This is extremely relevant for me as I have been thinking a lot about when to start making more serious donations. I discussed some previous blockers here which haven’t been resolved. I am therefore considering commissioning some research (ideally with others).
Broadly I’m interested in better understanding the ‘donators dilemma’: if you give money now, you forego the later opportunity to ‘give better’ due to having improved information, and to ‘give more’ due to passive income. Also to benefit from increased financial security that might enable you to have more direct impact (e.g., by taking a lower paid role that has higher impact, or starting a new initiative).
I want somebody to systematically review the literature for to capture the different arguments and trade-offs for giving now versus later. Then to create some sort of accessible decision-making tool or process that people like me can use to decide on an appropriate threshold or strategy to have WRT to giving now versus later.
If anyone is also interested in funding this or knows some existing tools, then please let me know.
For the question of whether to “save to give,” MacAskill’s paper on the topic was very useful for me. One crucial consideration is whether my donations would grow more in someone else’s hands.
E.g. I give $100k to AMF means fewer die from malaria, which means more economic growth. Does this generate more than the ~7%/year my stocks might? I find that people often neglect this counterfactual.
This is extremely relevant for me as I have been thinking a lot about when to start making more serious donations. I discussed some previous blockers here which haven’t been resolved. I am therefore considering commissioning some research (ideally with others).
Broadly I’m interested in better understanding the ‘donators dilemma’: if you give money now, you forego the later opportunity to ‘give better’ due to having improved information, and to ‘give more’ due to passive income. Also to benefit from increased financial security that might enable you to have more direct impact (e.g., by taking a lower paid role that has higher impact, or starting a new initiative).
I want somebody to systematically review the literature for to capture the different arguments and trade-offs for giving now versus later. Then to create some sort of accessible decision-making tool or process that people like me can use to decide on an appropriate threshold or strategy to have WRT to giving now versus later.
If anyone is also interested in funding this or knows some existing tools, then please let me know.
For the question of whether to “save to give,” MacAskill’s paper on the topic was very useful for me. One crucial consideration is whether my donations would grow more in someone else’s hands.
E.g. I give $100k to AMF means fewer die from malaria, which means more economic growth. Does this generate more than the ~7%/year my stocks might? I find that people often neglect this counterfactual.