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Shimon Sandler

Matzah, cream cheese, & salmon for breakfast with coffee: http://twitpic.com/37jj9

April 12 from Twitter - Comment - Like - Share

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Paul Buchheit

Assume that I'm going to get rid of $20,000 and my only concern is the "common good". Which of these is the best use of the money: give it to the Gates foundation, buy a hybrid car, invest it in a promising startup, invest it in the S&P500, give it to the US government, give it to a school, other?

April 10 - Comment - Like - Share

Kishore Balakrishnan, April Russo (app103), Vedran Rudelj and 87 other people liked this

Bonus points for giving your answer in ranked order (best to worst use of the money, for the common good). - Paul Buchheit

277 more comments

"The common good" is too broad. Pick issues that are important to you and strategically invest in them. Could be non-profit/foundation or for-profit, but the key is that you know your issue and you have identified people who are effectively dealing with it. - Jason Wehmhoener

That being said, I'd say Kiva is very interesting. - Jason Wehmhoener

Jason, assume that I don't know anything, which isn't far from the truth :) - Paul Buchheit

For the common good? 1. Invest it in a startup. 2. Buy a hybrid car. 3. Give it to the Gates foundation. 4. Give it to a school. 5. Invest it in the S&P 500. 6. Give it to the US government. - Robert Scoble

Trick question: Stuff it under your mattress! - sofarsoShawn

the car, benifits you, and sets example by doing what needs to be done - chaz2b

local school, Gates Foundation, startup, hybrid, S&P, gov't - MikeAmundsen

Hmm. Knowledge is power. $20K to one startup is a wise investment, $20K to another is just lighting it on fire. - Jason Wehmhoener

school, car, gates, startup, S&P, gov't. - AJ Kohn

As an economist, I refuse to answer on the grounds that it may incriminate me. Actually, I find the responses from others far more interesting than anything I could suggest. - Kevin D. White

Use the money to connect others to The Skoll Foundation. Fund Social Innovation projects that are transparent, under phenomenal governance and are making a huge difference. Start with NGO's - start your own - read -http://www.youngfoundation.org/publica... (free pdf) - michael sean wright

I think you should keep it local and focused on education, and I have a particular fund in mind: the ACDRF -- Adam College Debt Relief Foundation. Though your generous contribution would cover but a small part of this fine organization's operating costs, every dollar helps! Tax deductible status is admittedly questionable, though. - Adam Lasnik

The startup hires people, which increases all sorts of jobs in the economy. It has the biggest leverage. The hybrid car hires people, which is also good leverage. Giving it to the Gates foundation hires people, which is good leverage. Giving it to a school helps educate people, which is longer term, but is a good thing for society. Investing it in S&P helps increase stock prices, which increases our mood and makes it more likely others will go out and buy cars. Giving it to the government? Not much leverage - Robert Scoble

1. Invest it in a startup. 6. Buy a hybrid car. 6. Give it to the Gates foundation. 6. Give it to a school. 6. Invest it in the S&P 500. 6. Give it to the US government - Matsis

Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. - Mona Nomura

By the way, I bought two hybrids this month. - Robert Scoble

Mona: Bill and Melinda Gates can't give your $20,000 the most leverage. For one, they can't spend the money they have already. For two, your $20,000 really wouldn't help them that much. - Robert Scoble

Gates Foundation or any other philanthropic foundation you support would be #1 for me. - Mark Krynsky

Mark: that is NOT best for the "common" good. - Robert Scoble

startup. s&p. school. gates. hybrid. gov. - Kiran Patchigolla

1. school 2. startup 3. gates 4. hybrid car 5. s&p500 6. us government (1 & 2 are very close w/ a big gap to 3 and beyond)... - mike "glemak" dunn

Kiran: the Hybrid does more for the common good than the school or S&P does. The Hybrid increases chances people will get hired, and, anyway, it will make the S&P go up more. - Robert Scoble

www.heifer.org - Victor Ryden

Leverage is a dirty word these days by the way. The idea should be to increase the odds of a smash hit with high return for all of us. An investment in a Startup is the only one of the offered options, where 20k may have a significant influence. - Matsis

Robert...ok...how about a startup with a business plan specifically to benefit non-profit organizations? I'm all about killing 2 birds with one stone. - Mark Krynsky

Mark: that works. But it wouldn't have as much leverage as a startup that would attract customers and other investors. - Robert Scoble

Another biased option (since I work for X PRIZE) is to use the money to help fund a promising team in one of our competitions. Perhaps one entered into the Progressive Auto X PRIZE http://www.progressiveautoxprize.org/teams - Mark Krynsky

You could save 4,000 lives with $20,000 worth of mosquito nets. I'm not sure that is the best thing for the "common good", but it is hard to do better than saving lives. - Matt Griffith

Give it to Unitus to fund tens of thousands of Moms in Africa and their businesses - Jesse Stay

Matt: good point. I see the passalong effects of putting people to work. If you start a startup that goes all the way you'll create thousands of jobs and then there will be a lot more $20,000 piles to hand out to make mosquito nets. Look at how many people made money on Google. - Robert Scoble

Jesse: Unitus was started by Microsoft money. - Robert Scoble

Jason: yes, but when one succeeds it creates a HUGE amount of good for society. - Robert Scoble

Robert, it was also started with my Uncle's money. Dave McClure is also on the board. - Jesse Stay

Jesse: Dave's money is PayPal money. :-) - Robert Scoble

Robert, and my Uncle's money is FreeServers.com and About.com money :-) - Jesse Stay

Jesse: all startups that got successful. Leverage. - Robert Scoble

If you give it to me I'll invest the money I make from my business and invest in Unitus. :-) - Jesse Stay

Robert: Or you could do a start-up like PlayPumps. They improve/save lives and create jobs at the same time. - Matt Griffith

Jason: yes. But even a failed startup will employ people which increases the common good. Those employees will probably buy a new car. Or a new house. Or just will have money to buy dinner tonight, which keeps some restaurants open. - Robert Scoble

Or you could fund a lot of small businesses through micro-financing. - Matt Griffith

Matt, and now we're back to Unitus :-) - Jesse Stay

Matt: yes, that's what Unitus does, actually. Jesse beat me. :-) - Robert Scoble

Robert, I heard you but I'm a big picture person, and firmly believe no one is doing it better than The Bill and Melinda Gates foundation. Sure, $20,000 may not seem a lot to the billions they spend, but something is better than nothing. Plus, they are extremely detailed and transparent about their philosophies, methods, and work. http://www.gatesfoundation.org/learnin... - Mona Nomura

Ah, sorry, didn't recognize it. - Matt Griffith

Mona: Bill and Melinda Gates are fabulous, but you won't get enough leverage there for the reasons I outlined. Your money will work a LOT harder by giving it to a startup. - Robert Scoble

When I say "leverage" I'm going for a multiplier effect. Startup is better than Bill and Melinda Gates. Even Bill would admit that. - Robert Scoble

1. Invest in startup 2. Local school 3. Hybrid 4. The rest - Michael Matuzak

Robert: Better for whom? I assume "common" good here is the world -- not US only? - Brian Sullivan

use it to bribe the local school board into putting personal economics into the curriculum! - Gary

I am thinking 1. Gates 2. School 3. Hybrid 4. Startup - Brian Sullivan

But how do you know where your money is going and how it's being used, both for start-ups and charitable causes. I wouldn't give any money to start-ups. I've seen start up CEOs brag about private charter planes, when their product is generating zero revenue. My faith in a lot of start-ups is close to zero and I do not want to see another x and x 'clone'. Do you? OH! Paul, are you allowed to donate to FriendFeed? - Mona Nomura

Mona, I assure you that none of the startups that I invest in are getting private charter planes :) Not yet at least, and by the time they are successful enough to do that, I'll be happy with the investment. Jason, seed money from a handful of angels can keep a small startup alive long enough to demonstrate their ideas and either become profitable or raise a larger round. - Paul Buchheit

Robert, I'm of the opinion that we probably don't need a lot more people working for failing startups and buying new cars. - Jason Wehmhoener

This has led to interesting discussion, but if this is a real question I think it may be the wrong question. Without specifics about the startup, the school, and what difference the $20K would make to the Gates foundation, you're really shooting in the dark. It might be better to just hold onto the money until you can get specifics. - Bruce Lewis

Paul, here in California, give that money to your local high school foundation - it will make a real difference in their education - and the common good. - Scott Loftesness

Bruce, you can assume that it would be a startup or school that I thought was good, but ultimately we are always shooting in the dark. Our knowledge has severe limitations and we never really know what the total effect will be, even after the fact. - Paul Buchheit

If I were to donate money to local causes, I'd purchase what they need. ie: supplies, books, software, computers, etc. Cynical, maybe, but I have no trust in our 'system'. - Mona Nomura

I agree we can never know the total effect of our actions. We can be careful to avoid waste, however. Look for tangible results from previous investments made by people you trust... - Jason Wehmhoener

internships for promising disadvantaged youth (other), school, me (other), foundation, startup, car, S&P, gov't - MiniMage TKDteacher of FF

Oh, that's different. Not knowing anything about the startup I would have said that the hybrid and the startup were on equal footing. Buying a hybrid is more funding R&D at this point than directly helping the environment, I think. But if you know the startup and school are good, I'd say 1. School, 2. Startup, 3. Hybrid ... not sure about ranking the others. - Bruce Lewis

A good school is an almost sure-fire way to make the world better. A startup is too, but it only in that it educates the people who work at it. Other good effects on the world from the startup have lower probability, even for one you know is good. - Bruce Lewis

Compared to a Hybrid, $20K worth of compact fluorescents is probably a lot more bang for the buck. - Matt Griffith

Start a scholarship fund for academically gifted but financially challenged students. - Victor Panlilio

Give it to a school, invest in a startup, buy a hybrid car, give it to the Bill Gates Foundation, give it to the US government and last give it to a S&P 500 company, in that order. Give it to a school, because through the use on endowment that money can be used and increased over a number of years to help educated the people who will build the hybrid cars and do the start-ups. - Kim Landwehr

i try to remember to *optimize the system" rather than "maximize the output" it's not about whether your contribution will have a big bang, but whether it will be a catalyst; cause a chain reaction; increase serendipitous results, etc. - MikeAmundsen

Invest it in clean water infrastructure. I like WaterPartners International http://www.water.org, and UNICEF does this. Unsanitary water is the number one preventable cause of disease, which keeps kids from going to school and adults from going to work. - Ruchira S. Datta

donate to eff.org because they are fighting for our rights - Kyle Weller

I support all charitable causes and global efforts are fantastic. However, we have A LOT of domestic issues that needs to be addressed... :\ - Mona Nomura

I certainly understand the sentiment that the government can't be trusted. But we *are* the government. Maybe we should all consider what we could do make our government more trust worthy. Perhaps some of the hypothetical $20K should go to Change Congress? - Matt Griffith

We need a lot more than $20k to fix the problem of politicians who claim to represent us but carry out their own agendas. - MiniMage TKDteacher of FF

Education. Period. It needs to be changed from the core, and who else can do that? - Mona Nomura

1)hyrbrid, 2)school, 3)Gates, 4) invest, 5) startup, 6) energy fund, 101) govt. - clarke thomas

MiniMage: You are right. But a lot of people giving a little money can add up. - Matt Griffith

I liked Victor's answer. - MVB (Curmudgeon of FF)

I like Ruchira's answer. If we're talking about the common good, it's nice to focus on the fundamentals for life. One thing that goes with clean water infrastructure is water conservation. There are businesses to be started around the world involving improved water saving irrigation infrastructure in places that need it. - Jason Wehmhoener

The question is paul and to everyone, what would be "most effective". Sure you can donate to a big charity that distributes the money, buy why not distribute it directly to a smaller organization or group of people where you can see the "greater good" it does with your own eyes. I honestly would distribute that money to a organization like eff.org because they have proven results in what they do. Or any organization where you can see the result of your investment directly. - Kyle Weller

People are thinking too big and too much in general, give it to a group/organization that will use the money effectively and make an almost immediate impact, a small amount like that in research and other things wont do much in the long term. - Kyle Weller

Startup, car, school, Gates Foundation, 500, and then finally government. - Mathew™ one of a kind

Or what you could do is invest it in yourself so you can further support those foundations for the long term. - Kyle Weller

Invest in S&P, then let the gov't take their cut of the dividends, then give the leftover dividends to a school in need. It's the gift that keeps on giving. - Nathan Wenzel

Yeah, I will say it: Common good is a bourgeois concept. It has political and social utility, mostly for rich peoples guilty consciences, but doesn't make much sense practically. 20,000. Dont spend it in the U.S., thats all I can say. Scobles optimism would be contagious if it werent for the statistics belying it. - Rick Powell

Loan it out thru Kiva, and just reloan it when it's paid back. I'd say reloaning over and over should count as 'giving it away' and it would have great and immediate impact. - Matt Brady Meisenhelder

bill & melinda gates foundation does a lot with schools and public education, so that is killing two birds with one stone. they also work with microcredit and other financial services for the poor, so there's Kiva. and they work on medicine and agriculture, which may save someone's life, and that person (because they LIVED) might go on to found a promising startup company, which in turn... more... - Karim

ha. - edythe

@Karim - "they work on medicine and agriculture, which may save someone's life, and that person (because they LIVED)" - see http://www.theamericanview.com/index... - Victor Panlilio

Victor, i didn't realize they gave money to Planned Parenthood, thanks for the heads up. this may or may not be an issue for Paul -- i don't know if they specify whether the grant is for birth control/family planning, abortions, or what. if he's Catholic or pro-life/anti-abortion, then i guess it turns into some pretty grim accounting of lives saved vs. lives lost. he *may* be able to... more... - Karim

A startup + your endorcement will create more value than just the $20K. - Martin Añazco

If you want "leverage" donate it for use in a third-world country. Much more bang for the buck. - Brent Logan

$20k doesn't even buy you a hybrid, does it? I'd think this type of money would have much more impact locally. "common good" doesn't necessarily mean "greater good." I've been watching @smallcanbebig here in Boston - www.smallcanbebig.org - if I could provide $20k to someone(s) else, that's the type of organization/service I'd be looking for. - Sally Robinson

I'm with Sally, think global, act local. Imagine if we all did that? - Steve C

1)give it to a school;2)promising startup;3)Gates foundation;4)S&P 500;5) hybrid; 6)other 7)us govt - Karoli

Paul: Give the money to me, and I'll homeschool my kids. - Gabe

I was about to suggest using Kiva then I checked and saw it suggested before. Definitely a very good wa to make many people (and their families) happy. Loan. Repeat. It may also start a new good trend after you post about what you did here. - Nenad Nikolic

I suggested a scholarship for gifted but financially challenged students. My former high school classmate, Dr Cymbeline (Bem) Tancongco Culiat, is lead researcher for NellOne Therapeutics, which aims to restore function to cardiac muscle damaged by heart attacks (http://tinyurl.com/cjmbyo). Cardiovascular disease is the top killer worldwide (http://tinyurl.com/55xg9a). Bem is an example of what can happen when you help fund the education of poor but gifted students, especially in developing nations. - Victor Panlilio

@Ruchira "Invest it in clean water infrastructure" @Jason "One thing that goes with clean water infrastructure is water conservation" Indeed. See http://bit.ly/T0pcJ - Victor Panlilio

More recommendations here: http://lesswrong.com/lw... - Tim Tyler

Gabe, why would you homeschooling your kids make the world a better place? You already influence what your kids know? - Clare Dibble

Did we settle on a definition of "common good"? - Ken Sheppardson

invest in a startup, and then give the benefice to some charity or may be to some wise person :) - abdellah

Startup today, then charity funding from your returns of Investments, when it comes giving away. Schools nearby, Gates foundation, and so on, at last a hibrid car. :) - Mohammad Abdurraafay from Nambu

Startups and buying things create value. Charities and governments distribute value. Education creates potential future value. Startups are, by far, the best way to create short-term "common good." Teach a man to fish instead of handing him a fish. Or, even better, invest in his fishing boat and he'll feed the whole village. - Robert Scoble

Start your own business, become wealthy, do all of the above. - Robert Hafer

For the "common good" spending it is enough [dutch]"geld moet rollen"[/dutch] - Willem (@wim66) ☠

invest in a startup - andy brudtkuhl

Robert: that's called "investing in a startup." :-) Willem: starting a new business is a far better way of "spending" than, say, buying a Hybrid, if all you care about is creating the most for the common good. - Robert Scoble

Oh, I forgot step 2: work hard - Robert Hafer

Robert: step 3: get lucky. - Robert Scoble

ok, I am just intrigued by the mention of GATE foundation, is the common subconscious fascinated by VIP charity? or are they all equal? - abdellah

A lean and mean green startup would get my $$$ (if I had any). I can ask Ken Thompson (Gates Foundation Research librarian) what he thinks a $20k donation to Gates Foundation would do, but I tend to agree with Robert. Or give it to a local school that has had all its $$ and programs cut. - Brian Daniel Eisenberg

Robert: A funny man once said "money was all appropriated for the top in hopes that it would trickle down to the needy." - Matt Griffith

Robert: P.S. FriendFeed is the first place since the off.ramp that I've had an interesting conversation online. - Matt Griffith

I am late to the conversation, but I say give it to a startup (i.e. mine). In all seriousness, I think the Gates foundation may be the best one. - Rob Diana

Robert, I understand the "teach a man to fish" argument, but I'm not buying the "create value/distribute value/potential future value" thing. it seems like it's all "potential future value." you keep pitching the startup as if it were a sure thing with a guaranteed return. aren't you confusing speculation with investment? - Karim

On the list, give it to a school. Not on the list (ie what you would normally ignore) go to Kiva, loan the money and then if it is repayed do it again. - Andrew

Karim: let's use friendfeed as an example. They hired 13 people so far. And those people all are paying rent or mortgages and buying cars, etc. The leverage a dollar invested in such a startup gets is many times more than the leverage you'll get doing any of these other choices. And this DOES have a very fast short term effect (much faster than giving to a school, for instance). Friendfeed is not a profitable business, by the way, and probably won't be for quite some time. - Robert Scoble

Gates - Jeff (the メガマクダジ of FF)

Jeff: wrong. - Robert Scoble

None of them. Give it directly to the people who need it most. That's what we do at the 1 in 8 Foundation. - Brandon Mendelson

That's almost enough to pay my tuition for culinary school. File under 'common good' I want to teach inner city families to grow and cook their own healthy food. - ChazFrench

I really don't get giving it to the Gates Foundation. They have $29,700,000,000 in their asset fund, and you'd give them another $20,000? For me "think globally, act locally" would be the guiding principle here, and I'd either give it to a local school, job retraining program, something like community services... or better yet, leverage the $20K on fundraising or marketing training for local efforts. The orgs I'd try to help are those like http://www.hcnkids.org - Ken Sheppardson

My water infrastructure idea has a lot of leverage. Once the infrastructure is in place, it lasts a long time, preventing disease (much cheaper than curing it) and thus relieving human suffering, allowing poor children to get educated (and possibly preventing cognitive deficits) and poor people to go to work and lift themselves out of poverty, creating a virtuous circle. - Ruchira S. Datta

School directly. Find one that is doing the type of good work in education that will yield responsible, thinking, feeling, well rounded adults and help them out. It's the future of this world. - Martha

Ruchira: yes, investing in the right kind of infrastructure has a lot of leverage. Heck, our government invested in the Internet which made friendfeed possible (and Amazon and Google and eBay and Yahoo, etc). - Robert Scoble

Invest in a Promising Startup. Why? That startup may grow and flourish and will create jobs in the economy (sure it may be only a handful) but those that are hired then create a multiplier throughout the economy. Spending on products, and then the businesses where they spend their money on products will too spend money on buying more products and buying products for themselves, and it is continued :) - Nicholas James

Not sure what qualifies as "common good," but I think you should keep giving out loans w/ it on Kiva - Christopher Golda

Oh, wait... I want to change my answer. Everybody talking about investing it in a start-up has given me an even better idea: I'd use it to stake a weekend of blackjack in Vegas. That way I could turn it into $200,000 and *then* I could give it to local community services or something like Kiva. Gambling FTW. - Ken Sheppardson

Use 5K to go (twice!) to a third World Country (chosen at random). Go to a town of less that 1000 inhabitants (chosen at random). Ask around who is the best person in the town, don't tell them why. Give that person 15K. Return in a year... Write an article about what happened. - Alfredo Octavio

I wouldn't invest it in tech. Invest it in people who will then bring the good tech, among other important benefits. It's a people matter, ultimately, isn't it? - Martha

Investing in water infrastructure can be done through a startup like PlayPumps as Matt suggested. If it came through foreign aid from the US government, we might be able to add to the leverage: the goodwill investment would improve our national security. Unfortunately foreign aid is a small fraction of the federal budget, and it's unlikely to go to programs like this unless US contractors, rather than native startups, are involved. - Ruchira S. Datta

Donate 100 OLPCs and set friendfeed as the default home page :P - Lasse Johnsen

All investment is a crap shoot; including investment in charity. - Robert Hafer

@Robert Hafer: What would you do with the money then? - Nicholas James

Seriously though, with $20k you could sponsor quite a number of teachers for a year in a country like africa. not sure what organizations do this, but that could make a big difference for a lot of kids that cant get education. - Lasse Johnsen

Lasse: and microfinance organizations have shown that you can get even more leverage by funding small businesses. Especially those run by women. For instance, in a poor country you can buy a family a cow which DRAMATICALLY increases their quality of life and usually makes it possible for their kids to go to school. Investing in schools alone does NOT give leverage. Look at all the idiots who have college degrees. - Robert Scoble

@Nicholas James, If you start you're own business there's still no sure thing, but at least you know where the money goes. If you are a success, you have created jobs and can afford to give as well. - Robert Hafer

Interesting Robert, I found SendACow (https://www.sendacow.org.uk/donate) but im skeptical to these ORGs, you dont know really how much of your money arrives and how efficient they are. There are a lot of "could"s on that page. - Lasse Johnsen

Robert: That's exactly why I recommend Kiva -- those loans will actually make a big difference in ppls lives, guaranteed - Christopher Golda

those Micro-finance programs are amazing - Jeff (the メガマクダジ of FF)

I have some contacts in Costs Rica; when McDonalds gave $millions to save the rain forest there, by the time the Orgs took out admin cost, there was enough left to buy a few white SUVs. Our Eco-forest project has done more and will hopefully soon be turning a profit. - Robert Hafer

1. A School would be first thought of course it would depend on which school. There are schools in our area that are really hurting and falling behind while others are able to spend tons per child (which is a great thing, they just don't need more). Our education is hurting and NCLB forces schools to spend on certain things that only help test scores and not always retention and true... more... - Rachel Lea Fox

Robert, I don't think you can just keep talking about "leverage" without putting some numbers on it. If the startup is an investment, as you're implying, and not a gamble or speculation, you should be able to promise Paul some number of dollars out for his $20,000 in. But how many startups have a profitable exit? Is that $20,000 going to turn into $40,000, $400,000, or $4 billion? Are... more... - Karim

Karim: It's likely that $20,000 invested in a start-up will turn into $0 - Christopher Golda

Many poor people and their children spend hours every day lugging water back to their homes from distant, dirty sources. Clean water is "shovel-ready": we know exactly how to solve this problem. All it takes is money. http://water.org/waterpa... is currently advertising $25 to provide someone with access to safe drinking water for life, $150 to meet the water needs of an entire family. $20000 will go a long way. - Ruchira S. Datta

Startup, of the listed options, has the most potential to help, but reading your intentions I would suggest giving it to a group that provides micro loans to entrepreneurs around the world. You money will be split into many lots increasing the likelihood of success, and can provide real help as oppossed to what many resources do - RAPatton

Hmm, RAPatton's idea makes me realize that converting it into $1s and dropping it from an airplane might be interesting. - j1m

water.org says they need $20000 to drill a new water well in Kenya. (http://water.org/waterpa...) But lifewater.ca says they only need $3200 to drill a new well there.. (http://www.lifewater.ca/help...) - Lasse Johnsen

1. Give to school 2. Give to Gates Foundation 3. Invest in startup 4. Invest in S&P 5. buy hybrid 6. Give to US gov't - tinypants - Hagitha of FF

Not Gates, not car, not US government, the others are good... - Marcos Marado from fftogo

invest it in a promising startup - Alp

Robert: I am for green economy and agree with you on those points. If the question was should i buy a hybrid car or a non-hybrid car for 5K less, I would have said hybrid. The current question implied that Paul does not need another car. I rather not get any more cars than necessary on the road. - Kiran Patchigolla

Karim: let's assume that friendfeed (a startup that Paul is well acquainted with) never makes a single dollar and never is sold for anything. Well, the money invested in it is already creating value for the employees who've been employed there. 13 or so if I remember right. They are then spending that money in the economy, which keeps all sorts of people employed. That's called leverage. It's amazing how few people here understand how an economy works or what is "the greater good." - Robert Scoble

the problem with the "invest" heuristic is that it very rapidly goes -- often in centers of business like Silicon Valley -- from the "Wise Steward" to the "Cheap Bastard." say you can save 100 lives with $100 today. only if you invest at 3% for a year, you can save 103 lives next year. then you withdraw the money in a year and realize that if you re-invest, you can save even more lives... more... - Karim

If you don't have a job you really won't care if someone figures out how to drill a water well halfway around the world. The reason you are drilling that well anyway is so that PEOPLE CAN HAVE JOBS! A well can create a farm. Can keep people from walking three hours a day to wash their clothes or have a drink. Think of all the jobs that are created because of water. Semiconductors can't be made without water. Intel and AMD and friendfeed couldn't happen without water. But a water well wasn't on Paul's list. - Robert Scoble

The thing that will create the most "good" for society on Paul's list is an investment in a startup. That will create the most value throughout the chain. It is where $20,000 would have the most leverage and biggest multiplying effect. If it fails it'll have a bigger multiplier than giving it to the Gates foundation (which could also fail, by the way). - Robert Scoble

So, if you want to save the most lives, create the most value "for the common good" the only choice here is fund a startup. This is why when I went to Davos I came home depressed. Governments don't understand this very well and don't talk about this much. If you hit the home run with a startup, by the way, you create another Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. I wonder if you asked Bill Gates back in 1975 about this would he have taken his $20,000 and created a foundation? No. Why not? - Robert Scoble

When I talked with Larry Page, co-founder of Google, though, at Davos, he said job creation comes after spending increases, so buying a car will help this process too, but not nearly as much as creating a new company would. - Robert Scoble

Half of all jobs in USA are with small companies. Create a few more small companies and you create a whole crapload of wealth that can be used to fund the next Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (or give to a school, or give to the government, by the way). - Robert Scoble

When you say "Common Good" all I can think of is contributing to a Funding organization like UNICEF. Considering the fact that loads of little kids and children still need our help. - Praveen Vasudev

Robert, i don't claim to be an economic genius, but the "value" you are creating by investing in the startup that eventually goes bankrupt seems to be the same "value" it creates by giving a man a fish. it extends "years of life gained" (YLG). the knock-on effects are more complicated in our economy, but in the developing world, $20,000 buys a lot more fish meals (YLG) than it does worth of sushi in Silicon Valley. - Karim

Karim: absolutely NOT true. You need to study economics. A dollar invested in a new job actually creates more than a dollar's worth of value down the road. Giving a man a fish is just giving him a fish. - Robert Scoble

Praveen: "common good" is how well the economy is doing. I talked with Israeli President about this. He said the only way they'll get peace is to improve the economy on both sides of the fight. Give a man a job and he stops fighting cause he can feed his family and can see hope for the future. - Robert Scoble

Get good paying jobs and you create wealth that can solve all these other problems. - Robert Scoble

A good economy IS the number one "common good" and is why microfinance was such a brilliant idea (that won the Nobel Peace Prize, by the way). More on microfinance (which, really, is investing in startups): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki... - Robert Scoble

First, let's say the man is starving to death -- his crop failed one year -- and you can prevent his death by giving him a fish. if he then recovers and has a normal life, normal harvests etc. and is able to contribute to the economy, have children who are in turn successful, etc., how is that "just giving him a fish?" - Karim

second, what i'm asking you is, ok, you're saying startup creates wealth, it's an *investment*, so what kind of return are we talking about? Paul puts $20,000 into a startup, the startup goes bankrupt 12 months later. What is the "more than a dollar's worth of value" Paul got for his $20,000? - Karim

Karim: if you are looking at "common good" you are NOT looking at one person's quality of life, but looking at the leverage you can get. If I let one man starve, but save 10 other people's lives, I will have increased the "common good" more than you have by feeding that one guy a fish. - Robert Scoble

Karim: Paul created some jobs with his $20,000. Again, it's not about the value to Paul. It's the value to the "common good. How much value, how much leverage, what kind of multiplier effect will he get for that $20,000 for all of society, not for Paul himself. - Robert Scoble

Karim: the reason the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is doing such great work is they are looking for getting the biggest multiplier effect for their money. What will help the MOST people? That's why curing disease, helping education, etc are their target places to spend money. Other rich people at Microsoft are helping microfinance, because they know that's how they can get the most leverage for their money. - Robert Scoble

Oh, and if Paul was lucky with his $20,000 he might create the next Google, which would employ thousands, make thousands millionaires (Microsoft created more than 4,000 millionaires) and would enable whole rafts of good for society as that new money was spent on some of these other projects. - Robert Scoble

Robert is right :) - Alp

in the US you might maintain a few jobs (lifes) for a short while with $20k, but how many lifes can you maintain in africa by creating new wells for 6-7 villages? And one of the guys you saved might actually live to make a successful business that feeds even more. - Lasse Johnsen

I didn't say anything about the value to Paul, Robert :-) You say "multiplier effect;" I'm asking what's the multiplier. You said, "The leverage a dollar invested in such a startup gets is many times more than the leverage you'll get doing any of these other choices." -- I'm saying, "show me." clearly you know more about economics than I do. - Karim

Lasse: you are right, but that wasn't one of the choices on the list -- building a water well in Silicon Valley made Intel and AMD possible, so there. Karim: the multiplier will vary depending on the industry. Karim: I'm trying to find some stats to help it out. - Robert Scoble

The United Way has a "Common Good Index" http://www.liveunited.org/goals... Education, Income, and Health are listed. Funny that the wealthier nations tend to do best on all three. So, the best way to increase the common good is to increase economic health. That starts with job creation as job #1. - Robert Scoble

1. Give it to a school. 2. Invest it in a startup 3. Give it to Gates Fdtn, 4. Buy an American hybrid. Neither the S&P500 or the government operate for the public good. - Francine Hardaway

Francine: why is creating an American job more important than creating a Chinese one or a Japanese one, if we're talking about "common good?" Are Americans worth more as human beings than Chinese are? I don't think so. There's a SERIOUS bug in your thinking there. Giving it to a school creates a very small multiplier effect, at least short term. Gates foundation and giving it to a school probably are very similar (especially cause the Gates love giving money to increase education quality). - Robert Scoble

I want to start a new thread: what's better, giving money to a school or giving it to Wikipedia. I am learning a whole lot from Wikipedia. Much better for the "common good." - Robert Scoble

Call me biased, but find a local not-for-profit that is committed to their mission and $20,000 can mean taking steps closer to fulfilling it or going under. The smallest donation to our not-for-profit theatre sometimes means the difference in making payroll or not for the week. - Warner Crocker

Warner: saving one particular set of jobs is nice, but is not a good way to look at helping "the common good." - Robert Scoble

Robert, a few replies :-) 1) if the Gates Foundation is "doing such great work," then why aren't they following your advice that "The leverage a dollar invested in such a startup gets is many times more than the leverage you'll get doing any of these other choices?" 2) Yeah if Paul was lucky, he might create the next Google. But how lucky does he need to be? Do the odds compare favorably with $20,000 worth of Scratchers at the 7-11? - Karim

Karim: because Bill and Melinda Gates are trying to focus on things that business can't. But, look at how they created their foundation: someone invested in their startup. Investing in their startup HAS to come first before they can give away billions. - Robert Scoble

I'm pretty certain there isn't such a thing as the common good. - Hayes Haugen

Also, they ARE investing in startups. I met a TON of entrepreneurs who say their businesses wouldn't have been able to start without their investments (who do you think is doing the hard work of their foundation?) - Robert Scoble

Geeky people tend to be attracted to difficult/intellectual problems. The Gates Foundation may be subject to this. I think the work I currently do is the point of greatest leverage for my *brain*. Fighting, e.g., MDR and XDR tuberculosis through the Center for Emerging and Neglected Diseases http://globalhealth.berkeley.edu/cend... is a worthy cause. But I still think clean water is the point of greatest leverage for *money*, especially a relatively small sum. - Ruchira S. Datta

Hayes: oh really? Tell me, do you think that we're better off today than we were, say, 50 years ago? I sure do. That means "the common good" increased. - Robert Scoble

you can't learn how to read, write, add or subtract -- or even conduct solid research -- from Wikipedia. - Peggy Dolane

Scoble, all depends on where you start and stoop defining. Just like asking questions does. - Warner Crocker

Peggy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki... Oh really? - Robert Scoble

I still think over the long run an educated public is the key to increasing the common good. - Kim Landwehr

Kim: what is an educated public? The microfinance revolution shows that education and jobs goes hand in hand. Finance someone getting a cow, for instance, and you also need her to learn how to milk it. That's education. - Robert Scoble

3) The "Common Good Index" listed "Education, Income and Health" -- how you got "JOB CREATION" as the take-away #1 goal from that is beyond me. Ignoring education & health for the moment, the income goals listed are "Cutting the number of financially unstable working families by half requires strategies to help people increase income, save, and grow long-term assets." Increasing income... more... - Karim

Karim: how do you do any of those things if you don't have a good paying job? How do you create jobs most efficiently? Invest in startups. Most of the people in America, Karim, have had jobs with little leverage lately and/or that have been attacked by globalization. It used to be that we had a monopoly on making cars. We don't have that anymore. But that's a different argument for a different thread. - Robert Scoble

you can sit your child down in front of wikipedia and see if he or she learns to read from those links. - Peggy Dolane

I can think of something that would help "the common good". There are a great many developers that for ethical reason choose not to charge a set price for their software. They allow the user to set a price they think is fair & that they can afford. Unfortunately, most of the world is selfish and thinks that means it is freeware and never donate to support the applications they use. I say you split it up and spread it out to donationware authors. DM me if you need help finding them. - April Russo (app103)

Peggy: you'd be surprised how fast a child learns to read wikipedia lately. My son is 19 months old and is more interested in what's on screen than what's on paper books. My 15 year old learns regularly from wikipedia. This is the new ocean they swim in an they are information sponges. - Robert Scoble

@Robert. "Common Good" sometimes seems like a blunt instrument used to herd the masses toward totalitarianism and war. My personal view is that things such as education and justice make society a better place for _me_. But for me to tell you what is best for you is basically religion. - Hayes Haugen

Robert: Glad your children are off the charts on intelligence scale. No way would my kids learn to read from those links unless I was homeschooling them. My 10 year old looked at that wikipedia page and said "it was weird" and he didn't want to look at it for 30 seconds. Now if Xbox had a reading program, there would be a tool to invest in! - Peggy Dolane

Pay a developer to improve the comment system on FriendFeed! - Hayes Haugen

Hayes: I guarantee you that having people around them who are doing well is far more important to their "good" than having education and justice. Both of those are things that spring from having wealth. Don't believe me? Travel to a poor country sometime and see the difference. - Robert Scoble

Peggy: my son is learning management techniques from World of Warcraft. He doesn't know it either. :-) My kids are not extraordinarily smart, I just guide them when I can. My dad used to make me look up words in the dictionary when I said "what does that mean?" I do the same thing with my kids when they have a question. My son argued censorship very effectively with Jonathan Adelstein, FCC commissioner. Where did he get that? I really don't care, as long as he got it. - Robert Scoble

Robert: Once you are fed and housed I think it almost always comes back to education. Reasonable people will disagree on how to achieve that though. - Hayes Haugen

Hayes, you're right about that. Many "educated" people I know are idiots. So, did it really work? - Robert Scoble

Robert, I agree that wikipedia is a great tool, but it auguments, not takes the place of the work done in the classroom. My original point was that you have to learn the basics before you can go out and learn on your own. The whole teaching kids to be independent learners mantra of our educators is grounded in the same values you are talking about. - Peggy Dolane

Robert, assuming there's a job out there to be filled, how do you fill it if you have no education and can't read? how do you fill it if your health is bad? your priorities are backwards. you have to be a) alive b) healthy and c) educated before you can d) get a job and contribute to the economy. that's why the "Common Good Index" *didn't* conclude, as you did, that job creation is job... more... - Karim

Uneducated people are bigger idiots, Robert. - Francine Hardaway

Peggy: excellent idea. Xbox has a community games area where devs are doing interesting new stuff. A reading program would probably be well received by some parents. - Hayes Haugen

Karim: look into the microfinance revolution. Please. It educates and provides jobs at the same time. Does someone who milks cows for a living really need to read? Really? I didn't know that's a skill they needed. You're living in my world, where that's true, but that is NOT true for billions of people around the world. - Robert Scoble

Robert: to be clear I don't think you are advocating that the cow milker doesn't need to learn how to read, just that that's not the first thing he needs. Cart in front of the horse. - Hayes Haugen

the cow milker may not need to be educated to milk a cow, but it would help to have basic education if he wants to sell the milk and not get ripped off - Kim Landwehr

I'd say invest it into a home and rent it out super cheap. Nothing improves peoples lives more than a place to live that doesn't take up all of your income. - alphaxion

alphaxion: that's called your parents house. If it's so good, why don't we all live at home? :-) - Robert Scoble

One interesting point is that the expected cost to you of some of these things is less than the other -- like, they're investments -- which of course means you can afford to put more than $20k into them. In particular, you can easily afford to put all of your $ into the S&P. Since I think the charity value of the S&P is zilch, I don't think that's very interesting, but micropayments or angel investing are a different story. - j1m

Another way to look at this is through the eyes of http://www.zoho.com , a tech startup. Did you know that they take uneducated kids in India and teach them how to program? It's true. They have hundreds of employees and found that they can almost always teach someone to program, if they are interested in learning. So, there's a case where investing in a startup improves education, gives them a job, and creates other jobs too. Multiplier effect in full force. - Robert Scoble

One thing is for sure, if it wasn't for the investors of the startup i work in, i wouldn't be having this pizza right now! - Lasse Johnsen

Robert, if, quote, "The leverage a dollar invested in such a startup gets is many times more than the leverage you'll get doing any of these other choices," why would i waste my time researching microfinance? weren't you saying startups were better? not sure what your point is about the cows -- are you asking Paul to invest in a Silicon Valley dairy farm? ;-) - Karim

Karim: if you had enough money for a Silicon Valley dairy farm you'd be rich. :-) Microfinance IS funding startups. - Robert Scoble

Given the original question and the subsequent definition of terms (+arguments) I'm going to have to side with Robert. - Hayes Haugen

Robert -- ohh, okay. so when Paul says he is considering investing $20,000 in a promising *startup*, we should read that not as some outfit in Silicon Valley getting a couple of new servers, but a dozen dairy farms in Bangladesh getting a chilling plant? Arrington's going to start covering dairy farms in Techcrunch now? :-) funnily enough, the Gates Foundation works with dairy farmers too: http://www.gatesfoundation.org/learnin... - Karim

there was a cautionary tale the other day on NPR -- think it was "This American Life," but i'm not sure -- about some guy who advised his kids NOT to put their nest egg with Madoff. at the time, Madoff was highly respected on Wall Street and his returns were enormous. the advice was based on being against the "all your eggs in one basket" heuristic. they took the advice but were ridiculed for years -- right up until he was Madoff was arrested for fraud. - Karim

most people realize the stupidity of putting all your eggs in one basket. you don't need a degree in economics to know this. this is why venture capital funds are *pooled* investment vehicles. the gates foundation is also a pooled investment vehicle. some of the money goes to immunizations, so maybe the next Einstein or the next Bill Gates won't die of malaria at age 12. some of the... more... - Karim

putting it all in one Silicon Valley startup and praying it turns out to be Google seems like buying a $20,000 lottery ticket. - Karim

I'd give it to Change Congress or the Sunlight Foundation. - Matt Cutts

Robert: Wow, Zoho teaching kids to program is a fascinating story. Did they blog about this? Want to find more info on that. - Kiran Patchigolla

Is it too late to ask for a tabulated summary of the answers? Perhaps people's answers would illuminate why we have taxes in the first place. - Mr. Gunn

Buy silver. Oh, and read this: http://goldprice.org/buy-sil... - Michael Forian

robert: such a poor and flagrant answer, you're comparing a whole home to a single room at your folks? you can't deny that providing super cheap rented accommodation to society won't make a massive change to it. lets ask the homeless or those who have to do several jobs just to afford their current place without any spare money to help up their standard of living or save for the future. - alphaxion

you live in an apartment that's bigger than 1 room at your parents' house, i guess? lucky you ;-) - j1m

Alphaxion that wasn't one of the choices. I choose to live in the world as it is. Not to mention that houses are a thing of limited supply so if you gave them away you would increase the price for everyone. Oh, yeah, that is EXACTLY what happened over past 10 years. I would rather work on increasing everyone's real wealth which will increase numbers of people who can afford housing. - Robert Scoble

j1m: exactly, I'm lucky I live in a 3 bedroom flat with 3 others.. but it's cheaper than other places, but it's still not cheap. There are some that pay a relative fortune compared with how much they earn for very little space (often with loads of people too). When you are left with next to no money after the top 2 expenses (shelter and food) it's a daily struggle. Very low quality of life and no savings to allow for something to look forward to. - alphaxion

robert: notice I said "rented" accommodation.. you're not giving anything away apart from the ability for a person to save some of their money so they can lift themselves instead of bleeding them dry and keeping them from affording to improve their situation. Also, coming from someone who lives in the UK, I firmly believe that housing is extremely overvalued - when you have a system that is prohibiting first time buyers due to rediculous pricing for very little space then the system is already broken. - alphaxion

and when the alternative is to rent at such a steep price that it stops them from being able to save up for the future then something is wrong. If I *ever* get a personal fortune behind me I will spend a good chunk of it on securing places to let out to people at very cheap rates. I'd rather try to change the world instead of living with such abuse. - alphaxion

1. startup, because of Paul's knowledge that would come with the money 2. school, assuming it was a kind the promotes paul's school of thought 3. buy a hybrid car, but give it to someone driving a crappy, low mpg car, not replacing one of his relatively efficient ones or just adding a car, 4. give it to the US government (the government isn't all bad), 4. give it to the Gates foundation, 4.invest it in the S&P500, - Clare Dibble

First I'm joining the chorus in favor of startup seed funding. Second is the school -- as long as it's *for* something (optimally, an entrepreneurship program?) and not just adding a rounding error to the school board's balance sheet... I'd put the hybrid car last because (unless you actually need a new car) I think that sends false signals: for each car that doesn't sell, maybe companies are going to work even harder and smarter to innovate. - Brian Frank

1. Invest it in a promising startup like FriendFeed. 2. ??? 3. Profit. 4. Give it to the Gates foundation. - Jim Norris

1.5 (in my list above) "other" => I think art and travel is missing, in that they open peoples perspectives. "art" is tricky, but you could just log on to etsy and buy whatever strikes your fancy, then give it as gifts or tell the artist not to actually send the item if you don't have room for it all (or burn the art at burning man or other flammable occasion). - Clare Dibble

1.5 (in my list above) "other" => Donate landscaping in the form of a garden to a public park or other place where people actually go. Being around plants is good, and get the food to, for example, people who are hungry or those who regularly eat "food" (fast food, etc). - Clare Dibble

1.5 (in my list above) "other" => some way to protect privacy of people who want it. I know this is nebulous, but the only ways that I can think of involve suing or sponsoring a law suit, which doesn't seem quite right. - Clare Dibble

Robert, you say you're interested in increasing everyone's real wealth, but that is exactly what people thought they were doing in the housing bubble. that is the other thing that happened in the last 10 years. and a lot of the jobs that *were* created were in the housing sector. so we had jobs creation and apparent "real wealth" creation that turned out to be smoke and mirrors. - Karim

1.5 (in my list above) "other" => travel, I would buy trips/ foreign exchange fees/ etcetera for the age group of 8th graders or high schoolers who couldn't afford them in close minded places (India, the midwest, etc.) to let them know there is some way out of here. if they want it. - Clare Dibble

@karim: the problem with the housing bubble was the allowance of massive loans that could never be paid back realistically. - alphaxion

alph, not trying to dissect root causes of the problem. just pointing out that people recently thought they were creating "real wealth" and jobs when they weren't. - Karim

++ Jim Norris ;), especially step 2. - Clare Dibble

Good point Karim: a lot of people were mistaken about "creating real wealth" in the housing bubble. But the mistake wasn't that "creating real wealth" is never a valid reason to do anything. The lesson was that people will make mistakes no matter how sure they are. - Brian Frank

Brian, i was hoping the lesson would involve learning from our mistakes. http://www.theonion.com/content... - Karim

wow, great thread. Scoble wins :) # 1. STARTUP - my immediate thought as well. #2 SCHOOL but please choose wisely; # 3 HYBRID #4 Gates Fnd. #5 OTHER - Donate to a Non Profit that is serving the "common good" (helps abused children, unemployed, poor, etc). The S&P and Gov't will not manage your money well, just a waste (go burn it in your backyard instead, more fun - Susan Beebe

Scoble said, "The leverage a dollar invested in such a startup gets is many times more than the leverage you'll get doing any of these other choices." I don't see how this can be true, given the fact that most startups FAIL. Does he have some kind of *guarantee* that Paul is investing in the next Microsoft? - Karim

You're right, Karim. Given the criteria of the common good, this money shouldn't be gambled, which is what happens if given to any risky venture. It should either be given to an efficient organization directly helping people, or to a diversified concern that balances any risky elements with guaranteed or at least highly probable benefits. - LogEx

Remember Paul mentioned a "promising startup" - I suspect he knows what that is ;) - Susan Beebe

Thanks, Logical -- I was puzzled. I've read about a UNICEF project that was able to calculate the cost of saving a human life at $500 (http://www.unicef.org/media...), and one from WHO saying that for every $1 invested enables more than a $5 gain to the economy (http://www.rbm.who.int/gmap...). So Scoble is essentially saying that this startup is going to provide a... more... - Karim

Susan, is that a wink-wink nod-nod way of saying the startup is Friendfeed? Does the $20,000 get them OC-3 bandwidth for a month? Or new Aeron chairs for everybody? Because that's so worth it, compared to, you know, 40 human lives :-D - Karim

but it totally explains why Robert kept saying put it in the startup. LOL - Karim

An engineering/medical scholarship to 1 or 2 students who really deserve it. Or maybe use this money to kickstart a scholarship foundation for this to wich other people can contribute... The key is to have people who can select the candidates correctly based on the talent and passion of the candidates... - Arun Jacob

Robert, if the startup *is* Friendfeed, I grant you, they're a promising startup. I'll even grant you that they will inevitably be successful (unlike most startups!) and eventually will have hundreds of employees contributing millions of dollars to philanthropic causes. That said, this $20,000 clearly ISN'T NEEDED to get them to that point. It's not a make-or-break amount for the... more... - Karim

here is a greatly oversimplified game theoretic look at the problem: http://i39.tinypic.com/2h4dhyu... -- the values in the cells represent utility ("common good," lives saved, dollars put into the economy, etc.) "minimax" is highlighted in green. it's the rational solution, the minimum column maximum, the best possible outcome out of the worst possible outcomes. - Karim

realistically it's more complicated because the startup has a *probability* of success. my *guess* is that you would want to give the money to the startup to the extent it's probable they will succeed (and the money is required for success). so if the startup has a 25% chance of a profitable exit, you'd want to give the money to the startup 25% of the time and to the charity 75% of the time -- again, assuming the money makes the difference between success and failure to the startup. - Karim

it's irrational to always go for the situation with the highest payout potential *despite* the odds. then again, people buy lottery tickets so what do i know. - Karim

For me, it would be school, startup, Gates Foundation, hybrid car, S&P, US government in order of best to worst. IMO, there are thousands of potentially better common good uses of $20k than giving it to the government, which best I can tell is the functional equivalent of throwing your money into an incinerator. - Kevin Scott

Pay training programs for some laid off workers of declining industries. - xyz

I'm so confused by the comments in this thread. Paul identified the criteria as common good, not investment advice. In other words, benefit to society. I agree with Kevin, US gov't is dead last (it's a very inefficient incinerator at that). S&P 500 doesn't lack for liquidity, so that's out too. Hybrid car... not convinced of any overwhelming benefits compared to other options. "Startup"... well it really depends on the nature of the startup, but by far most are too narrow and too risky to be best use. - LogEx

@Clare Dibble - close minded places like India?!! Many people think of it as the number one destination for opening their minds, so I find the idea that India would be first on someone's list of "close minded places" mind-boggling. When were you last there, and where did you go? - Ruchira S. Datta

What an amazing thread! Anybody totaled these up yet? Or shall I take a stab at it? - Eric Johnson

If you are interested in this thread you should read The End of Poverty by Jeffrey Sachs. - Matt Griffith

Investing in a startup can only work in parts of the world that aren't stuck in a poverty trap. What happens to a business if the sole proprietor can't work because they get malaria? What if the woman applying for microcredit spends the majority of her day collecting clean water? The Gates Foundation is focused on those problems because you must fix them before anything else will work. - Matt Griffith

Others have talked about the problem with the idea of "common good". I would instead focus on things that have the biggest positive impact on the largest number of lives. 25,000 children will die today. In the time it took me to write this comment dozens of children died around the world. - Matt Griffith

I took a shot at tabulating results in a Google spreadsheet. "Startup" got the most responses, with "School" a close second. And there were 49 other suggestions. Here are the complete stats: http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc... - Eric Johnson

Anybody want to help me do some meaningful analysis here? I'm hitting the limits of my standard deviation knowledge :) - Eric Johnson

There is no efficient market in utilons. Different organizations have literally orders of magnitude difference in how much good they do per dollar. The big, showy charities that deliver lots of status and warm fuzzies can't compare to small, startup, strange charities working on points of maximum leverage. http://www.fhi.ox.ac.uk/, http://singinst.org/, http://methuselahfoundation.org/.... more... - Eliezer Yudkowsky

The Results: Forget meaningful analysis, let's score this as Formula One racing, with 10 points for first place, 8 for second, etc. Funding a startup wins with 288 points. School funding is a close second, with 283 points. Gates takes third place, with 202. Everybody else does pretty badly, with the US Government scoring a dismal 46 points. Among write-ins, Kiva scored 58. http://www.casefoundation.org/blog.... See my spreadsheet for details. - Eric Johnson

Kiva - Patrick Breitenbach

Tip Michael J. Totten: http://www.michaeltotten.com/ I'd say that's for the common good. - Rick Powell

@Ruchira I dunno, but I thought if I were gay and open in India, my mind might be opened, against my will, to the idea of prison. Correct me if I'm wrong. - Rick Powell

Still waiting for the check ... Oh wait. I wasn't on the list - Charlie Anzman

Nth vote for Kiva - zimpenfish

Gates foundation OR Clinton foundation... both have records of great use of money for good cause. - marshia Armstrong

If you are still looking for ideas, this one might be worth your consideration: http://friendfeed.com/app103... - April Russo (app103)

Here's an interesting twist on the startup: http://www.mercurynews.com/columns... "...Silicon Valley has always been about making the world smaller. And Ratra, who cofounded Akraya with her husband in 2001, has always been about helping women in business. So when she heard last spring about Peace through Business, an international effort to pair female business owners from two... more... - Ruchira S. Datta

Change the life of a child (e.g. middle-school) by lighting a fire for science & technology through involvement in an innovative and engaging summer program. - Jason Miller

Help make it easier for young people who start their college education at a community college to transfer a four year school and earn a baccalaureate degree in a timely fashion. Do it in science & mathematics and you'll have a HUGE return on your investment. - Jason Miller

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