Donating Money to Innovation
Overcoming Bias makes an interesting point about societal contributions. In talking about how rich people often donate large sums of money to have their name put on stuff (hospital wings, academic institutions), the author, Robin Hanson, wonders whether that money couldn’t be better put to use funding innovation:
But when folks like Alex [Grass, founder or Rite Aid,] spend their later years trying to “do good” with the millions they were paid for actually doing good, they usually end up pissing it away. We already have too much medicine and academia, because such things are mainly wasteful signals. We didn’t need and shouldn’t be thankful for more hospital wings or lecture halls. Imagine how much more good could have been done instead via millions spent trying to make more innovative products or organizations.
Of course the latter strategy is far from guaranteed to succeed, leaving the rich person with a much-less well-rounded life story (theoretically), but it’s a good point.
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I definitely find that people who give are thinking about the story they can tell about themselves. All of us are, and we all want a story worth telling, and retelling after we’re gone. To me, there is a great story about being someone who is willing to take risks, do things differently, invest in possibility by supporting innovation. Part of what makes these stories powerful is when other people are willing to tell them. So part of our work at Acumen Fund is not only to tell the story behind our work – the story of a world where all people, rich and poor, have access to the basic goods and services they need and the freedom to make choices for themselves – but also to build a community of storytellers that can share is exciting about this story. A la The Blue Sweater, Jacqueline Novogratz’s book, a simple story about a donated sweater, shared with the right people, can inspire real change around the world.