Wishful Thinking: What I would do if I had a lot of $$$ to give away

Clip from the Richard Pryor film, Brewster's Millions

Growing up with the film, Brewster's Million's taught me to avoid large sums of cash. At a young age I learned that a bounty of bucks only leads to disgrace and pointless political campaigns (Oh, how the times have changed). So when faced with a hypothetical question like how and where would I dispense $10,000; $100,000; $1,000,000: $10,000,000 to have maximum impact, my impulse is to be cynical about the actual impact of those funds.

Who is measuring said impact? Public opinion or a select elite few? How is the impact measured? By increased revenue, larger audiences, SEO or some futuristic metric we haven't found useful yet? Is this a trap like Brewster's Millions?

As a purely subjective endeavor, I offer my fantasy givings as of today. These suggestions reflect my current whims and would surely change within a few months or years. I imagine gameifying the philanthropic scenario, where a player could give to any facet of a society and then the game would speed up time to see the effects/impact would be quite helpful here. Like Farmville and Civilizations with a 501 C3 twist, the game could help us envision how our money can effect change in society. The European version of the game would have different plugins for added government funding.

But since our fantasy game can only play out via Steemit post, and I can't actually see into the future to determine if the impact is meaningful, this entire scenario feels a bit onanistic. Nevertheless, if I had to dispense $10,000; $100,000; $1,000,000: and $10,000,000 to have maximum impact I would do the following:

• A $10,000 donation would go to: the Temple University Honors Student Grant Fund. Since 10k sadly, doesn't stretch too far today I think it would be cooler to have a large impact on a few people. With this student grant program, motivated individuals are given the resources to realize their dreams and do cool stuff. Since I have personal connections to the TU Honors program I would want to start doling out money close to home.

• I would rent $100,000 worth: of ClearChannel billboards along 95 to be used by non-profits in the Philly area to get their messages out to a different audience. Nonprofits can apply to have an image from their collection, a message about their mission, or a call to action displayed for a month. We would rent billboard space to have one image viewed from each direction on 95. The final month before the money runs out we would have a billboard that says: "Rent this space! Support your community!"

• A $1,000,000 donation would go to: The Center for Emerging Visual Artists to spearhead a program dedicated to funding art about public history and community. We need more stuff like Monument Lab. With a million bucks we could offer more grants for artists to work in public spaces to effect social/communal change. Bring art/collections outside of buildings and inform local populations about their home and surroundings. Ideally, the grant would be sustained through interest accrued annually and each year a few grants would be awarded to artists from anywhere wanting to create with the canvass of Philly.

• With $10,000,000 I would invest in: The urban farming association training and vocational training programs offered at Metropolis Farms in South Philly. I would invest funds to create a program to educate and train local students of all ages in the craft of vertical farming. Trained staff would go into schools to install micro vertical farms with students in their classrooms. If there is enough money we could also offer micro grants to individuals or groups looking to build in their community. Blending technology, agriculture and economics, vertical farming can create green collar jobs, provide healthy foods, and generate commodities for our community.

If you had wads of cash how you would spend it?

^{100% of the SBD rewards from this #explore1918 post will support the Philadelphia History Initiative @phillyhistory. This crypto-experiment conducted by graduate courses at Temple University's Center for Public History and MLA Program, is exploring history and empowering education. Click here to learn more.}