$1 MILLION

19 January 2022.

In 2002, I answered a bunch of questions about donating money.  The answers then are significantly different from what the answers would be now, so I thought I would do it again.

You are given a gift of 1 million dollars. There are some restrictions on how you can spend some of the money, as follows:

$100,000 must be donated to charity. What charities will you support?

I had not heard of Compassion International in 2002.  I would give a large amount to Compassion and see if I could make significant improvements in the countries where my sponsored kids live, and give each of the kids I support financially the maximum family gifts allowed.

And I would make a donation to the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust in Kenya, the group that rescues orphaned elephants and rhinos and raises them to be able to return them to the wild.  I have sponsored a couple of babies over the years, and would like to do more.

Give a large amount to The Lamplighters Musical Theater in San Francisco and I would also give a chunk to one of the charities here in Davis who deal with the homeless.

$100,000 must be given to one person that you know. To whom do you give it? What would you expect him/her to do with it? Would you put any restrictions on its use? Would it make a difference if you could make the donation anonymously?

This is a difficult question to answer.  Obviously I would like to divide the money up and give it to the kids, but the question specifies ONE person, and I won't choose one person out of the three, though all three could use it.

And one person that I know, which means I can't choose someone I have seen in the media who is doing good things.  The people I have known over my lifetime who have done wonderful things are now too old or have died, so that reduces the number of people I can choose.  The only person I can think of is Sandy, the guy who runs the house where my mother lives.  He wants to build a new house for more clients and he is so much better than the facility my mother was in before that I would love to see him be able to do it.  I would make the donation anonymously.

$50,000 must be spent on a public beautification project. You can build a park, commission artwork, etc. What do you do, and where do you do it?

I'd plant trees.  I would work with the city of Davis to find the best place to plant trees and plant as many as possible--perhaps those Chinese Pistachio trees I love so much for their fall color. In the long run, in this day and age $50,000 really isn't that much money for a public beautification project.

$50,000 must be spent studying something you have not formally studied. What will you study?

I think I'm too old to study something that formally.  My brain doesn't work that well any more.  But pretending that I am 30 years younger and my body in better shape, it would be great to use the money to join with someone who is doing elephant family observation.

$200,000 must be spent doing as many things as you can on your "lifetime to do list." Always wanted to see Alaska? Take a boat trip on the Rhine? What things would you do first?

Plan a trip to Africa, taking someone to help me move around, since it's not fair for Walt to have to do it.  I have wanted to go on a photo safari in Africa most of my life.  I want to see "the big 5"  With $200,000 we could fly first class, stay at the best hotels, and get as close as possible to the animals.  I want to stay at the hotel where my Facebook friend Suellyn stayed with elephants out her bedroom window!  And we could stay at Giraffe Manor in Kenya and share breakfast with endangered giraffes.  I could visit the Sheldrick Foundation in person.

And, if there is money left over, time to take that inland cruise to Alaska I've talked about for years.  I don't have to take side trips when the ship stops because everything I want to see is on the water.

The rest of the money is yours to do with as you see fit. What would you do with it?

I'm a dunderhead when it comes to investing money, so I'd have to have somebody to advise me. But I'd love to set up some sort of investment that will allow me to live as my mother has done -- all the money paid for her time in the various places where she has lived has come out of her savings and investments.  We certainly could not have paid $5,000+ a month if we had to pay it ourselves, so I'd like to have that set up in case I, too, live past 100 with dementia.

After I'm sure that is all set up so the kids don't have to take care of me, I'd divide the rest among Jeri, Ned and Tom.

Unfortunately, unless I start playing the lottery, I won't ever be in a position to make decisions such as these.