(First, really stupid question—not sure I understand the math here? Why wouldn’t switching from typical US to good US produce 9 extra units of impact per your assumption, not 4?)
Anyway, regarding this:
At the current margin, it seems substantially easier to me to persuade one person to change cause towards international health and support the best charity in the area, than to persuade 49 US focused donors to choose the best thing in their area.
I think one thing you’re not taking into account is that not all EA community members are interchangeable; different people have different leverage within their communities. It would be trivial for me to motivate 49 arts enthusiasts to switch donations to a better US charity in the arts, given that I run a publication with roughly 10k total followers and several hundred “true fans.” There are analogous people in other domains across the spectrum. So one approach to outreach could largely involve finding and forming partnerships with aligned, influential individuals in those domains.
Sorry I changed some of the numbers mid-way while writing then forgot to change the others to be in line. The’re updated now.
I think one thing you’re not taking into account is that not all EA community members are interchangeable; different people have different leverage within their communities. It would be trivial for me to motivate 49 arts enthusiasts to switch donations to a better US charity in the arts, given that I run a publication with roughly 10k total followers and several hundred “true fans.” There are analogous people in other domains across the spectrum. So one approach to outreach could largely involve finding and forming partnerships with aligned, influential individuals in those domains.
I agree—I was focusing on what the core focus of the community should be, but if people have a comparative advantage in an area that gives them 10-100x more leverage, it could outweigh. I can also see we might have underweighted the size of these differences in the past.
(First, really stupid question—not sure I understand the math here? Why wouldn’t switching from typical US to good US produce 9 extra units of impact per your assumption, not 4?)
Anyway, regarding this:
I think one thing you’re not taking into account is that not all EA community members are interchangeable; different people have different leverage within their communities. It would be trivial for me to motivate 49 arts enthusiasts to switch donations to a better US charity in the arts, given that I run a publication with roughly 10k total followers and several hundred “true fans.” There are analogous people in other domains across the spectrum. So one approach to outreach could largely involve finding and forming partnerships with aligned, influential individuals in those domains.
Sorry I changed some of the numbers mid-way while writing then forgot to change the others to be in line. The’re updated now.
I agree—I was focusing on what the core focus of the community should be, but if people have a comparative advantage in an area that gives them 10-100x more leverage, it could outweigh. I can also see we might have underweighted the size of these differences in the past.