The tl;dr
I have written a new book on philanthropy! It is called “Twice As Good—Practical Tools To Double the Impact of Your Philanthropy”
Who it’s for
This book is best fit for foundations and philanthropists who are keen on giving more effectively. Currently, there aren’t many tools for donor education—you can’t exactly get a Master’s degree in philanthropy—and I have found many grantmakers who want to learn but have limited options. The space is currently dominated by books on the psychology of giving or authors advocating for a specific cause. I have always been a bit more optimistic about teaching tools and methods instead of prescribing a solution. The book is aimed to be “pop-science” enough that a brand-new giver can get value from it, but because the space is relatively empty, experienced foundations have found it useful as well.
How it’s different:
The book covers a lot of the same content as our AIM grantmakers training or my previous textbook, but in a way that I hope is more concrete and entertaining. It includes more stories about how foundations work internally and offers more easily digested take-home lessons. Depending on demand, we’ll eventually put out an audiobook and likely translate it into a few languages (Spanish being first on the list).
Some context (and fun facts)
I have always been a bit of a literalist when it comes to book titles and loved the simultaneously bold and modest claim of “10% happier”. I think most philanthropists could realistically double their impact; some could likely improve even more significantly.
This book was largely motivated by how many people read my (in my view, extremely boring) textbook on the same topic.
I don’t consider myself a natural writer, but between a lot of help from Worldshapers and feedback from others, I think the final product is pretty solid.
Want to check out the Twice as Good?
Here’s a sample (the Introduction) for you to read, and here’s where to order the book.
Thanks a lot Joey, this is definitely worth reading for people in the wider EA space, not only larger scale donors or people working in philanthropy directly.
What I’ve found particularly helpful are the rough quantitative guidelines regarding “charity time consumed per amount donated” and “how to donate as a function of annual amount and time spent per week”.
This is very valuable to better position myself from an earning-to-give perspective.
I think it might perhaps be interesting to write a short summary of that for the forum, perhaps targeted more at a median e2g EA? (If that doesn’t exist already.)
Separately, it’s great to see that the book really embraces plurality in what areas donors prioritise without too strong a view on what’s preferable in the author’s opinion.
No deep thoughts from me, just wanted to say congratulations on the successful completion of the book.
And to point out that whilst you “don’t consider yourself a natural writer”—Yann Martel said the same thing