I frequently donate to GiveWell and agree with their philosophy on how to choose who to donate to. I am starting a job next month that will match my donation to U.S. universities 3:1 up to $7500 (I donate $7.5K, they donate $22.5K). I am quite skeptical of universities effectiveness in alleviating human suffering (in some cases, i think they can increase suffering).
Anyways, I am wondering given the 3:1 corporate matching, is it worthwhile to donate to a university (or specific program at a university) at all. If so, which university/program would be best (or how would I find the best programs)?
Some EA-ish organisations are legally part of universities. For example, FHI is part of Oxford, and CHAI is part of UC Berkeley. In both cases when I donated to these organisations in the past it was legally a restricted donation to the university, to my recollection. I assume GPI is also part of Oxford.
(To be clear, I am not arguing that you should give to these two specific organisations).
The difference in effectiveness between even EA-aligned organizations may differ by a large factor, much larger than 3x. For instance:
This 80,000 Hours survey found that a sample of EA leaders believe that the cost-effectiveness of donating to different EA Funds (representing different cause areas) may differ by up to 33x.
GiveWell estimates that the cost effectiveness of their top charities may differ by up to 9x.
So I’d exercise caution before making donation decisions based on a 3x matching opportunity. You could end up donating to something that’s much less than 1⁄3 effective.
J-PAL is based at MIT—maybe that would be eligible?
In general, I’d look for specific research programmes, charities or think tanks based at a university, rather than giving the university an unrestricted donation.