I think this is a great point (though I also feel that reasonable people can disagree and it’s hard to know for sure), and I really appreciate the call to action and tips! :) I definitely agree that personal outreach to people that know you can be quite valuable.
A few related points:
I think overall, EAs donate a surprisingly small amount (this may be outdated info though), so probably by making effective giving more salient in EA spaces you can influence a fair amount of giving.
People (including myself) are lazy (or busy) and I’m sure many EAs don’t dedicate a significant amount of time optimizing their donations. I’ve personally been moved to give significant amounts by reading Marginal Funding Week posts — I think it can be really helpful to meet people where they are at (i.e. they care but don’t have a lot of time to spend on research).
I’ve been pushing the Forum team to do more Giving Season-related outreach on other platforms, because I also feel more optimistic about the value of influencing donations in spaces that are more “EA-sympathetic” than core (for example, posting in the EA subreddit, on our Forum Twitter account, and our new Forum Instagram account).
Perhaps I would guess that the most valuable dollars are owned by people in these “EA-sympathetic” spaces.
I think this is a great point (though I also feel that reasonable people can disagree and it’s hard to know for sure), and I really appreciate the call to action and tips! :) I definitely agree that personal outreach to people that know you can be quite valuable.
A few related points:
I think overall, EAs donate a surprisingly small amount (this may be outdated info though), so probably by making effective giving more salient in EA spaces you can influence a fair amount of giving.
People (including myself) are lazy (or busy) and I’m sure many EAs don’t dedicate a significant amount of time optimizing their donations. I’ve personally been moved to give significant amounts by reading Marginal Funding Week posts — I think it can be really helpful to meet people where they are at (i.e. they care but don’t have a lot of time to spend on research).
I’ve been pushing the Forum team to do more Giving Season-related outreach on other platforms, because I also feel more optimistic about the value of influencing donations in spaces that are more “EA-sympathetic” than core (for example, posting in the EA subreddit, on our Forum Twitter account, and our new Forum Instagram account).
Perhaps I would guess that the most valuable dollars are owned by people in these “EA-sympathetic” spaces.