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Donate Unrestricted

paulgraham.com

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Re: Donate Unrestricted

#201

Post by MattGaiser »

l2silver wrote: post #193

I recently helped to found DigLit.ca, and non profit that helps build technology for other nonprofits. What we've found when dealing with nonprofits is that a lot of the smaller organizations are, suprise suprise, struggling to survive. They're trying to carryout their general missions, but unless they have some kind of consistent funding model, a lot of their energy is turned towards keeping the organization alive.…

I once had an interview where one of the questions asked was whether I was on working on non-consumer facing products.

They apparently had past hires be angry about doing so.

Re: Donate Unrestricted

#202

Post by m463 »

ralmidani wrote: post #94

Over the years my opinion of non-profits has become less, shall we say, “charitable”; society has a tendency to glorify non-profits because they “don’t have shareholders” but, in reality, a lot of non-profits give peanuts to those at the bottom (with some even working for free) while executives get far more than a living salary. And whether you’re an educational institution, an insurance provider, or an NGO, being an…

I'm uncertain of the reality of deferable interest free loans, but I agree for the need for checks and balances when it comes to non-profits.

I think the key would be clarity of mission.

It might be as simple as maintaining a letter-grade of B or above on charitywatch.

I would hope it would be something with more teeth though, like requiring signal to be end-to-end encrypted (for real, not like zoom)

Re: Donate Unrestricted

#203

Post by temp8964 »

sjg007 wrote: post #178
temp8964 wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> We probably need a way to pay parents to help their kids with school. Check this great interview: Glenn Loury & Roland Fryer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RL1peNBAnns

That was a great interview. I wonder if we could engage college grads and college students with tutoring jobs that reduce their student loans at the national level. You could do some amount of tutoring and get a credit reduction. This way you don't have to do a Teach for America type job or work for a nonprofit but maybe get a little help paying things down.

Maybe a good idea, if combined with vouchers / education savings credit.

Re: Donate Unrestricted

#204

Post by m463 »

hirundo wrote: post #6

He didn't mention the little problem of the fungibility of money. If a school gets two $100k donations, and one comes with a "no stem cell research" restriction, then it usually isn't a problem to spend the other donation on that, and the restricted one on the road maintenance that would have been done anyway. So a restricted donation is really only effectively restrictive if it significantly outweighs the rest.

Yeah, but...

You don't want a situation like tips and doordash either.

Re: Donate Unrestricted

#205

Post by JMTQp8lwXL »

ralmidani wrote: post #94

Over the years my opinion of non-profits has become less, shall we say, “charitable”; society has a tendency to glorify non-profits because they “don’t have shareholders” but, in reality, a lot of non-profits give peanuts to those at the bottom (with some even working for free) while executives get far more than a living salary. And whether you’re an educational institution, an insurance provider, or an NGO, being an…

Giving an interest-free loan would not come with the tax benefits of a donation to a 501(c)(3). Often times, gifts are made with appreciated shares to reduce the giver's tax liability. I agree with the problem you point out, but I'm unsure of the practicality of the solution for high net worth individuals.

Re: Donate Unrestricted

#206

Post by sjg007 »

temp8964 wrote: post #203
sjg007 wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That was a great interview. I wonder if we could engage college grads and college students with tutoring jobs that reduce their student loans at the national level. You could do some amount of tutoring and get a credit reduction. This way you don't have to do a Teach for America type job or work for a nonprofit but maybe get a little help paying things down.

Maybe a good idea, if combined with vouchers / education savings credit.

What do vouchers and education savings credit do?

Re: Donate Unrestricted

#207

Post by colinmhayes »

websites2323 wrote: post #115
analog31 wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Michigan.

Interesting. It seems to be a similar story in multiple states. I oppose state funded gambling, and this is one reason.

If the alternative is more taxes or worse service isn't taxing gambling a good option?

Re: Donate Unrestricted

#208

Post by xirbeosbwo1234 »

remote_phone wrote: post #133
xirbeosbwo1234 wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem with that is, in part, that they ignored the spirit of the donation, but also that the proper amount for a university to spend on a scoreboard is twelve dollars and thirty-seven cents. OK, that's a bit unrealistic. I could build them one for a few hundred, though, and they could pay a student $50 to flip over the numbers during the game.

> I could build them one for a few hundred No, you couldn’t. It has to keep working for years/decades, be maintainable, survive bad weather conditions, etc. even if you made the scoreboard out of wood and painted it, it would have to be large enough so that the stadium could see, the paint would fade and it would take weeks to make it, etc.

You're right, I couldn't.

But I could buy one off the shelf for $25k! That's how much scoreboards cost if you want to show the score, not play full-color video. LED panels are cheap if you only need to show text. It's keeping up with the Joneses that's expensive.

Re: Donate Unrestricted

#209

Post by rsj_hn »

furyofantares wrote: post #136
ralmidani wrote: post #94

Over the years my opinion of non-profits has become less, shall we say, “charitable”; society has a tendency to glorify non-profits because they “don’t have shareholders” but, in reality, a lot of non-profits give peanuts to those at the bottom (with some even working for free) while executives get far more than a living salary. And whether you’re an educational institution, an insurance provider, or an NGO, being an…

> If I wanted to donate a large amount of money to a non-profit, I would structure it as a zero-interest loan, and would just keep deferring the repayment of the loan as long as the org stays true to its mission, compensates executives in reasonable proportion to regular employees, etc. Not sure if I'm missing something, but this sounds totally ridiculous to me. You give 1M to someone you think is going to spend it w…

The problem is you have a huge principle-agent problem with these non-profits. In a standard corporate structure, shareholders elect members of the board who can replace the management. But who elects the board of a non-profit? Why not those who donate to them? There has to be some reliable mechanism to impose accountability by those who give funds.

Now lacking a mechanism for accountability, people give funds with all sorts of strings attached. But wouldn't it be better to give funds with a voting interest attached to the board instead?

Re: Donate Unrestricted

#210

Post by robocat »

Bostonian wrote: post #40

Here is an essay showing how women's higher education in the U.S. was boosted by restricted donations to universities: https://www.jamesgmartin.center/2021/02/feminist-college-fun... .

Nice counter-example from 1890 from article (condensed and paraphrased by me):

Johns Hopkins University wanted a medical school. It could not afford it, but had said they needed $500k.

Garrett, a lesbian, collaborated with her partner, M. Carey Thomas, and they successfully raised $100k and offered it to Hopkins on the condition that the medical school admit women “under the same terms as men.”

Hopkins’ trustees accepted the gift and the conditions the donors imposed and said they would invest the money until the rest of the $500k was sourced.

Hopkins president Daniel Coit Gilman then frantically tried to return the money. Although he never explicitly said so, Johnson suspects that was because he wanted the medical school to only admit men. “You do not realize Mr. Gilman’s grim determination,” Thomas wrote to Garrett, “it is with him a death struggle & money means nothing to him.”

In December 1892, Garrett made a second offer. She noted the fund given in 1890 had risen to $200k, and said she would donate the remaining $300k, provided the school would admit women on the same terms as men.

In 1893, the Hopkins trustees caved and accepted Garrett’s donation unconditionally. The Johns Hopkins medical school became a national model.

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