TL;DR Bill Ackman says capitalism beats philanthropy at solving problems. Ackman’s new Brain Research Institute uses nonprofit capital to spin out for-profit companies with equity for staff. Bill Ackman has spent close to $1 billion on philanthropy over two decades and concluded that capitalism is better at solving problems. Ackman and Bezos represent a growing faction of elite capital allocators who frame corporate success as the higher form of social contribution. Ackman signed the deed on the institute’s Manhattan building the same morning he told Fortune that capitalism beats philanthropy.