Brad West🔸 comments on Making Trillions for Effective Charities through the Consumer Economy

[Brad West🔸]

Thought it would be helpful to share an outline of the Consumer Power Initiative’s functions.

Functions of Consumer Power Initiative

1. Marketing Guided Consumption (creating a social movement)

   1. To the broad public (consumers)

   2. To EA and other and other organizations

   3. To nonprofits

   4. To public intellectuals, influencers, celebrities, academics (economists)

   5. To philanthropic sector

   6. To world governments

2. Research critical to questions of Guided Consumption

   1. Public choice research (will consumers switch to Guiding Producers)

   2. Mechanism and degree of impact

      1. Degree to which market-share capture translates to profit

      2. Utility differential between funding to average shareholder/​stakeholder (how much more utility from $ to effective charity vs. $ to average shareholder/​stakeholder)

      3. Factor of Guiding Producer investment translating to funding for charities (NEEDS TO BE AS EFFECTIVE AS DIRECT FUNDING TO ATTRACT INVESTORS, i.e. G(d) > d)

   3. Sectors in which Guided Consumption would have most cost-effective entry

      1. Low product differentiation sectors?

      2. Sectors with potential for virtue signaling like fashion/​luxury?

      3. Sectors with natural product complementarity with cause area? (Vegan products with animal welfare DFD; sustainable products with environmental DFD)

      4. Sectors with commissions, particularly where rainmaking is a limiting factor and strong rainmaking could lead to immense profits (life insurance sales, real estate sales and brokerage)

3. Supporting Guiding Producers

   1. Assisting Consumers in finding Guiding Producers that meet their needs

   2. Providing systems and structures that will allow Guiding Producers to serve charities transparently and effectively

   3. Assist with legal issues in starting the company

   4. Credentialing Guiding Producers- ones that are actually supporting charities, not engaging in shell games or otherwise acting sketchy

   5. Recruiting founders and talent for Guiding Producers

   6. Raising money for acquisition of firms to make them Guiding Producers

   7. Generally, marketing of Guided Consumption should also support Guiding Producers

4. Other Possible Purposes?

   1. Eventually, looking to influence consumer preferences for charities so that Effective Charities retain consumer sentiment

   2. Promoting ability of consumers to otherwise affect the world positively