How Powerball winner could best spend $100 million
'I'm pretty comfortable at the moment, I'd probably give all of it, or at least 99 per cent of it away,' he said last night. 'But if somebody has less, I'd understand wanting to keep $10 million. I can't understand why anyone would need more than that.'
The Princeton University ethicist is a pioneer of altruism — selfless acts that benefit others. He famously doesn't just preach on the subject, he follows through with action. By 2020, he was already donating 40 per cent of his income to charity, and when he won the Berggruen Prize for philosophy a year later, he gave the entire sum away.
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When it comes to who the $100 million Powerball winner should help, he has some basic guiding ideas. 'They should give it to the most effective causes they can — fighting global poverty, maybe something to do with reducing the suffering of animals in factory farms, climate change, are possibly things to do with it,' he said.
Advocacy group A Life You Can Save lists charities to support where your donations will make the biggest difference. It was founded by Singer and former business executive Charlie Bresler, and has so far raised over US$120 million ($183 million) to help charities achieve specific goals like spending US$300,000 to distribute antiretroviral drugs to treat HIV in Zambia, and US$100,000 to provide life-saving treatment for 800 children with malnutrition.
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Singer's ideas are thought to have influenced billionaire philanthropists, including Warren Buffett, who is giving away 99 per cent of his wealth through his charity The Giving Pledge, and Bill Gates who is aiming to do the same.
The best option would be to take a well-considered approach, rather than just giving everything immediately away. This could mean setting up a trust or bank account that allows it to have a continued impact over the years.
Singer argues it's a 'misconception' that smaller donations can't make a difference. 'The more you have the bigger the difference you can make, but together with others, everybody can make a difference,' he said.
When it comes to those of us who don't have millions of dollars, Singer believes we should be reconsidering our spend on non-essential items.
'If they're in Australia, they're very fortunate to be growing up in a country that has good social security, free education and health care,' he said.
'So I think when they spend money on things that they don't need, luxuries, frivolities, items that are more fashionable, things of that sort, they should think about what else they could do with the money. And think about how much of a difference it could make to people in extreme poverty, or how it could restore sight against somebody who's blind and can't afford to get their cataracts removed… or help people who get malaria because they don't have mosquito nets, and children may die from that when they get ill.
'There are just so many things in low-income countries that people are deprived of. Educating children, particularly girls in poor countries, is another thing that often doesn't happen. But I think we can all play a part.'
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