Andreessen Horowitz to give half their earnings to charity • Hacker News Board

Re: Andreessen Horowitz to give half their earnings to charity

#11

Post by amirmc » Wed, Apr 25, 2012, 9:42 PM UTC

jgmmo wrote: post #8

Bah! Entrepreneurs should reinvest their profits into more businesses. Profits are the reward you get for serving society effectively. Society would probably be better served if Bill Gates, etc. reinvested their cash instead of donating to charities. If charities actually cost-effectively served society than they would be a business instead!

Have you looked at the kinds of things Gates is actually funding? It's the kind of stuff most people overlook as there's little to no profit in it.

"... we think an essential role of philanthropy is to make bets on promising solutions that governments and businesses can’t afford to make."

http://www.gatesfoundation.org/about/Pages/bill-melinda-gate...

Re: Andreessen Horowitz to give half their earnings to charity

#12

Post by jgmmo » Wed, Apr 25, 2012, 9:44 PM UTC

jcampbell1 wrote: post #10

I am frankly a bit saddened by this. These guys are some of the best in the world at deploying capital. Humanity would be better served if they continued to invest their own money. Now these guys half-work for some charity, and when the charity doesn't deliver great results, they will feel like they are half-working for little results. It is a mistake for the best capital allocators to pledge future earnings. They sh…

I concur. I think you expressed my thoughts on this better then I did myself.

Re: Andreessen Horowitz to give half their earnings to charity

#13

Post by yesbabyyes » Wed, Apr 25, 2012, 9:44 PM UTC

jgmmo wrote: post #8

Bah! Entrepreneurs should reinvest their profits into more businesses. Profits are the reward you get for serving society effectively. Society would probably be better served if Bill Gates, etc. reinvested their cash instead of donating to charities. If charities actually cost-effectively served society than they would be a business instead!

How about you decide what you do with your money, and Bill Gates and Marc Andreessen decide what they do with their money?

Re: Andreessen Horowitz to give half their earnings to charity

#14

Post by jgmmo » Wed, Apr 25, 2012, 9:48 PM UTC

yesbabyyes wrote: post #13

jgmmo wrote: post #8

Bah! Entrepreneurs should reinvest their profits into more businesses. Profits are the reward you get for serving society effectively. Society would probably be better served if Bill Gates, etc. reinvested their cash instead of donating to charities. If charities actually cost-effectively served society than they would be a business instead!

How about you decide what you do with your money, and Bill Gates and Marc Andreessen decide what they do with their money?

Well of course I'm not suggesting we forcibly make them do anything with their money. I am just saying, in terms of societal net benefit, we are probably much better off if our most successful investors continue investing in more businesses rather than charities. Not a fan of thought experiments?

Re: Andreessen Horowitz to give half their earnings to charity

#15

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Apr 25, 2012, 9:49 PM UTC

jgmmo wrote: post #8

Bah! Entrepreneurs should reinvest their profits into more businesses. Profits are the reward you get for serving society effectively. Society would probably be better served if Bill Gates, etc. reinvested their cash instead of donating to charities. If charities actually cost-effectively served society than they would be a business instead!

[deleted]

Re: Andreessen Horowitz to give half their earnings to charity

#16

Post by daenz » Wed, Apr 25, 2012, 9:50 PM UTC

Though I'm not religious, there's a specific set of bible verses I think of when I see news of someone being publicly charitable:

1 Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven. 2 Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. 3 But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 that your charitable deed may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly.

--Matthew 6:1-4

I think it means that the spirit of charity is purest when it is anonymous.

Re: Andreessen Horowitz to give half their earnings to charity

#17

Post by zmitri » Wed, Apr 25, 2012, 9:51 PM UTC

jcampbell1 wrote: post #10

I am frankly a bit saddened by this. These guys are some of the best in the world at deploying capital. Humanity would be better served if they continued to invest their own money. Now these guys half-work for some charity, and when the charity doesn't deliver great results, they will feel like they are half-working for little results. It is a mistake for the best capital allocators to pledge future earnings. They sh…

It's unbelievable how much genius is wasted in poverty.

What if those charitable dollars helped someone in an absolute destitute situation, who later turned out to be a success?

Let me give you an example. In New York there is a non profit called "East New York Farms." If you aren't aware, East New York is one the roughest places you can come across in Brooklyn. They provide kids with the chance to run an organic garden from both the operational/agricultural side and the business side of things. And on top of that, they sell it in the local neighborhood. I talked to a girl who didn't know what broccoli was before she did this program. Her parents just gave her honeybuns from the corner store for dinner. Now they have Whole Foods quality vegetables in the middle of a destitute area for cheap, and it services the community. https://goodkarmaapp.com/np/enyfarms

Think of the marginal increase a dollar creates there vs going to a kid from a top university.

Re: Andreessen Horowitz to give half their earnings to charity

#18

Post by rjshade » Wed, Apr 25, 2012, 9:53 PM UTC

This is great. Something people often disregard, but which is hugely important, is charity effectiveness. This boils down to measuring the impact that you can make with a given donation: it turns out some charities are literally thousands of times more effective than others.

A lot of people don't realise how much good they can do with modest donations to the right charities -- until a year ago I really had no idea myself. There are a couple of groups which I know of which do analysis of charity effectiveness:

* Giving What We Can (http://www.givingwhatwecan.org/) are an Oxford, UK based organisation who estimate that you can save a life for ~£300.

* GiveWell (http://givewell.org/) are a US group who do similar research

They both publish lists of the most effective charities they've researched, and Giving What We Can have a calculator which shows you how much you can achieve by donating 10% of your income each year:

http://www.givingwhatwecan.org/resources/what-you-can-achiev...

I think these stats are astonishing and it's really changed my approach to charity. Worth checking out if you're interested at all in philanthropy!

Re: Andreessen Horowitz to give half their earnings to charity

#19

Post by yesbabyyes » Wed, Apr 25, 2012, 9:54 PM UTC

jcampbell1 wrote: post #10

I am frankly a bit saddened by this. These guys are some of the best in the world at deploying capital. Humanity would be better served if they continued to invest their own money. Now these guys half-work for some charity, and when the charity doesn't deliver great results, they will feel like they are half-working for little results. It is a mistake for the best capital allocators to pledge future earnings. They sh…

You are saddened by other people giving money to charity? As in, that makes you sad?

As stated in the fine article, this is their management fees. So e.g. when they invest $1.5 billion, they will give about $15 million to charity.

It saddens me that you rally on these friggin' aces instead of people not putting their money to work, nor giving it to charity.

Re: Andreessen Horowitz to give half their earnings to charity

#20

Post by danilocampos » Wed, Apr 25, 2012, 9:55 PM UTC

jcampbell1 wrote: post #10

I am frankly a bit saddened by this. These guys are some of the best in the world at deploying capital. Humanity would be better served if they continued to invest their own money. Now these guys half-work for some charity, and when the charity doesn't deliver great results, they will feel like they are half-working for little results. It is a mistake for the best capital allocators to pledge future earnings. They sh…

> when the charity doesn't deliver great results, they will feel like they are half-working for little results.

What information do you have about their decision making process that makes you believe that they will select charities that don't deliver great results?

What about success in venture capital, in your view, would prevent these individuals from successfully selecting/starting/advising philanthropic endeavors?

I have a hunch, for example, that Marc Andreessen isn't going to roll up and pour a bag full of money out into the little jar the Salvation Army Santa runs outside of Macy's.