The Responsibility That Comes With Success

I wasn’t wealthy growing up. My parents were Romanian immigrants who came to Australia after World War II due to the Displaced Persons Program. We were middle class, and without a significant Romanian community in Sydney. I had a public-school education, and my degree was in computer science, an unusual focus for the late 1970s. After nine years working at two computer hardware companies, I landed a job at Microsoft—a company that would change my life. I got to work closely with Bill Gates during my time there, first as the Australian CEO, then later in America as a vice president of a product group. It was during a conversation with Bill and his mother, Mary, a philanthropist in her own right, that my own giving philosophy took shape. She said something I haven’t been able to forget: If you’re fortunate in life, it should be your responsibility—not your choice—to give back.

In 1999, my wife and I set up a family foundation with a pretty large chunk of our wealth and searched for things to support. The first cause we donated to was something that resonated personally for us: My wife’s mother and aunt died of breast cancer, and we had three daughters, so donating to breast cancer research funding just made sense. Eventually, we lifted our gaze from things in and around Australia to tackle global issues. While I was always concerned about global poverty, reading Peter’s book The Life You Can Save—particularly his drowning-child argument—reinforced that it was something I should actively combat. My foundation researched organizations doing quality work in that space and soon began our global initiatives.

Our foundation first collaborated with The Hunger Project, which funds and empowers communities in Africa, South Asia, and Latin America toward sustainable self-reliance. They promote community-led development, ensuring locals are skilled, resourced, and supported. There’s no rushing in a bunch of white guys to build a school, celebrate, and take off. Instead, The Hunger Project builds village epicenters, which have water bores, medical centers, microfinance banks, and grain stores. After several years, the epicenters are fully self-reliant. We also decided to do more for the communities around the epicenters, so we embarked on a program to put water sources into nearby villages. Now people in those communities aren’t spending two hours a day each way, three times a day to get dirty water from a river. Babies aren’t dying of bacterial infections, and young girls are in school instead of being assaulted on the riverbank. We saw that a little money can go a long way in many parts of the world. Those are the lives you can save.

More than half of my foundation’s annual funds goes to projects in Africa, from providing water bores (120 and counting) to, more recently, increasing food security as climate change severely impacts crop yields for small farmers. We still support things at home in Australia, such as domestic violence prevention and medical research. The truth is, I feel so much more fulfillment and purpose from what we do with our foundation than I have in my past work—and I was fortunate to have a pretty amazing career.

Hemming and Hawing

My current day job is StartGiving, an organization I established that helps tech founders begin their giving journey. I’ve been talking to rich white guys for 20 years, trying to get them to donate. I’ve been successful with some, but I’ve had more success with young tech entrepreneurs. Many tech founders I work with lean socially progressive; they’re uncomfortable with the status quo and societal inequality, and so they’ve been inspired to disrupt norms in more ways than one. They’re not under the illusion their achievements came about just because they worked the hardest and that others lack opportunity because they haven’t worked as hard; they acknowledge luck played a major role in their success. They often feel less entitled to their wealth than those old rich guys—they’re less likely to hoard their money and more likely to invest in the future of others, even if the return on investment isn’t guaranteed.

When it comes to rich folks hemming and hawing about whether to give, I’m not very tolerant. In a way, I get it. When you’re wealthy, the world treats you differently. Hotels, airlines, restaurants—any service provider who wants you to buy their stuff treats you like the second coming of Christ. I see how intoxicating it is. But there’s so much suffering in the world that could be alleviated overnight. If you’ve got money in excess of your needs, what are you doing with it? It’s serving no purpose.

I’m not saying forgo all delights and splurges and become a minimalist committed to meager living. I’m arguing that even after treating yourself, you can—and should—be charitable.

I’ve really struggled with how we let rich people get away with excuses like, “Well, I’m not ready to donate yet. But maybe one day.” I hear it all the time: dallying, delaying, and uncertainty. But time has a completely different cost function when lives are involved.

In the world of commerce, delaying the release of the new version of your product for six months, generally speaking, isn’t cataclysmic for your business. But if you don’t provide money or resources to someone in need today, then they may well die. Best case, they’re suffering for another year until you decide to do something. So the idea that there’s no cost for a delay in giving is bullshit. If you have money that’s excess to your needs and you choose not to use some to alleviate suffering today, then you must accept that somebody somewhere is suffering because you decided not to do something. That’s just a fact.

I get that those who’ve worked hard to build their wealth may be hesitant to part from it. But no one can say that their success in life comes purely from hard work. Depending on where you’re born or what family you’re born into, your access to education, healthcare, opportunity, and safety will vary. That’s the luck of the draw.

There are others who’ve most likely worked harder than you and still haven’t had your luck. It’s fantastic to have an entrepreneurial spirit and to aim for financial success, but remember that nobody operates in a silo. We’re a part of a societal environment that allows us to succeed as individuals. Success happens because of this supportive infrastructure, and unfortunately, the infrastructure includes those who are not doing well. You don’t have to walk very far outside your front door to witness suffering, or spot those lacking opportunity.

Where to Begin

But Daniel, I’m not one of the old millionaires you talk to. Okay, fine. To those who are middle or lower class, I say this: It doesn’t matter where you sit in the wealth pyramid. Truly, what I believe stays the same: If you have money in excess of your needs—however you define them—then you should give back. It could be $100 a year or $500 a year. You can do a whole lot of good with $500, by the way. You can improve some people’s lives dramatically.

To those looking to embark on their giving journey—and after reading The Rationales of Giving, I hope you are—I’d recommend setting up a strategy of donating every year. It can be done more structurally, like how my family set up a foundation, or perhaps less formally. However you choose to, make it your mission to set aside money yearly, because I’ve found it’s the consistent funding of something that brings about systemic change. Develop a program of annual giving toward areas you want to impact. If you want, start with something close to your heart, like my family did. Otherwise, you can donate through organizations like The Life You Can Save, who can recommend high-impact charities working effectively towards the causes you care about.

Society was created and managed in a way that allowed you to succeed. Feel appreciative of that environment. Spend a little bit of time and money helping those less fortunate. You’ll see how fulfilling it will be.

I’ll end with some time-honored words of wisdom (I love quotes).

There’s a great line attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson that speaks to defining success. It seems to say it all: “To know that one life has breathed easier because you have lived, is to have succeeded.”