America’s top philanthropists 2025

 Buoyed by two consecutive years of stellar returns in the U.S. stock market, America’s top philanthropists are richer than ever—but not all of their giving has kept pace with their fatter fortunes. Take a look at 2025's #TopGivers: https://trib.al/NZdxMbI

所有心情：

1212

Jim Simons (1938 – 2024)傳奇數學家和投資家 Do something new Guided by beauty

 

Ben Chen

傳奇數學家和投資家

Do something new

拉你所能找到最聰明的人做伙

Guided by beauty

⋯⋯

youtube.com

Jim Simons: Life and Philanthropy

Simons Foundation co-founder Jim Simons — an award-winning mathematician and widely regarded as the father of modern quantitative investing — led an extraord...

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other people named James Simons, see James Simons (disambiguation).

James Simons
Simons in 2007
Born	April 25, 1938 Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.
Died	May 10, 2024 (aged 86) New York City, U.S.
Education	Massachusetts Institute of Technology (BS) University of California, Berkeley (MS, PhD)
Occupation(s)	Hedge fund manager, investor, mathematician, philanthropist
Known for	Founding and managing Renaissance Technologies Simons formula Chern–Simons form
Spouses	Barbara Bluestein ​ ​ (m. 1959; div. 1974)​ Marilyn Hawrys   ​ (m. 1977)​ [1]
Children	5, including Nat[2]
Awards	Oswald Veblen Prize (1976)[3]
Scientific career
Fields	Differential geometry, cryptography, quantitative financial analysis
Thesis	On the Transitivity of Holonomy Systems (1962)
Doctoral advisor	Bertram Kostant
Doctoral students	Jeff Cheeger

James Harris Simons (April 25, 1938 – May 10, 2024) was an American hedge fund manager, investor, mathematician, and philanthropist.^[4] At the time of his death, Simons' net worth was estimated to be $31.4 billion, making him the 55th-richest person in the world.^[4] He was the founder of Renaissance Technologies, a quantitative hedge fund based in East Setauket, New York. He and his fund are known to be quantitative investors, using mathematical models and algorithms to make investment gains from market inefficiencies. Due to the long-term aggregate investment returns of Renaissance and its Medallion Fund, Simons was described as the "greatest investor on Wall Street", and more specifically "the most successful hedge fund manager of all time".^[5][6][7]

Simons was known for his studies on pattern recognition.^[8] He developed the Chern–Simons form (with Shiing-Shen Chern), and contributed to the development of string theory by providing a theoretical framework to combine geometry and topology with quantum field theory.^[9]

In 1994, Simons and his wife, Marilyn, founded the Simons Foundation to support research in mathematics and fundamental sciences. The foundation is the top benefactor of Stony Brook University, Marilyn's alma mater, and is a major contributor to his alma maters, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of California, Berkeley. Simons was a member of the boards of the Stony Brook Foundation, the MIT Corporation, and the Simons Laufer Mathematical Sciences Institute in Berkeley, as well as chair of boards of Math for America, the Simons Foundation, and Renaissance Technologies.^[10][11] In 2023, the Simons Foundation gave $500 million to Stony Brook University, the second-largest donation to a public university in American history.^[12] In 2016, the International Astronomical Union named asteroid 6618 Jimsimons, which Clyde Tombaugh discovered in 1936, after Simons in honor of his contributions to mathematics and philanthropy.^[13]

MacKenzie Scott 2024年捐出20億美金。誠實納稅就是最好的慈善*翁達瑞)。 MacKenzie Scott donates $640M -- more than double her initial plan -- to nonprofits. Here's what happens if Trump can't pay his $454 million bond

 MacKenzie Scott 2024年捐出20億美金。

美國通 57 MacKenzie Scott donates $640M -- more than double her initial plan -- to nonprofits.

Here's what happens if Trump can't pay his $454 million bond

HCMEMORY.BLOGSPOT.COM

美國通 57 MacKenzie Scott donates $640M -- more than double her initial plan -- to nonprofits. Here's what

****

翁達瑞

誠實納稅就是最好的慈善

翁達瑞 / 美國大學教授

媽媽還在世時，曾經長期捐款給一個以「造橋」為訴求的慈善團體。我都勸媽媽不要捐，因為造橋鋪路是政府的責任。只要誠實納稅就是最好的慈善。

我提出幾個論點說服媽媽：

#監督機制

慈善團體缺乏外部監督，錢花在什麼地方，捐款人完全不知道。相較之下，政府的監督機制更加完備，腐敗的機率小於慈善團體。

#行善比率

慈善團體不可能完全沒行善，因為抓雞也要蝕把米。關鍵在多少比率的捐款用在行善。即便法律完備的美國，許多慈善團體的行善比率不到三成。政府再怎麼腐敗，也不可能浪費七成的稅收。

#執行專業

行善也需要專業，但多數慈善團體缺乏專業人才。相對的，政府的人力資源豐富，具備完善的公共事務規劃與執行能力。

#主管自肥

慈善團體常被少數人把持，董監事沒有定期改選，而且常有利益糾葛。政府首長的任命有法定程序，還要定期論調或改選，很難有私相授受的空間。

基於上述四個理由，我告訴媽媽「捐款不如誠實納稅」，除非捐款的用途不屬政府責任，或超出預算的範圍，例如大規模的救災或特殊性的救助。

在多數的民主國家，政府負有保護兒童福祉的責任，社會上不需有類似「兒童福利聯盟」的慈善團體。這種慈善團體的存在就是為了兩邊撈錢。

一方面，這種團體可以打著兒福的招牌，引誘有愛心的民眾捐款。另一方面，這種團體還可承攬與兒福相關的政府包案。這是典型的「一條牛剝兩層皮」。

儘管兒福團體兩邊拿錢，卻沒有完備的外部監督。雖然基層員工的待遇微薄，董監事卻坐領高薪。拿到的政府包案再轉包關係人，連例行的查核都可造假。

這種兒福團體的腐敗是必然的，連政府轉介的出養兒童都被居家保母虐待致死！

針對兒童福祉的照顧，我要呼籲三件事：

一、解散現有的兒福團體，人員與財產撥入地方政府的社福單位。

二、政府負起照顧兒童福祉的責任，停止所有委外包案。若政府的資源不足，必要時可課徵兒福稅。

三、民眾應停止對兒福團體捐款，誠實繳納兒福稅就是最好的慈善。

所有心情：

1,764沈哥、Owen Hsieh和其他1,764人