Re:Ask HN: Dear open source devs how do you sustain yourself
by koheripbal on Monday May 18, 2020 @05:40PM
(#23228688)
Exactly. That tax-deductible donation needs to go to their own foundation, so they can spend the money in a way of their choosing and also gain prestige for banquet hob-nobbing.
It's not that they don't want to do good - it's that they want to maximize the value from the good they do.
I think really wealthy people have two problems when it comes to this: (1) there are a lot of people out there who want money but can't deliver. (2) many of these wealthy people, like the guy I mentioned above, want to be actively involved in solving problems. He didn't want to give money to OpenSSL because his only role there would be giving them money. Instead, he wanted to create some organization with his name on it so that he could be seen to be doing something.
[0]: I don't remember exactly what his proposal was, but I remember thinking it sounded really bureaucratic and unlikely to have any real benefits in practice.