4 ms·

Did you miss the last two centuries where philanthropists built universities named after themselves (or their family members)? "Surplus wealth is a sacred trus

Did you miss the last two centuries where philanthropists built universities named after themselves (or their family members)? "Surplus wealth is a sacred trust which its possessor is bound to administer in his lifetime for the good of the community." - Andrew Carnegie

larrys 14y ago
I have no idea how your comment relates to what I've said. I said "Seems that over the last several years or so there has been an uptick in wealthy people using peer pressure to get other wealthy people to give away their money" Did you miss this? http://givingpledge.org/#enter http://givingpledge.org/#enter
- rooshdi 14y ago
  Is there peer pressure? Sure, but at the end of the day, everyone of them made a personal decision to make that pledge. Could they have redistributed their resources to more businesses? Ok, but they chose the charitable route. Are there people that need these resources more than businesses? Absolutely: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennium_Development_Goals#Goal_1:_Eradicate_extreme_poverty_and_hunger http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennium_Development_Goals#Go... Sadly, we do not live in a perfect world. The resources and opportunities we take for granted are the same ones others do not have. Giving others a chance at the life and opportunities that were given to us is probably the wisest investment of all. The returns are deeper than dollars.
pmarca 14y ago
Interestingly, many of our investors (LPs), and many LPs of our fellow venture firms, are nonprofit institutions such as universities and foundations that were originally started by people with names like Carnegie, Rockefeller, Ford, Stanford (a "robber baron" of his age), Yale (a governor of the British East India Company of all things), Hewlett, Packard, and the like. Money earned through capitalism that got plowed into nonprofits that invest in modern venture capital -- it's a wonderful cycle.

larrys 14y ago

I have no idea how your comment relates to what I've said. I said "Seems that over the last several years or so there has been an uptick in wealthy people using peer pressure to get other wealthy people to give away their money" Did you miss this? http://givingpledge.org/#enter http://givingpledge.org/#enter

rooshdi 14y ago
Is there peer pressure? Sure, but at the end of the day, everyone of them made a personal decision to make that pledge. Could they have redistributed their resources to more businesses? Ok, but they chose the charitable route. Are there people that need these resources more than businesses? Absolutely: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennium_Development_Goals#Goal_1:_Eradicate_extreme_poverty_and_hunger http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennium_Development_Goals#Go... Sadly, we do not live in a perfect world. The resources and opportunities we take for granted are the same ones others do not have. Giving others a chance at the life and opportunities that were given to us is probably the wisest investment of all. The returns are deeper than dollars.

pmarca 14y ago

Interestingly, many of our investors (LPs), and many LPs of our fellow venture firms, are nonprofit institutions such as universities and foundations that were originally started by people with names like Carnegie, Rockefeller, Ford, Stanford (a "robber baron" of his age), Yale (a governor of the British East India Company of all things), Hewlett, Packard, and the like. Money earned through capitalism that got plowed into nonprofits that invest in modern venture capital -- it's a wonderful cycle.