I see your point from one perspective. I agree that people don’t just look at impact.
But neither does EA more generally, and still we say things like that EA is about doing the most good or impact-maximisation. We do take constraints into account, but maximise impact given those constraints. Therefore it iss in my view reasonable to say that EA wants to maximise impact.
Analogously I think it’s reasonable to use the term “impact certificiate” even if impact isn’t, in one sense, literally your only criterion. (Also you could of course argue that taking, e.g. reputational concerns into account is actually impact-maximising if you factor in indirect effects. Cf. the debate on naive vs sophisticated consequentialism.)
To me, “patronage certificate”—while logical from one point of view—doesn’t sound particularly inspiring. It makes the patron very salient which I worry leads thoughts in the wrong way.
By contrast “impact certificate” sounds more inspiring, and more in line with effective altruism’s core values. I don’t think it is as utilitarian a term as you seem to suggest.
I see your point from one perspective. I agree that people don’t just look at impact.
But neither does EA more generally, and still we say things like that EA is about doing the most good or impact-maximisation. We do take constraints into account, but maximise impact given those constraints. Therefore it iss in my view reasonable to say that EA wants to maximise impact.
Analogously I think it’s reasonable to use the term “impact certificiate” even if impact isn’t, in one sense, literally your only criterion. (Also you could of course argue that taking, e.g. reputational concerns into account is actually impact-maximising if you factor in indirect effects. Cf. the debate on naive vs sophisticated consequentialism.)
To me, “patronage certificate”—while logical from one point of view—doesn’t sound particularly inspiring. It makes the patron very salient which I worry leads thoughts in the wrong way.
By contrast “impact certificate” sounds more inspiring, and more in line with effective altruism’s core values. I don’t think it is as utilitarian a term as you seem to suggest.