or quadruples. When I die, I will donate 50% to UNICEF, UNHCR, and other UN subsidiaries. 25%, I will put towards research funding for STEM, space exploration and whatever medical advancements are needed by then. Final 25%, I will open orphanages which offer learning in the STEM field for all children.

 

[mathwonk]

I agree that education is the best way to change lives, and like Russ, I also like the results from efforts I have read of to promise college tuition to elementary schoolers. $10M is only about 40 full 4-yr scholarships to schools like Harvard, so I would provide something like that to a few dozen talented kids who would otherwise not go to such destinations, trying to accompany it with guidance that would help them succeed. Experience (mine) and studies show that even bright students from poor quality high schools often do not know how to survive at elite colleges without significant coaching and support.

 

[Vanadium 50]

But $10 million is simply not enough to do so (as @Vanadium 50 has already indicated here on this thread).

You could endow one or two university professorships. Or a few hundred grad school fellowships. But $10M is a drop in the bucket - less than 0.02% of US annual nondefense R&D.

 

[nitsuj]

You could endow one or two university professorships. Or a few hundred grad school fellowships. But $10M is a drop in the bucket - less than 0.02% of US annual nondefense R&D.

Small world I suppose

 

[nitsuj]

Perhaps I should clarify. When people talk about giving altruistically, most of the ideas discussed involved some form of charity donation (like the example you gave of a $2 cholera vaccine). As someone who works within the health care field as a biostatistician, I am well aware of how vaccines can save lives, and I fully acknowledge that saving lives have "real world impact".

My point (such as it is), is my belief in how such vaccines (or any other discovery) is made. My interest is in basic science, which is the bedrock of all other scientific and technological developments, including those that could directly benefit all of humanity. The primary source of funding for basic science comes primarily from governments -- and many governments across the world have been under pressure to reduce such funding as part of overall fiscal pressures on to keep control of their budget, or have cut them to fulfill a political agenda (most recent example, the tax bill that has passed the US Senate).

To me, if I had somehow won a large amount of money, say, through a lottery, I would want to create or fund an alternative source for basic scientific research that is accessible to all scientists. But $10 million is simply not enough to do so (as @Vanadium 50 has already indicated here on this thread). An order of magnitude of $10 billion might be more meaningful.

Odd that to be an altruistic action you'd need to abstain from it's benefits lol

 

[kyphysics]

Just $10M?

Man . . . I was hoping for more! So much good needs to be done that requires money that it's hard to know where to even begin.

I'd say, for me, a few areas of passion are:

1.) Getting money out of politics in the U.S.A.
2.) Climate change
3.) Child hunger and nutrition

I'd maybe do a 33.33333% split amongst those three causes. But that'd mean only $3.3 million for each cause, which feels like not much at all to even create a dent into the problem.

I wish you'd given us an imaginary $1B to work with!

 

[Stephen Tashi]

I'd consider founding and funding some non-profit organizations to do various useful things - basic research in the phenomena of addiction, an online site to provide clear documentation of repair procedures for cars and appliances.