I agree that the second bullet point is likely more novel/compelling. Regarding the first point, I think that barriers like “high minimums to create a DAF, high annual fees, high minimum grant amounts, high minimum maintenance amounts, and limited investment options” mentioned in my post may reduce the counterfactual amount that would otherwise go to DAFs from EA by a considerable degree exceeding the $200,000 figure mentioned. For example, the minimum to create a DAF at Vanguard Charitable is $25,000, which is a somewhat large amount of capital for some people just to invest their money in something safe like a 2% savings account or money market fund prior to donation.
I think that some DAF applications I mentioned are more novel/compelling than others, such as allowing people to easily invest intended donations, fund their own future charitable work in a tax-deductible manner, and create additional “EA funds” offering a wider range of cause areas and methodologies beyond what the existing EA Funds offer.
I think that the second bullet point is viable so long as all appropriate best practices are followed, such as giving fair compensation for the level of future work (e.g. not paying people $500,000 a year for work that charities normally pay $50,000 a year for) and ensuring that all future work is actually charitable and appropriately documented.
I find it unlikely this will cause any PR issues unless this is actually broadly advertised to the general public, and even if so, it’s important to note that this idea requires people to actually do charitable work in the future at a lower pay rate as opposed to simply saving for retirement in a 401(k) which offers similar tax and investing benefits. It only seems amazing to us because we would actually like to work full-time on charitable work in the future at a low pay rate—this is not an idea that seems popular in the mainstream.
I agree that the second bullet point is likely more novel/compelling. Regarding the first point, I think that barriers like “high minimums to create a DAF, high annual fees, high minimum grant amounts, high minimum maintenance amounts, and limited investment options” mentioned in my post may reduce the counterfactual amount that would otherwise go to DAFs from EA by a considerable degree exceeding the $200,000 figure mentioned. For example, the minimum to create a DAF at Vanguard Charitable is $25,000, which is a somewhat large amount of capital for some people just to invest their money in something safe like a 2% savings account or money market fund prior to donation.
I think that some DAF applications I mentioned are more novel/compelling than others, such as allowing people to easily invest intended donations, fund their own future charitable work in a tax-deductible manner, and create additional “EA funds” offering a wider range of cause areas and methodologies beyond what the existing EA Funds offer.
I think that the second bullet point is viable so long as all appropriate best practices are followed, such as giving fair compensation for the level of future work (e.g. not paying people $500,000 a year for work that charities normally pay $50,000 a year for) and ensuring that all future work is actually charitable and appropriately documented.
I find it unlikely this will cause any PR issues unless this is actually broadly advertised to the general public, and even if so, it’s important to note that this idea requires people to actually do charitable work in the future at a lower pay rate as opposed to simply saving for retirement in a 401(k) which offers similar tax and investing benefits. It only seems amazing to us because we would actually like to work full-time on charitable work in the future at a low pay rate—this is not an idea that seems popular in the mainstream.