Whenever I talk to someone about Andrew Carnegie who hasn't hear of him before, I always tell them, "Ever hear of Carnegie Mellon? Yeah, THAT Carnegie." Andrew Carnegie believed that the best way to improve the lives of other people was to promote knowledge, education, and peace throughout the world. He did this by creating many foundations that provide thousands of grants to institutions around the world. These include universities, teaching organizations, public outreach initiatives, and much more. He believed in the long-term benefits of educating a community, rather than the short-lived benefits of helping an individual or community by giving them money.

This approach is effective in that it will save and benefit many more people over time than simple donations would. The proverb "give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime," applies here. The counter argument is that there are more immediate problems that can be solved with money, such as starvation and homelessness. However, these problems, while dire, will only be perpetuated if the roots of the problems- poor education and resources- are not addressed.

If I had hundreds of millions of dollars to give away, I would create a grant fund to encourage high school students to begin working on the problems that matter to them at a young age. The money would go to building better facilities in high schools, such as machine shops or labs; providing grants for high school students to pursue research, science projects, or social projects; providing scholarships to low-income children around the world who show a strong passion in academics; and to encouraging children to become more interested in academics.