RE: why arenât there as many EAs giving this much money: Iâm (obviously) not Jeff, but I was at Alphabet for many of the years Jeff was. Relevantly, I was also involved in the yearly donation matching campaigns. There were around 2-3 other folks who donated similar amounts to Jeff. Those four-ish people were the majority of EA matching funds at Alphabet.
Itâs hard to be sure how many people actually donated outside of giving campaigns, so this might undercount things. But to get to 1k EAs donating this much money, youâd need like 300 companies with similarly sized EA contingents. I donât think there are 300 companies with as large of a (wealthy) EA contingent as Alphabet, so the fact that Jeff was a strong outlier at Google explains most of this to me.
I think that there are only like 5k individuals as committed to EA as Jeff and his wife are. And making as much money as they did is fairly rare, especially when you consider the likelihood of super committed folks going into direct work.
Iâm curious, since EAâs are concentrated in the same places that big tech companies are: Is it that surprisingly few EAâs work at Google, or are there a lot and they just mostly donate like 10% of their salaries instead of 50%?
There are a lot of âlurkersâ, but less than 30 folks would be involved in the yearly holiday matching thread and sheet. Every self-professed EA I talked to at Google was involved in those campaigns, so I think that covers the most involved US Googlers.
Most people donated closer to 5-10% than Jeff or Oliverâs much higher amounts, that is for sure true.
So I think both your explanations are true. There are not that many EAs at Google (although I donât think thatâs surprising), and most donate much less than they likely could. I put myself in that bucket, as I donated around 20%, but likely could have done close to twice that. Although it would be hard for me to do that in recent years, as I switched to Waymo where I canât sell my stock.
I donât understand this reply. It seems to say that few people are donating as much as Jeff because Jeff is a strong outlier, which seems to be a tautology, what am I missing?
But to get to 1k EAs donating this much money, youâd need like 300 companies with similarly sized EA contingents.
Or youâd need a 30 times larger EA contingent at Alphabet and at 10 other high-paying companies. Why arenât more people donating 50%?
As one who donates 50%, it doesnât seem like it should be that uncommon. One way I think about it is earning like upper-middle-class, living like middle-class, and donating like upper-class. Tens of percent of people work for tens of percent less money in sectors like nonprofits and governments. And Iâve heard of quite a few non-EAs who have taken jobs for half the money. And yet most people think about donating that large of a percent very differently than taking a job that pays less. Iâm still not sure whyâother than that it is uncommon or âweird.â
Could you share where you donate?
Iâve always found it fascinating when people like you (leading aâdare I sayâsuccessful effective nonprofit) donate.
If you donât donate to ALLFED, why is that? (Are you hedging, are you actually not convinced itâs the best giving opportunity out there...)
If you donate to ALLFED, whatâs the case for not just taking a lower salary? (Or is that what you do?)
(leading aâdare I sayâsuccessful effective nonprofit)
Sureâgo ahead and dare. :)
My day job is associate professor of mechanical engineering at University of Canterbury in New Zealand, and I volunteer for ALLFED. Nearly 100% of my donations are to ALLFED. I think that ALLFED is the most cost-effective way of improving the long run future at the margin (see here and here, though Iâm not quite as bullish as the mean survey/âpoll results in those papers), but there are orders of magnitude of uncertainty, and I think more total money should be put into AGI safety.
RE: why arenât there as many EAs giving this much money: Iâm (obviously) not Jeff, but I was at Alphabet for many of the years Jeff was. Relevantly, I was also involved in the yearly donation matching campaigns. There were around 2-3 other folks who donated similar amounts to Jeff. Those four-ish people were the majority of EA matching funds at Alphabet.
Itâs hard to be sure how many people actually donated outside of giving campaigns, so this might undercount things. But to get to 1k EAs donating this much money, youâd need like 300 companies with similarly sized EA contingents. I donât think there are 300 companies with as large of a (wealthy) EA contingent as Alphabet, so the fact that Jeff was a strong outlier at Google explains most of this to me.
I think that there are only like 5k individuals as committed to EA as Jeff and his wife are. And making as much money as they did is fairly rare, especially when you consider the likelihood of super committed folks going into direct work.
Iâm curious, since EAâs are concentrated in the same places that big tech companies are: Is it that surprisingly few EAâs work at Google, or are there a lot and they just mostly donate like 10% of their salaries instead of 50%?
There are a lot of âlurkersâ, but less than 30 folks would be involved in the yearly holiday matching thread and sheet. Every self-professed EA I talked to at Google was involved in those campaigns, so I think that covers the most involved US Googlers.
Most people donated closer to 5-10% than Jeff or Oliverâs much higher amounts, that is for sure true.
So I think both your explanations are true. There are not that many EAs at Google (although I donât think thatâs surprising), and most donate much less than they likely could. I put myself in that bucket, as I donated around 20%, but likely could have done close to twice that. Although it would be hard for me to do that in recent years, as I switched to Waymo where I canât sell my stock.
I donât understand this reply. It seems to say that few people are donating as much as Jeff because Jeff is a strong outlier, which seems to be a tautology, what am I missing?
Or youâd need a 30 times larger EA contingent at Alphabet and at 10 other high-paying companies. Why arenât more people donating 50%?
As one who donates 50%, it doesnât seem like it should be that uncommon. One way I think about it is earning like upper-middle-class, living like middle-class, and donating like upper-class. Tens of percent of people work for tens of percent less money in sectors like nonprofits and governments. And Iâve heard of quite a few non-EAs who have taken jobs for half the money. And yet most people think about donating that large of a percent very differently than taking a job that pays less. Iâm still not sure whyâother than that it is uncommon or âweird.â
Yeah, Giving isnât demanding and the median annual UK salary is ÂŁ26,800
Could you share where you donate? Iâve always found it fascinating when people like you (leading aâdare I sayâsuccessful effective nonprofit) donate.
If you donât donate to ALLFED, why is that? (Are you hedging, are you actually not convinced itâs the best giving opportunity out there...)
If you donate to ALLFED, whatâs the case for not just taking a lower salary? (Or is that what you do?)
Sureâgo ahead and dare. :)
My day job is associate professor of mechanical engineering at University of Canterbury in New Zealand, and I volunteer for ALLFED. Nearly 100% of my donations are to ALLFED. I think that ALLFED is the most cost-effective way of improving the long run future at the margin (see here and here, though Iâm not quite as bullish as the mean survey/âpoll results in those papers), but there are orders of magnitude of uncertainty, and I think more total money should be put into AGI safety.