If you won the euromillions (or had a similar amount of money) how would you spend some of the money to try and make a difference?

[Aspanielstolemysanity]

Partly inspired by driving through some fairly deprived areas and realising what a sheltered /privileged life my children live, and how much difference that makes to their life chances and childhood

And partly just that I like to day dream about having the power and resources to really make a difference in the climate change battle...

So I was just idly day dreaming and wondered what others would do?

I feel like it would be quite daunting to have that much money and know that if you used some of it wisely you could make a difference

Whenever I hear about "the state the country is in is in", I think the answer is much earlier intervention in so many things. Support for struggling families, health, addiction, bahviournin schools and young offenders.

I've no idea where you'd start, but if I could do it with the money I would.

I'd be setting up good quality residential care, day activities and respite care for adults with learning disabilities and combinrd medical needs.

So many of my friends have had to send thier adult chikdren to far away places to get shat they need, which adds to the stress of the situation.

In general in the world if people are starving to death it is deliberate. Either an act of war or as an attempt to “starve them out”.

money doesn’t fix those situations.

individual people in countries often don’t have enough to eat. I’d give quite a lot to food banks.

I'd fund a bursary or scholarship scheme at a secondary school I approve of, and at a university that does meaningful research into social and political sciences. The latter one I would make conditional.

Then, I would fund the kitchens at my local temple. They feed anyone and everyone who comes in, regardless of faith. They also have an outreach team that feeds people locally and, increasingly, internationally. I'd revamp the equipment and set up a trust to ensure regular disbursements to buy supplies.

If I still had money to give, I'd resource a children's hospital ward in my home country (they have no equivalent of the top notch children's hospitals in the UK).

I'd love to be able to do some regeneration in my home town, housing, educational support, subsidised childcare to help people work etc. Would love to get my hands on the High Street and sort the boarded up buildings, vape shops...

Paid for work placements in engineering/plumbing/trades industries in Lancashire.

It would all go to Palestine.

I’d be looking at funding science that will improve food and water security. Secondary to that I would start a charitable trust to fund courses for young people in traditional crafts that could otherwise be lost (straw hats, bow making, wooden boats…) as well as semi endangered crafts. https://www.heritagecrafts.org.uk/skills/redlist

I would obviously ring fence some for my future, sort out family and friends. Nothing too crazy but enough to be life changing.

Then the rest would be charity. Including little known ones. Stopping FGM, smaller cancer charities, community projects for deprived areas, something to help the homeless. There is so much that could be done if you take the time to research and really think about it.

Oh, I also volunteer for a small almshouse charity and I think they do amazing work. There are lots of small.almshouse charities and what I love about the best ones is they create a real sense of community. It's not just affordable housing it's much more than that, a real sense of being a member of a community.

Oh and personally I’d be off to Scotland to do rewilding, live simply and practice some heritage crafts (with plenty of local advisement and support and not just “deciding” to release some wolves and fuck over the local farmers).

1. Money to completely cover the rebuild of the local Scout hut and some extra land so they don't need to worry about housebuilding next door.

1. DDs Secondary school has a fund to allow those on limited incomes to go on the Foreign trips... a massive donation to that.

I'd love to set up some nice community type activities in the empty high streets. Board game cafes, second hand book shops, play centres for children. Things that bring people "somewhere to go" and also make the high street more appealing and less depressing

I'd build secure housing for families fleeing domestic violence. And plant trees. I love trees.

a) Work with the Woodland Trust to create more green spaces with a focus on endangered species (for example the black poplar tree and the willow tit).

b) Help out the local charities and buy in more equipment/redo the scout hut before it gets redeveloped by the council

c) Build a co-operative housing movement for affordable homes in my part of the country. Match it with digital hubs and grants so that people can set up small businesses.

d) support charities for domestic abuse and Afghan women. I would also donate to Red Cross and other experienced players for hunger in Sudan and Gaza (once they are allowed back in).

The aim is multiply the good money can do by linking it up to people who know what they are doing, or making use of people's ingenuity to move further and faster than I can do on my own.

I'd join you in this. I worked at free and low cost play schemes / adventure playgrounds for many years and it's so terrible they don't really exist in the same way anymore.

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/gaza-what-you-can-do-to-help

The government has advice for you.

But if you only want it to go to one specific location be careful as some do not ringfence money as you might hope.

DEC or Unicef would be a starting point but read carefully what they do with your money.

I would like to help foster children who age out of the system. Not every young adult has parents who help them get started in life, but the extra boost we provide our children by giving them financial and emotional support as they acquire education and training and make their first steps into the adult workforce make a huge difference in where they end up in life. I’d like to help children who don’t have any hope of having that support.

I'd set up a charity to help children from poorer backgrounds to go on forest school type trips. I'm a squirrel scout leader and I see how much the children get from these activities, I'd love for more children to experience them.
I'd also volunteer and donate money to one of the local charity shops that I go to. It has a soup kitchen and a food bank. The atmosphere is so warm And friendly, I'd love to be a part of it.

I always thought if I was suddenly very wealthy I would donate money to libraries and museums to help expand access. Grew up very poor, but liked to learn and having access to free museum entry and local libraries was a lifeline. They make such a difference and yet are under such threat.

My plan is to set up a low/no cost cat neutering charity to try to reduce the number of cats giving birth because someone got a kitten and couldn’t then afford to get them neutered (which is really concerning if they needed any other vet treatment) or even afford the taxi to get them to the vet - so the charity would offer collection and delivery services too (maybe with volunteers from small cat rescue charities helping with that). I see so many people asking for vouchers for reduced cost neutering but a clinic which only does neutering in all major towns is my dream to fund with my big win.

I’m not averse to extending this to dogs too but setting up the service for cats would be my priority.

After a career in education, DP would probably fund or work with deprived schools to improve educational outcomes for the children there.

I wouldn’t set up a charity as I don’t think I’d be best positioned to do that, but I’d donate to a bunch for charities that I already try and support but don’t get to very often, so cancer research uk, CST and united24 for Ukraine.

I'd donate heavily to my sons state school.

I’d want to live by the sea. So my plan would be to buy a farmhouse with outbuildings, and develop them into holiday cottages for disadvantaged families to stay in for free (maybe they could be referred by the food bank or something).

I’d build a good play area and maybe a swimming pool, and leave a filled fridge/grocery box in each cottage.

I would love to build a day centre for adults with special needs. My colleague and I daydream about it sometimes: therapy pool, sensory rooms, quiet areas, social hubs, education spaces, animals, support, inclusion. It would be amazing