[Question] Is COVID an opportunity for non-EAs to give effectively?

I’ve seen social media campaigns that are fundraising for charities that may not be effective as an EA would deem as such.

Based on this recent post, the recommended organizations are related to biorisk, x-risk or neglected work on COVID. I know in my network, which I am the only EA I know of, this may not resonate with them. Yet, I see several of them donating funds to COVID in ways that are not effective as they could be.

Thus, I see this as an opportunity to influence my peers to donate effectively if they choose COVID as their priority right now. It may not create as much impact as an EA would hope for, but I believe it may create a marginal impact.

The difficult part is what organization to recommend to my non-EA peers that would appeal to them while being marginally effective. I don’t have a good sense of which one that is yet until more evidence /​ discussions circulate among the EA community.

One may argue that AMF, MC or HKI needs the money now more than ever as they will become neglected areas. That makes me uncomfortable because if I were to make this argument to a non-EA, it may come off as a “low blow” or that “I’m using COVID as an opportunity to make a point.”

I believe the goal with this is to empower people to give effectively, no matter the cause area. I believe that’s a better approach than trying to debate with them to give to another cause area that would be more effective than COVID—I think that will come later.

I’m curious to hear thoughts on this and perhaps people can recall times during disaster relief, where they influenced their peers to give effectively during those times and if they continued to give effectively in other cause areas.

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