There isn’t currently an “obvious” and arbitrarily scalable place for longtermists to donate, analogous to GiveWell’s top charities. But if one doesn’t have particular donations they’re excited to make, I think it makes sense to simply save/invest—ideally following best investing practices for longtermist values (e.g., taking the optimal amount of risk for money intended to benefit others over long time horizons, and using charitable vehicles to reduce taxes on money that’s intended for charitable purposes—I hope there will be writeups on this sort of thing available in the future). There are debates about whether this is better than giving today, but I think it is at least competitive.
Also, I do think there are some writeups on that sort of thing available, some of which can be found via the investing tag (and presumably there are other writeups available elsewhere too). But this an area I’ve read a lot on, and I do expect there’d be value in additional, better, or more thorough writeups.
(As usual, this comment expresses my personal opinions only.)
I didn’t mean to express a view one way or the other on particular current giving opportunities; I was instead looking for something a bit more general and timeless to say on this point, since especially in longtermism, giving opportunities can sometimes look very appealing at one moment and much less so at another (partly due to room-for-more-funding considerations). I think it’s useful for you to have noted these points, though.
I was a little surprised that you didn’t mention the EA Long-Term Future Fund as one competitive option for such donors? I’m not saying that giving to the LTFF is definitely better than investing to give later—I’m currently pretty open to the latter strategy—but it seems to me that giving to the LTFF is (like donor lotteries) one competitive option. (See also The Long-Term Future Fund has room for more funding, right now.)
Also, I do think there are some writeups on that sort of thing available, some of which can be found via the investing tag (and presumably there are other writeups available elsewhere too). But this an area I’ve read a lot on, and I do expect there’d be value in additional, better, or more thorough writeups.
(As usual, this comment expresses my personal opinions only.)
I didn’t mean to express a view one way or the other on particular current giving opportunities; I was instead looking for something a bit more general and timeless to say on this point, since especially in longtermism, giving opportunities can sometimes look very appealing at one moment and much less so at another (partly due to room-for-more-funding considerations). I think it’s useful for you to have noted these points, though.