On: How MIT OpenCourseWare transformed a learner's lif...

[enknamel]

I believe a lot of endowments have only specific uses. You can't just spend as much as you want on whatever you want. It also gets buy-in from the community. Even if you can afford to run something for free, accepting donations is a great way to measure your impact.

[linkmotif → enknamel]

This is true, too. But OCW really cannot cost more than several or several tens of millions of dollars per year, and MIT gets the brand recognition.

[sushid → linkmotif]

Right, but as the parent comment states, it makes sense to run it while also asking for donations.