Jeff Atwood hosted an Ask Me Anything (AMA) on Reddit last week:

I co-founded Stack Overflow and Discourse, and made more money than a lot of folks could ever imagine. I’m worried that huge cost increases for healthcare, education, and housing are putting the opportunities I had out of reach.

I'm giving away half my wealth over 5 years - not in my will, not after I die, right now. I’ve already sent $1M to eight organizations working to help Americans. There’s a lot more to come.

Atwood writes at CodingHorror (since 2004, in fact), where he explains his goals and reasoning for donating—and for doing so now, while he’s alive. Unsurprisingly, it’s partly tied to the elections and the apparent death of the American Dream:

In November 2024, enough of us voted for people who interpret the dream in a way that I don't understand.

34% of adults in America did not exercise their right to vote. Why? Is it voter suppression, gerrymandering causing indifference, or people who felt their vote didn't matter? The 7.6% that are ineligible to vote are mostly adults living in America who have not managed to attain citizenship, or people convicted of a felony. Whatever the reasons, 42% of adults living in America had no say in the 2024 election. The vote failed to represent everyone.

The Q&A was mostly focused on his approach, mindset, and the eventual impact of his pledge. I wish it was more well-attended, but there were a handful of good questions and interesting answers.

In response to a question about what he’d like to tackle beyond his aspirations to help people Atwood said:

Mostly I want to make sure that everyone else has the same chance that I had to get ahead! I didn't want to be one of those "climb up the ladder and pull it up behind you" people.

The objective here being, I take it, to instead lift as you climb, an action too few successful people seem willing to take.

On the suggestion of making smaller, direct donations to individuals and small organizations, rather than to large charities:

I have low key done a LOT of donations and charity leading up to this, but quietly. It is no longer a time to be quiet in my opinion.

And in an unrelated followup suggesting Atwood should instead fund a media company ”to actually make news free from pressure of the rich and make news which would benefit the working class”:

I do send many, many donations to lots of independent news organizations, and have been doing so for a while. I've given a similar size donation to two independent news organizations, I just didn't talk about it. Heck, I even donated to the The Guardian (UK) recently.. doesn't get more "independent" than that ;)

I took this as a reminder: I need to redirect my news media spending away from traditional outlets and toward publications which will do the challenging work of standing up for democracy rather than capitulating to autocrats.

On maximizing the efficiency of his donations and potentially creating a charity fund:

I prefer to work with existing organizations that are already effective, and help them become more effective. I do not want to create an "Atwood Foundation" because I think the goal is more important than my family's name. I will participate and advise, and be a "hype man" to whatever extent is necessary (or excessive, pick whichever word fits), but I mostly want to lift up and empower (or combine) other organizations doing great, effective work helping people living in America.

I’ve sometimes imagined being wealthy enough to have a family foundation. Now it seems like the wrong approach.

I did have a minor quibble with one of his answers, on the high cost of education:

The cost of higher education has risen so rapidly in the last 30 years. It's not good. I personally feel that we all need to open up to the idea that a "good college" is .. any college. There need to be less exclusive, less expensive forms of college that hiring managers will accept.

I agree that any college can be a good college. My nit is with the last sentence, and the last half, especially.

My interpretation is Atwood is suggesting that “less exclusive, less expensive forms of college” don’t exist, while I know from direct experience ”that hiring managers will accept” is the bigger issue.