Could your funding have gone to a better cause like a charity?

Question: Could your funding have gone to a better cause like a charity?
- Keywords:
  charity,
  funding
Asked by 362nepk47 on 8 Nov 2017.
- anon answered on 8 Nov 2017:
  
  Not exactly sure which funding you mean, do you mean funding that the company I currently work for attracts? Or maybe any public funding that I have benefited from during my career?
  
  Either way, generally before any scientific project is funded, the project is assessed by panels of other scientists, to make sure that the project is worth funding. I think that all the projects I have been involved in have been very worthwhile.
  
  It is difficult to compare different science projects, and indeed different charitable causes. I wouldn’t assume that all charities are by definition “good” causes, or necessarily “better” than any particular science project. Some charities do carry out scientific work though, for instance Cancer Research UK.

Question: Could your funding have gone to a better cause like a charity?