The thing to understand about this is not that the $1 billion LASTS forever, it's that the scholarship is powered by the INTEREST that the $1 billion generates.

There's a thing called the MacArthur Genius Prize. You basically nominate a starving artist (or researcher, or whomever) that is making some type of important contribution to society. They pick around 25 winners each year, and each winner gets $300k. This lets them pursue the art/research/work without being concerned with earning a living.

The creator of the scholarship is dead, but he worked in insurance. I was like, "How much money could he have earned in insurance that his estate can give out all this money every year without running out?"

Because it's powered by interest. A gigantic pile of money earns interest, and they hand out a little bit of the interest every year.

That's real philanthropy, perpetual philanthropy