Before what follows, a personal offer: Please email me if you’d like to talk about this one-on-one. I’d be happy to give an overview of common EA advice and connect you to experts who can answer certain questions in more detail. (I’ve been in the EA community for eight years, have provided donation advice to many people, and currently consult for an EA-focused foundation in San Diego.)
The article mostly covers “ways to give” rather than “what to think about”. Some factors I think are important to keep in mind:
Do you care a lot about “seeing” your impact happen soon, or are you comfortable with more uncertain or longer-term donations?
To what extent do you want to have a “say” about what your donation is used for, vs. letting the charity choose how to spend it?
How do you weight the feelings of nonhuman animals compared to humans?
What do you think of arguments like those in “The Case for Strong Longtermism”, that the most important impacts of your actions are probably those that happen well into the future?
It’s very good of you to ask this question here!
Before what follows, a personal offer: Please email me if you’d like to talk about this one-on-one. I’d be happy to give an overview of common EA advice and connect you to experts who can answer certain questions in more detail. (I’ve been in the EA community for eight years, have provided donation advice to many people, and currently consult for an EA-focused foundation in San Diego.)
Other notes:
This is my favorite article on charitable giving—really detailed, with advice suitable for many types of donors. See the table of contents for a sense of what gets covered.
The article mostly covers “ways to give” rather than “what to think about”. Some factors I think are important to keep in mind:
Do you care a lot about “seeing” your impact happen soon, or are you comfortable with more uncertain or longer-term donations?
To what extent do you want to have a “say” about what your donation is used for, vs. letting the charity choose how to spend it?
How do you weight the feelings of nonhuman animals compared to humans?
What do you think of arguments like those in “The Case for Strong Longtermism”, that the most important impacts of your actions are probably those that happen well into the future?