I did lots of volunteer work for years. I was a homemaker raising special needs kids and wrestling with health issues. A real career was out of my reach. I was also a major bleeding heart, something I have worked to get over. I've thought a lot about such things. Some things I piddle around with part time (while continuing to resolve my own issues, that are supposed to be unresolvable):

I keep a small, out of date parenting and homeschooling site. It rarely gets updated. I still hope this will change someday. I also keep my toe in on a list or two. I believe firmly that if you want to see less crime, fewer people in prison and so on, you should put more societal resources into supporting families and helping people be good parents and helping kids get raised right. I think every little bit helps in this regard. So I continue to be a resource, on a small scale, for folks who have very challenging children.

I also run a health site. I have a form of cystic fibrosis, as does my oldest son. I have figured out how to get us well. I share that info to the best of my ability, in spite of huge negative reactions from the CF community. My thought is that I would like to write a game (aka simulation) to better share my understanding of what works. My approach is a diet and lifestyle approach which flies in the face of what most people know to be true about this deadly condition. I do not want to do this as a charity. Yet I can't do it as a traditional business model. Maybe something like a freemium model will work. I'm not sure.

I'm pretty disillusioned and disenchanted with the charity model. It tends to fundamentally assume that people cannot help themselves. I think this tends to cause big problems and you need to be very, very careful about such underlying assumptions. I have overcome some very serious personal problems. In the course of doing so, I have routinely run into "helpers" who had to be ditched at some point -- even if they were professionals. It is standard modus operandi of most such people to want to help you walk better but not want you to stand entirely on your own two feet because then they have no role in life as someone's crutch. My experience has been that such people have an enormous need to be needed and can't imagine anyone would genuinely "love" them or befriend them as an equal. It speaks simultaneously of both phenomenal arrogance (often rooted in being much more competent than average) and phenomenal insecurity (often rooted in having been given hell socially for most of their lives, in part for the crime of being too competent).

I would like to see the world be a better place. I consider that to be a form of selfishness: If the world is a better place, I get to live in a better place. I see no reason why a charity model is fundamentally superior to a business model for achieving such a goal. I see lots of cases where a charity model is part of the problem. One notable "exception" is Habitat for Humanity. Please note they are not really a charity per se: They do not give away houses for nothing. They sell the houses and recipients have to also provide labor beforehand. They just a) don't sell at a profit b) due to volunteer labor and donated supplies, not selling at a profit means selling a house for substantially less than it is typically worth on the open market and c) they don't charge interest on the loan. This combo makes the loan payments dramatically less than house payments typically are.

Anyway, those are my rambling thoughts while exhausted and foolishly posting anyway.

Peace.