<i>although in less power-hungry ways</i><p>Yes, well that&#x27;s 100% the distinction.<p>The OP seems to think that the <i>obvious choice</i> is for money to &quot;go to something meaningful&quot; without specifying what &quot;meaningful&quot; actually is. Within this context, that would seem to mean the &quot;meaningful&quot; thing is &quot;greater -good&quot; charity. My point is that more frequently, this type of money go toward direct influence of power like setting up Super PACs, hosting power networks like Sun Valley Conference, establishing think tanks, grants to universities for certain research etc...