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Michael Dell Pledges $36M in Harvey Relief
- QAPereo 9y agoThis is great news, but a nitpick, it isn't Michael Dell pledging, but his foundation. Michael Dell, the billionaire Texan who founded Dell Technologies, has pledged $36 million of his foundation’s money to help disaster relief efforts in the wake of Hurricane Harvey. The gift from the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation is the largest donation to date aimed at recovery efforts.
- phd514 9y agoThat's kind of a distinction without a difference since the foundation is just the mechanism through which Dell makes philanthropic contributions.
- Retric 9y agoHe may have already donated this money to the org. So, this may be funding allocation not a donation. Or this could be new money I am not sure.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- brandon272 9y agoAgain, distinction without a difference. Is it a "funding allocation" if I was going to spend $100 on a night out but choose to donate it instead? It's both. And still just as much a donation.
- Retric 9y agoErr, if this is not clear to you. You can setup a charity and get a tax deduction in the year you set it up without actually allocating the money. Now that it's in the charity it's not your money in that you can't legally use it on a night out. So, there is a very big difference in donation = tax deduction, allocation = no additional tax deduction.
- fooey 9y agoSeems that's also what Trump is doing, he's using foundation money, not his own personal money.
- dxhdr 9y agoWhere do you think the foundation gets its money? http://philanthropynewsdigest.org/news/michael-and-susan-dell-commit-additional-1-billion-to-foundation http://philanthropynewsdigest.org/news/michael-and-susan-del...
- dlp211 9y agoBut Trump allegedly doesn't donate to his own foundation unlike the Dell's or the Gate's foundations.
- cgb223 9y agoDo you have any kind of source on that?
- aaronblohowiak 9y agoFarenthold's reporting covers it quite extensively
- cgb223 9y agoLink?
- aaronblohowiak 9y agohttps://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-boasts-of-his-philanthropy-but-his-giving-falls-short-of-his-words/2016/10/29/b3c03106-9ac7-11e6-a0ed-ab0774c1eaa5_story.html?utm_term=.85d0da236eec https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-boasts-of-his-... But there are others as well.. he won the pulitzer for his reporting on this
- solotronics 9y agoDell is an outstanding Texan this is great to hear.. I donated as well but mine was a little shy of $36M
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- rabidrat 9y agoMichael Dell is worth $22.9 billion; $36m is 0.157% of his wealth. For you to donate an equivalent amount, you only have to donate $157 per $100k of your net worth.
- icelancer 9y agoNot only does money not scale linearly like that, Michael Dell's net worth is very volatile and illiquid, making a straight comparison not all that helpful.
- Gustomaximus 9y agoI get the feeling this was a glib example interest/amusement not to be take as an economic truism. And I suggest if you going to jump on any statement an claim its wrong, include information to back up your assertion. I like to think HN comments add value and we don't encourage taking easy pot shots at comments. For that reason I gave you a downvote, and also took the time to explain why I feel that was needed.
- dokument 9y agoThat sounds more impressive than ฿7.4k
- corporateslave3 9y agoYou mean hes reallocating 36M of his taxes usually paid, as write offs to the Houston Relief
- uluyol 9y agoYes, find some way to take something good that someone has done and make it look bad.
- acchow 9y agoAlso, this is not how tax deductions work.
- JumpCrisscross 9y ago> You mean hes reallocating 36M of his taxes usually paid It sounds like you've never made a charitable donation under the American tax code. A dollar donated isn't a dollar saved. A dollar donated is (1-marginal tax rate) dollars saved.
- sgc 9y ago1 * marginal tax rate... so for most people who can afford larger donations, 25-35 cents.
- selectodude 9y agoHe's reallocating 39.6 percent of 36mm to Harvey victims instead of his taxes. If you're going to be a clown at least get it right.
- dlp211 9y agoIn addition to this, how much you can deduct is limited in multiple capacities, so he may not even be able to deduct the full amount. https://www.irs.gov/charities-non-profits/charitable-organizations/charitable-contribution-deductions https://www.irs.gov/charities-non-profits/charitable-organiz...
- 9y ago
- RickJWag 9y agoThanks, Michael! Paging Mark Cuban.....
- sremani 9y agoAccording to this link, http://www.mysanantonio.com/business/local/article/Forbes-Texas-billionaires-total-50-San-Antonio-4-11015381.php http://www.mysanantonio.com/business/local/article/Forbes-Te... There are 50 billionaires in Texas, thus far the Houston Texans owner promised $10 million and Dell $36 million.
- thesagan 9y agoAlso good to remember a lot of donors prefer anonymity. You may not be aware of all the big donors. :)
- danans 9y agoSincere props to Michael Dell and other very wealthy individuals who are donating generously, but it raises the question of why this sort of gesture is even necessary in our society. Making people financially whole and getting them back on their feet in the aftermath of a disaster of these proportions should be handled by insurance, and when that falls short, the government. The problem is not that the money is private, but that it's donation relies on the compassion of individuals, not on laws. If that's not the case and these donations are a tiny portion of the funds for the relief effort, then why do we make such a big deal about them, when there are probably a lot of other people who have donated a similar percentage of their (much smaller) net worth?
- baddox 9y agoI'm not sure what to think of that attitude. I understand the motivation, but I find this statement particularly odd: > donation relies on the compassion of individuals, not on laws. It would be odd to expect laws to be more compassionate on average than all the individuals under the laws, particularly in an ostensibly democratic society. Yet I can think of several plausible reasons to expect laws to be less compassionate on average than individuals.
- dragonwriter 9y ago> It would be odd to expect laws to be more compassionate on average than all the individuals under the laws, particularly in an ostensibly democratic society. Not if you assume that compassion isn't complete selflessness, and at least some of the population understands on some level the adverse incentives associated with things that are game-theoretically similar to tragedy of the commons.
- diogenescynic 9y agoI think they are saying rights/laws/protections are better than relying on charity.
- aylmao 9y agoIt's not about compassion, it's about having systems in place for situations like these. Laws encode behavior that should always happen. Compassion is private, and having thousands rely on it is not a reliable practice.
- bicx 9y ago36x what Trump has donated
- NetStrikeForce 9y agoIncorrect. 36x of what Trump has donated would be 0.
- amagaeru 9y agoHow much did you donate?
- criddell 9y agoMy daughter was hospitalized a few years ago and spent a couple of days in Dell Children's Hospital in Austin. Everybody we dealt with there was fantastic and the facility was wonderful. The Dells have done a lot of great things for Texas.
- gesman 9y agoGents, Don't be too judgemental about it. Let's hope that these money will actually reach victims. Which is not given.
- hsnewman 9y agoOn a religious note, the probable reason the amount is $36M is that 18 is a special value in Judaism. In Hebrew the word chai (which means "to life")is represented as the number 18, and it is considered a good deed to give donations in that amount. He and his wife apparently combined their $18M amounts. For more: http://www.shiva.com/learning-center/commemorate/chai/ http://www.shiva.com/learning-center/commemorate/chai/