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Effective nonprofits

blog.jacobtrefethen.com · 2,702 words · saved by 1 readers

The most striking fact about philanthropy to me is how little money rich people give away. It is well known that we all die, and that leaving overwhelming wealth to your children can make their lives worse not better, so the alternatives don't seem that hard for philanthropy to beat. Why do people hold on to the money? I am not aware of accurate data on private wealth, but as a first approximation this Forbes list says 74 people/family units in America have $10 billion dollars or more in net worth, and only 9 have given away more than 10% of it. 10% of their total wealth is a low bar; I prefer 5% per year as the bar, which is how America thinks about private foundations. So, that’s fewer than 9 out of 74. And hey, perhaps I’m settling for too little even at 5% per year – many religious people with no family wealth and a normal job give away 10% of their income. Some non-religious people too. For those 74, if you don’t have a plan for hitting >5%/year soon, it just keeps growing and get

The most striking fact about philanthropy to me is how little money rich people give away. It is well known that we all die , and that leaving overwhelming wealth to your children can make their lives worse not better, so the alternatives don't seem that hard for philanthropy to beat. Why do people hold on to the money? I am not aware of accurate data on private wealth, but as a first approximation this Forbes list says 74 people/family units in America have $10 billion dollars or more in net worth, and only 9 have given away more than 10% of it. 10% of their total wealth is a low bar; I prefe

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