Political backlash from past donations has discouraged traditional public giving
The new wave of tech philanthropy coming this year and next is going to spend ~0% on art, architecture or endowments
I think it’s rather interesting that despite being far wealthier in absolute terms than a Vanderbilt or Carnegie or Stanford, and being directly positioned in an industry that could benefit from it, no tech elite has ever founded a university, and few have even given endowments
Many users criticized tech billionaires' philanthropy as wasteful or ineffective, citing failed donations like Newark schools, while others praised contributions to curing disease and large pledges like CZI's.
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@coryfromphilly i think beyond that most of these billionaires don't think very highly of colleges. so why would they donate money to build another one.
@coryfromphilly He tried twice, there was also the Newark public school grant that no one seems to remember.
Tech is new money. They have a middle class mentality towards money - they don't give it away.
Zuckerberg did try once, by donating to a hospital which they renamed after him.
SF Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to condemn this.
I think it’s rather interesting that despite being far wealthier in absolute terms than a Vanderbilt or Carnegie or Stanford, and being directly positioned in an industry that could benefit from it, no tech elite has ever founded a university, and few have even given endowments
@coryfromphilly bezos’s wife has given away billions with no strings attached to a lot of causes. really hard to say what the positive impact has been. likely a lot of it wasted.
@coryfromphilly Zuckerberg also gave $200M to some public school district in NJ (straight check with no conditions) and it was a disaster. Absolutely no measurable impact in any way.
@neildecrypt Doesn't need to be colleges. It could be another Coit Tower!
@coryfromphilly Andrew Carnegie was new money during the railway boom. It's about general societal attitudes towards charity and not about the supposed superiority of old money
@coryfromphilly Zuckerberg helped put Cory Booker in the Senate by funding a big reform effort in Newark schools, an episode which is now largely considered too awkward to remember
@coryfromphilly Carnegie and Vanderbilt came from middle class families too. You're making a comparison to a time before mass consumerism
@Pepperscorn @coryfromphilly i was friends with someone high up in the gates foundation who said nonprofits were often aghast when they would only give money conditional on results. everyone wanted condtionless money.
for whatever epstein stuff bill is up to the gates foundation does a lot of amazing work.
@neildecrypt Or libraries, or affordable apartments, or public transit, or...
@coryfromphilly Are we forgetting CZI?
@coryfromphilly When Zuck tried to give to a hospital, people complained. No matter what they do, it will be always the wrong thing for some reason.
@coryfromphilly @neildecrypt This is simply untrue. Most tech billionaires donate to oligarch at unprecedented levels. You don’t see their names because the priorities are different. Gates Foundation, Omidyar Network, Bezos Fund, Larry Page Fdn, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Sergei Brin Fdn, Chan-Zuck Initiative
@neildecrypt @coryfromphilly Yea I’d rather they keep it and invest than just throw it into the fire that is nonprofits
@coryfromphilly That was so incredibly stupid by the BOS. Hopefully the current board would not do that
@HaydnBelfield That's what Mackenzie Scott is for.
All the pointless saving lives stuff is for rationalists.
Creating and optimizing the Internet is like donating to 100,000,000 libraries. Technology has saved more lives and advanced medicine more than hundreds of hospitals. The tech leaders have enabled the elevation of global lifestyles throughout the developing world. Charity & distribution logistics have improved multiple times over.
@grayap9 @coryfromphilly Andrew Carnegie was also dirt poor as a child, and benefited from the personal library of a generous man, at which point he resolved to pay it forward
@coryfromphilly Why give money to communists?
