Advocacy | Philanthropy | Public Libraries
by Susan Crawford | Backchannel | 09 August 2017 |
Ira Gay Sealy/Getty Images
Imagine that you are Jeff Bezos.
For four hours two weeks ago, you were the richest person in the world.
And though Wall Street knocked you down a notch, pretty much everyone
thinks it’s inevitable that you’re going to be number one again. You’re
starting to be aware of the smell of the tar pits and you’re casting
about for a way to put all that loot to some good. You're eying the
Gates-Buffet Giving Pledge and thinking that if you donate half your
fortune it should make a difference. You're comfortable with making
older but meaningful institutions great again.
So
far, you’ve concentrated on things that might benefit our distant
successors—space travel, cancer treatments, AI, and a clock that will
keep running for 10,000 years. But you want to do something more
immediate. You say you want your philanthropic activity “to be helping
people in the here and now—short term—at the intersection of urgent need
and lasting impact.” You are open to suggestions–so much so that you
even recently tweeted a “request for ideas.” Read more...
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