Do you think that most of GWWC’s impact will come from money moved, or from introducing people to EA who then change their career paths, or something else? (I can’t tell immediately tell from your strategy, which mentions both.)
Thanks Isaac, good question! I believe that although donations moved through our platform are significant and a robust measurement, they only represent a part of GWWC’s overall impact. In fact, over half the donations that we’re aware of (via member reporting) are made directly to charities or via other donation platforms.
In my view, if we truly make strides towards achieving our mission, I expect that the indirect impact will dwarf the direct impact and more easily measured impact. This could take various forms such as introducing people to EA principles and causes, promoting positive values, and influencing donations more loosely, and shifting the impact-orientation of the philanthropic sector, to name a just few.
On a day to day basis however, our approach is to focus on what we can effectively measure and optimise, which predominantly includes donations and number of people giving effectively. However, we always have our broader mission in sight to ensure we don’t make decisions that compromise greater impact elsewhere. This post by Joey gives examples of ways that organisations could undermine overall impact by focusing too much on just their own metrics.
Essentially, we are accountable to our mission more than just the easily measurable metrics precisely because we think that’s what’s more important. If you ask anyone at the GWWC team you’d likely hear that they’re frequently asked questions like “is this moving us towards our mission?” or “could this harm our overall mission?”.
We’re planning to incorporate more indirect impact measures in our next impact evaluation, starting with the ones easier to measure like organisations using our research, or people we’ve referred to other organisations as donors or employees etc. Thanks again for your question, Isaac!
Do you think that most of GWWC’s impact will come from money moved, or from introducing people to EA who then change their career paths, or something else? (I can’t tell immediately tell from your strategy, which mentions both.)
Thanks Isaac, good question! I believe that although donations moved through our platform are significant and a robust measurement, they only represent a part of GWWC’s overall impact. In fact, over half the donations that we’re aware of (via member reporting) are made directly to charities or via other donation platforms.
In my view, if we truly make strides towards achieving our mission, I expect that the indirect impact will dwarf the direct impact and more easily measured impact. This could take various forms such as introducing people to EA principles and causes, promoting positive values, and influencing donations more loosely, and shifting the impact-orientation of the philanthropic sector, to name a just few.
On a day to day basis however, our approach is to focus on what we can effectively measure and optimise, which predominantly includes donations and number of people giving effectively. However, we always have our broader mission in sight to ensure we don’t make decisions that compromise greater impact elsewhere. This post by Joey gives examples of ways that organisations could undermine overall impact by focusing too much on just their own metrics.
Essentially, we are accountable to our mission more than just the easily measurable metrics precisely because we think that’s what’s more important. If you ask anyone at the GWWC team you’d likely hear that they’re frequently asked questions like “is this moving us towards our mission?” or “could this harm our overall mission?”.
We’re planning to incorporate more indirect impact measures in our next impact evaluation, starting with the ones easier to measure like organisations using our research, or people we’ve referred to other organisations as donors or employees etc. Thanks again for your question, Isaac!
“This post by Joey” returns a 404 page btw!