Create projects, don't just fund

Donors get far more impact by inventing or seeding '10x' projects than by nitpicking applications around their usual funding bar; a $1M gift that creates an opportunity 10× better than baseline generates far more surplus value than marginally improving standard grants. The post also warns donors to adjust for winner's curse, different 'kinds' of money (tax‑advantaged, restricted, etc.), and the tradeoff between being open to novel ideas and becoming exploitable. — If mainstream philanthropies shift from passive grant‑selection to proactive project creation, the supply of innovative public‑goods projects (research, advocacy, infrastructure) and the distribution of influence over civic priorities could change materially.