Problem is that giving money to uni's, nowadays, seems like money down the drain... With the exponentially rising costs and less focus on serious science, they are basically just places you go for diplomas/certificates. It's like the letters in Catholicism – those that buy you salvation – which Luther et. al. rebelled against. "You either go to Yale or you go to jail"...
Should've started a scientific school for poor, gifted kids in India, like Pabrai ( youtube.com ) ... or a top-performing school in Harlem, like Joel Greenblatt ( nymag.com ), instead.
One should think like a good value investor when giving one's money away, too, IMO. Where would they do the most good? Where will I get the most "good for my buck"? Etc.
(Or if you plan to start you own charity, you should think like one should think when coming up with a business plan: "what important thing is nobody working on?")
One shouldn't IMO approach it with the shot gun/spray can VC approach, which Buffett took with Bill Gates's "long shot bets".
A charity has always struck me as the perfect way to give. Then you have compound interest "legislated" into the charity's rules – and no-one can come and mess up your compounding machine. |
