Thanks so much for organising this! I think a lot of people (me included) assumed the foundation’s goal was to solicit donations directly, but clearly Darren sees it more like capacity building—which makes total sense given their younger audience!
Their focus on inspiring that audience is a real challenge for EA. To recommend the most effective charities is (a) boring (it would be the same video over and over) and (b) requires making negative comparisons to less effective charities. I don’t think Beast Philanthropy could be a good vehicle for effective altruist ideas without compromising its own mission of remaining interesting; rather, I think from an EA perspective it’s best-placed to expand the very very top of the funnel of people who might one day end up here.
I think that the best engagement going forward (if at all; see controversies below—I don’t take this lightly) would be as GiveDirectly did—they could work with individual EA charities that meet their conditions to raise awareness of those specific interventions.
(I’m also interested in this gamified app—I’m not sure it would be the best fit for most EA charities, which aren’t really labour-constrained, but it got me thinking about gamifying finding the most effective opportunities)
Thanks so much for organising this! I think a lot of people (me included) assumed the foundation’s goal was to solicit donations directly, but clearly Darren sees it more like capacity building—which makes total sense given their younger audience!
Their focus on inspiring that audience is a real challenge for EA. To recommend the most effective charities is (a) boring (it would be the same video over and over) and (b) requires making negative comparisons to less effective charities. I don’t think Beast Philanthropy could be a good vehicle for effective altruist ideas without compromising its own mission of remaining interesting; rather, I think from an EA perspective it’s best-placed to expand the very very top of the funnel of people who might one day end up here.
I think that the best engagement going forward (if at all; see controversies below—I don’t take this lightly) would be as GiveDirectly did—they could work with individual EA charities that meet their conditions to raise awareness of those specific interventions.
(I’m also interested in this gamified app—I’m not sure it would be the best fit for most EA charities, which aren’t really labour-constrained, but it got me thinking about gamifying finding the most effective opportunities)