Most charities ask people for fixed regular sums of money e.g. $40 per month. Indeed, $40 per month sounds a lot less scary to me than 1%, even though it might equal a similar annual amount. So why do we ask people to give percentages in order to achieve group membership? Sure, there are some advantages because with percentages because they are fairer but do these outweigh the costs?
Isn’t the message usually ‘Just $40 per month will buy xxx and achieve amazing thing yyy, please donate’? I feel like the charities mostly want to talk about what they are doing and subtly suggest an amount at the same time. There’s no real analogous statement they could make for percentages.
EA is in a somewhat different position as far as the messaging goes in putting the emphasis on the amount rather than on the activity. As it happens, 1% sounds less onerous to me than $40 per month.
I can think of 3 reasons. First, because EA typically involves giving more as well as giving better. A “fixed amount” group membership can be scarier if the cost is large, and at worst can become an exclusionary prohibition for some. Second, because EA is as much a mindset and process as a goal. “membership” is not the end point—unlike in many charities where group affiliation/signalling is the primary driver EA hopes to attract members who want to look at how they can do more good and what that means. A percentage encourages active engagement in that respect. Third, a lot of EA outreach seems focused at the moment on attracting members who do not necessarily have high earnings but may have in the future (e.g college students at good universities). Asking for a future percentage seems a lot less intimidating than a large number to people with no assets and allows immediate membership and buy in (although a reduced amount would do so but might create a more teired system)
I agree with 3 - percentages are good if people’s incomes are unstable. 2 - percentages being good for continuous reflection on one’s giving seems plausible, although not entirely clear. If people subscribe to multiple regular donations, they could plausibly still reflect on which to increase or decrease. I don’t really understand why you think 1 - that percentages encourage people to feel confident about giving larger amounts. If percentages were so good for getting people to give more, then how come charities use them in their donor development?
because charities target people as they are now , principally high value individuals and those without existing commitments where a fixed number is not a significant amount in percentage terms. By contrast our young EA movement tends to target people with potential for growth and those interested in making a significant sacrifice for non- signalling reasons in the future. But if EA is to grow—that will be a big challenge how to appeal to people who respond more to non-rational signalling motive than EA rationalist ones.
Most charities ask people for fixed regular sums of money e.g. $40 per month. Indeed, $40 per month sounds a lot less scary to me than 1%, even though it might equal a similar annual amount. So why do we ask people to give percentages in order to achieve group membership? Sure, there are some advantages because with percentages because they are fairer but do these outweigh the costs?
Isn’t the message usually ‘Just $40 per month will buy xxx and achieve amazing thing yyy, please donate’? I feel like the charities mostly want to talk about what they are doing and subtly suggest an amount at the same time. There’s no real analogous statement they could make for percentages.
EA is in a somewhat different position as far as the messaging goes in putting the emphasis on the amount rather than on the activity. As it happens, 1% sounds less onerous to me than $40 per month.
I can think of 3 reasons. First, because EA typically involves giving more as well as giving better. A “fixed amount” group membership can be scarier if the cost is large, and at worst can become an exclusionary prohibition for some. Second, because EA is as much a mindset and process as a goal. “membership” is not the end point—unlike in many charities where group affiliation/signalling is the primary driver EA hopes to attract members who want to look at how they can do more good and what that means. A percentage encourages active engagement in that respect. Third, a lot of EA outreach seems focused at the moment on attracting members who do not necessarily have high earnings but may have in the future (e.g college students at good universities). Asking for a future percentage seems a lot less intimidating than a large number to people with no assets and allows immediate membership and buy in (although a reduced amount would do so but might create a more teired system)
I agree with 3 - percentages are good if people’s incomes are unstable. 2 - percentages being good for continuous reflection on one’s giving seems plausible, although not entirely clear. If people subscribe to multiple regular donations, they could plausibly still reflect on which to increase or decrease. I don’t really understand why you think 1 - that percentages encourage people to feel confident about giving larger amounts. If percentages were so good for getting people to give more, then how come charities use them in their donor development?
because charities target people as they are now , principally high value individuals and those without existing commitments where a fixed number is not a significant amount in percentage terms. By contrast our young EA movement tends to target people with potential for growth and those interested in making a significant sacrifice for non- signalling reasons in the future. But if EA is to grow—that will be a big challenge how to appeal to people who respond more to non-rational signalling motive than EA rationalist ones.