I enjoy sending ‘donations as gifts’ - i.e., donating to GD, GW or AMF in honor of someone else (e.g., as a birthday gift). It doesn’t actually affect my overall budget for donations; but this way, I try to subtly nudge this person to consider doing the same with their friends, or maybe even becoming a regular donor.
I wonder if other EAs do that. Perhaps it seems very obvious (for some cultures where donations are common), but I haven’t seen any remark or analysis about it (well, maybe I’m just wasting my time: only one friend of mine stated he enjoyed his gift, but I don’t think he has ever done it himself), and many organizations don’t provide an accessible tool to do this.
P.S.: BTW, my birthday is on May 14th, so if anyone wants to send me one of these “gifts”, I’d rather have you donating to GCRI.
I don’t know what you mean by ‘neglected’. I know a lot of people who say they want this and a similar number who are deeply offended by the concept. (Personally, I’m against the idea of giving charitable donations to my favourite charity as a gift, although I’d consider a donation to the recipient’s favourite charity.)
Thanks. Maybe it’s just my blindspot. I couldn’t find anyone discussing this for more than 5min, except for this one. I googled it and found some blogs that are not about what I have in mind
I agree that donating to my favourite charity instead of my friend’s favorite one would be unpolite, at least; however, I was thinking about friends who are not EAs, or who don’t use to donate at all. It might be a better gift than a card or a lame souvenir, and perhaps interest this friend in EA charities (I try to think about which charity would interest this person most). Is there any reason against it?
If your friend doesn’t donate normally, then probably their preferred person to spend money on is themself. It still seems rude to me to say you’re giving them a gift, which should be something they want, and instead give them something they don’t want.
For example, my mother likes flowers. I normally get her flowers for mother’s day. If I switch to giving her a donation to AMF instead of buying her flowers, she will be counterfactually worse off—she is no longer getting the flowers she enjoys. I don’t think that kind of experience would make her more likely to start donating, either.
Is ‘donations as gifts’ neglected?
I enjoy sending ‘donations as gifts’ - i.e., donating to GD, GW or AMF in honor of someone else (e.g., as a birthday gift). It doesn’t actually affect my overall budget for donations; but this way, I try to subtly nudge this person to consider doing the same with their friends, or maybe even becoming a regular donor.
I wonder if other EAs do that. Perhaps it seems very obvious (for some cultures where donations are common), but I haven’t seen any remark or analysis about it (well, maybe I’m just wasting my time: only one friend of mine stated he enjoyed his gift, but I don’t think he has ever done it himself), and many organizations don’t provide an accessible tool to do this.
P.S.: BTW, my birthday is on May 14th, so if anyone wants to send me one of these “gifts”, I’d rather have you donating to GCRI.
I don’t know what you mean by ‘neglected’. I know a lot of people who say they want this and a similar number who are deeply offended by the concept. (Personally, I’m against the idea of giving charitable donations to my favourite charity as a gift, although I’d consider a donation to the recipient’s favourite charity.)
Thanks. Maybe it’s just my blindspot. I couldn’t find anyone discussing this for more than 5min, except for this one. I googled it and found some blogs that are not about what I have in mind
I agree that donating to my favourite charity instead of my friend’s favorite one would be unpolite, at least; however, I was thinking about friends who are not EAs, or who don’t use to donate at all. It might be a better gift than a card or a lame souvenir, and perhaps interest this friend in EA charities (I try to think about which charity would interest this person most). Is there any reason against it?
If your friend doesn’t donate normally, then probably their preferred person to spend money on is themself. It still seems rude to me to say you’re giving them a gift, which should be something they want, and instead give them something they don’t want.
For example, my mother likes flowers. I normally get her flowers for mother’s day. If I switch to giving her a donation to AMF instead of buying her flowers, she will be counterfactually worse off—she is no longer getting the flowers she enjoys. I don’t think that kind of experience would make her more likely to start donating, either.