Education and literacy are hugely important in creating a sane and rational society. I’ve long admired much about the Native American cultures, so I’d donate a goodly amount to the American Indian College Fund. For good form, II’d probably also donate some sum to my first alma mater, Santa Clara University, where I earned my bachelor’s degree. Don’t get me wrong, mind you. It is an excellent school, right up there with the best and better than some that are more publicly known. But it has a lot more supporters and donors than some other worthy organizations.
Because low literacy rates are directly tied to criminality (world-wide, not just in the USA), I’d donate to some kind of literacy project—I haven’t decided which, yet, but the American Institute of Philanthropy has a list of top-rated charitable projects. By top-rated, they mean that 75% of the monies donated to those charities actually go toward the charity’s stated purpose.
After that, I would donate to my favorite environmental causes, as well as to every legitimate no-kill animal shelter I could find. I care passionately about nature and the animals we humans have taken into our hearts and lives, and it breaks my heart every time I hear of an animal being abandoned or of overcrowded shelters having to perform the dehumanizing and painful task of killing hundreds of animals a month. No-kill shelters (and spay/neuter efforts) seem like the best solution for now, until we humans get our acts a little bit more together.
But after that, what would I spend my money on? I’m not much of a consumer, and although I love luxurious, high-thread-count cotton sheets, there are only so many sheets you can own before you have entered the zone of excess. And since I’m not much into what my brother David so amusingly calls “dust catchers,” there isn’t a whole lot on my list of material things I want. Certainly not enough to spend all of that money on. 🙂 Oh, sure, I would love to own a nice house on some acres of land out in the country somewhere, and to travel more, and I’ve always somewhat secretly and wistfully wished for a lovely pair of diamond earrings, but I love my current home (especially now that I’ve had Mill Valley Bamboo install gorgeous new bamboo flooring everywhere that I used to have carpet) and so I wouldn’t necessarily move right away or travel much. So what to do? What to do?
I recently read in the Smithsonian (a magazine I highly recommend to anyone who enjoys reading about all kinds of things) about something that appeals to my inner techno-geek, and that is a sundial that is precision-made for a specific location. With the change left over from my ten million dollars after donating to human, environmental, and animal projects, I might be able to afford one of these intriguing little time pieces.
So, what would you do with ten million dollars?
