Thanks for this post! I just want to tell others that I had to read this part in order to understand the value of a donor lottery (and answer my initial objection to it):
“Your decision whether to participate should not depend on what others plan to do if they win.
Some people think that they should only participate in the donor lottery if other lottery participants would make their donations wisely. The intuition is that you want your money to go somewhere good, and that this might not happen if there are other donors who would allocate their winnings poorly. However, whether you participate or not, others will have the same odds of winning, and will be able to make the same decision if they win. Your decision can’t change that – neither for better, nor for worse [2].
This means that you can simply evaluate the lottery from your personal perspective: Would it be helpful to trade your donation for a smaller chance of winning a larger amount, so you can think more carefully about it? If so, you can safely assume that participating is helpful for you, and won’t change the expected outcomes for anyone else.
I was initially worried that my money would be going to an EA cause that I don’t prioritize as much, or an organization that I think is less effective (or one that I trust less), but basically I would be trading the chance of that for a chance to win a large amount that I could then grant to an organization I think is more effective (and/or would trust more).
I still won’t be donating to a donor lottery because I don’t think I would like the pressure and responsibility of granting lots of other people’s money yet in a way that they may disagree with. Being anonymous could slightly circumvent this, but the responsibility would still feel like a lot. People who would be interested to become grantmakers though could consider donating here so they have a chance to be what it’s like to be a large grantmaker.
Thanks for this post! I just want to tell others that I had to read this part in order to understand the value of a donor lottery (and answer my initial objection to it):
I was initially worried that my money would be going to an EA cause that I don’t prioritize as much, or an organization that I think is less effective (or one that I trust less), but basically I would be trading the chance of that for a chance to win a large amount that I could then grant to an organization I think is more effective (and/or would trust more).
I still won’t be donating to a donor lottery because I don’t think I would like the pressure and responsibility of granting lots of other people’s money yet in a way that they may disagree with. Being anonymous could slightly circumvent this, but the responsibility would still feel like a lot. People who would be interested to become grantmakers though could consider donating here so they have a chance to be what it’s like to be a large grantmaker.