(Writing personally, not organizationally) I’m happy people are trying experiments like this!
Thinking about other ways that people incorporate each other’s judgement about where to donate: often it involves knowing the specific people.
I think some people who knew each other through early EA /​ GWWC did this — some had a comparative advantage in finance so went into earning to give, and others had a comparative advantage in research or founding organizations so went into nonprofits. But they made heavy use of each other’s advice, because they knew each other’s strengths.
It’s also common to do this within a couple /​ family. My husband spent 10 years earning to give while I worked in social work and nonprofits, so he’s earned the large majority of what we’ve donated. Early on, the two of us made separate decisions about where to donate our own earnings (though very informed by talking with each other). Later we moved to making a shared decision on where we’d donate our shared pot of money. This isn’t necessarily the best system — people are biased toward trusting their family even in domains where the person isn’t very competent, and you can see examples like the Buffett family where family members seem to make kind of random decisions.
I feel good about people pooling judgement when they know the strengths and weaknesses of the specific other people involved. I feel much less excited about pooling judgement with people whose judgement I know nothing about.
(Writing personally, not organizationally)
I’m happy people are trying experiments like this!
Thinking about other ways that people incorporate each other’s judgement about where to donate: often it involves knowing the specific people.
I think some people who knew each other through early EA /​ GWWC did this — some had a comparative advantage in finance so went into earning to give, and others had a comparative advantage in research or founding organizations so went into nonprofits. But they made heavy use of each other’s advice, because they knew each other’s strengths.
It’s also common to do this within a couple /​ family. My husband spent 10 years earning to give while I worked in social work and nonprofits, so he’s earned the large majority of what we’ve donated. Early on, the two of us made separate decisions about where to donate our own earnings (though very informed by talking with each other). Later we moved to making a shared decision on where we’d donate our shared pot of money. This isn’t necessarily the best system — people are biased toward trusting their family even in domains where the person isn’t very competent, and you can see examples like the Buffett family where family members seem to make kind of random decisions.
I feel good about people pooling judgement when they know the strengths and weaknesses of the specific other people involved. I feel much less excited about pooling judgement with people whose judgement I know nothing about.