What’s actually happening in the back end is what is laid out in the screenshot: The donor’s donation is split according to their chosen percentage, and then the bonus fund (which is an independent pool of money held by every.org) is disbursed to the favorite charity and the super-effective one.
It’s interesting that you implement it that way, but I think the important thing is still the overall net cashflow, regardless of what actual transfers make it happen. The fact that you can’t donate $X and get more than $X going to your favourite charity means I don’t really feel like my donation is being meaningfully matched.
It’s sort of analogous to if a shop says “if you buy this device, you get this peripheral with it for free”, but actually they have just set the price of the device to include the price of the peripheral. It’s sort of difficult to say that their claim is actually wrong, but it doesn’t feel like the most honest explanation of what’s going on.
If that’s what it takes for you to feel your donation is being meaningfully matched then it’s another reason this platform isn’t the right choice for you. But that’s a very specific requirement that our platform never claims to meet, and that plenty of folks don’t share with you, as evidenced by existing donations through our platform. Many other donors are excited by the prospect of having both their donation to the favorite and super-effective charity receive a bonus. This is what happens on our platform, and is what’s laid out as they step through the process. No one is donating under any misapprehension that after splitting their donation and receiving a bonus they get more than the total amount they donated given to their favorite charity.
We are not “baiting” people in with the promise to cause more dollars than they donate to go to their favorite charity and then “switching” to a split and boost mechanism. Rather, the platform (as we lay out on our landing page, and repeat throughout) promises to allow you to help fix factory farming while supporting your favorite charity too, and to get your donations to both charities boosted. The platform isn’t about getting more than the total amount you donated to go to your favorite charity (it’s about splitting and boosting your donation) so the fact that it doesn’t do that is a feature and not a bug
Aidan, Ben (I assume) and I aren’t commenting because we feel like we’re personally harmed by FarmKind. Instead, it’s that a core part of the EA movement is bringing clarity and transparency to charity, helping donors understand what the real impact of their donations is, and we’re concerned about an effort that seems to be going the other way.
That people are willing to donate through a platform isn’t much evidence either way on whether it’s misleading: many donation appeals are seriously misleading while bringing in large amounts of money.
That people are willing to donate through a platform that clearly sign-posts that you don’t get >$X donated to your favorite charity if you donate $X split between two charities IS evidence that many donors don’t share Ben’s expectation about how our bonus system should or does work. That’s all I suggested it was evidence for. I’ve only weighed in here to correct false or misleading claims made about how the platform works.
As for whether how the platform works is aligned with EA or not, or misleading or not, I haven’t weighed in because I’m sure it’s clear from our choice to launch this platform that we think this is a good thing to be doing, and that it’s our attempt at doing altruism effectively. It’s reasonable to disagree and I understand and respect your disagreement. I have similar disagreements with many EAs’ approaches, decisions, cause area prioritisation, communications styles and so on. Once there aren’t any remaining misunderstandings about how our platform works, all that’s left is one of those kinds of disagreements. I don’t have much to say about your position except that I respect it, I disagree and I thank you for sharing it. I considered your critique of Giving Multiplier prior to deciding to launch our platform and was grateful to come across this perspective before rather than after making the decision. So thank you again!
What’s actually happening in the back end is what is laid out in the screenshot: The donor’s donation is split according to their chosen percentage, and then the bonus fund (which is an independent pool of money held by every.org) is disbursed to the favorite charity and the super-effective one.
It’s interesting that you implement it that way, but I think the important thing is still the overall net cashflow, regardless of what actual transfers make it happen. The fact that you can’t donate $X and get more than $X going to your favourite charity means I don’t really feel like my donation is being meaningfully matched.
It’s sort of analogous to if a shop says “if you buy this device, you get this peripheral with it for free”, but actually they have just set the price of the device to include the price of the peripheral. It’s sort of difficult to say that their claim is actually wrong, but it doesn’t feel like the most honest explanation of what’s going on.
If that’s what it takes for you to feel your donation is being meaningfully matched then it’s another reason this platform isn’t the right choice for you. But that’s a very specific requirement that our platform never claims to meet, and that plenty of folks don’t share with you, as evidenced by existing donations through our platform. Many other donors are excited by the prospect of having both their donation to the favorite and super-effective charity receive a bonus. This is what happens on our platform, and is what’s laid out as they step through the process. No one is donating under any misapprehension that after splitting their donation and receiving a bonus they get more than the total amount they donated given to their favorite charity.
We are not “baiting” people in with the promise to cause more dollars than they donate to go to their favorite charity and then “switching” to a split and boost mechanism. Rather, the platform (as we lay out on our landing page, and repeat throughout) promises to allow you to help fix factory farming while supporting your favorite charity too, and to get your donations to both charities boosted. The platform isn’t about getting more than the total amount you donated to go to your favorite charity (it’s about splitting and boosting your donation) so the fact that it doesn’t do that is a feature and not a bug
Aidan, Ben (I assume) and I aren’t commenting because we feel like we’re personally harmed by FarmKind. Instead, it’s that a core part of the EA movement is bringing clarity and transparency to charity, helping donors understand what the real impact of their donations is, and we’re concerned about an effort that seems to be going the other way.
That people are willing to donate through a platform isn’t much evidence either way on whether it’s misleading: many donation appeals are seriously misleading while bringing in large amounts of money.
That people are willing to donate through a platform that clearly sign-posts that you don’t get >$X donated to your favorite charity if you donate $X split between two charities IS evidence that many donors don’t share Ben’s expectation about how our bonus system should or does work. That’s all I suggested it was evidence for. I’ve only weighed in here to correct false or misleading claims made about how the platform works.
As for whether how the platform works is aligned with EA or not, or misleading or not, I haven’t weighed in because I’m sure it’s clear from our choice to launch this platform that we think this is a good thing to be doing, and that it’s our attempt at doing altruism effectively. It’s reasonable to disagree and I understand and respect your disagreement. I have similar disagreements with many EAs’ approaches, decisions, cause area prioritisation, communications styles and so on. Once there aren’t any remaining misunderstandings about how our platform works, all that’s left is one of those kinds of disagreements. I don’t have much to say about your position except that I respect it, I disagree and I thank you for sharing it. I considered your critique of Giving Multiplier prior to deciding to launch our platform and was grateful to come across this perspective before rather than after making the decision. So thank you again!