At best, low-responsibility, low-social-downside giving now feels not as effective as it could be. At worst, this giving behavior makes me feel like a self-inhibited, intentionless, incomplete person.
Concretely, I think I will halt recurring donations. I want to give in bulk, less frequently, more thoughtfully, and perhaps not to recognisable charities. If this feels like it goes against the spirit of the Giving What We Can Pledge, then I will exit the pledge.
Thanks for writing this bit; it mirrors my own thinking on my personal donation allocation as I’ve spent more time in the core EA ecosystem. While I was working at Google, sending a yearly donation to Givewell’s top charities seemed reasonable; now I have a much better handle on what opportunities may be more effective.
In fact, your regranting process seems reminiscent of early EA. Pre-Givewell, Holden & Elie spent a bunch of time investigating orgs themselves and made judgement calls about where to send their money. In contrast, EA donations today are characterized by a lot of deference to other experts and evaluators (Givewell, OpenPhil, ACE etc); I like the regranting captures some of the original spirit of the movement.
Thanks for writing this bit; it mirrors my own thinking on my personal donation allocation as I’ve spent more time in the core EA ecosystem. While I was working at Google, sending a yearly donation to Givewell’s top charities seemed reasonable; now I have a much better handle on what opportunities may be more effective.
In fact, your regranting process seems reminiscent of early EA. Pre-Givewell, Holden & Elie spent a bunch of time investigating orgs themselves and made judgement calls about where to send their money. In contrast, EA donations today are characterized by a lot of deference to other experts and evaluators (Givewell, OpenPhil, ACE etc); I like the regranting captures some of the original spirit of the movement.