What sort of data do we have about the extent to which entrepreneurial philanthropy has actually been influenced by the Effective Altruism movement? Yes, we have some anecdotal evidence of prominent entrepreneurs such as Ben Delo and Sam Bankman-Fried committing to support effective altruism or one of the main EA-aligned charities. We also have anecdotal evidence of the persistence of non-EA donations by entrepreneurs. I know that after the 2019 Notre Dame fire, Peter Singer and other EAs were appalled that French entrepreneurs immediately donate large sums (totalling about a billion euro) to the reconstruction. We have certainly see the persistence of lots of non-EA donations by firm founders.
However, I’d like to go beyond just the anecdotal data. I’m wondering what percentage of the total amount donated by successful firm founders and other HNW individuals each year is actually influenced by EAM. Has anyone collected any numbers about this? If so, could someone point me in the direction of some published or unpublished research on the subject. Is there any research on what explains variations between entrepreneurs in their responses to the arguments that EA have made? My impression is that a few entrepreneurs have listened to the EA movement and have adjusted their behaviour but that the vast majority, even in the countries in which the EA movement is strongest, have not. Is that correct?
There is a growing level of essentially micro-level research on why many people are happy to donate in a non-EA fashion, including a cool new paper in Nature Human Behaviour. However, I’m more interested in research that focuses in the decision-making of just firm founders and other HNW individuals. Given that these individuals control so much capital that could be used to support EA, it makes sense of focus resources on understanding their behaviour.
Caviola, L., Schubert, S., & Greene, J. D. (2021). The psychology of (in) effective altruism. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 25(7), 596-607.
Burum, B., Nowak, M. A., & Hoffman, M. (2020). An evolutionary explanation for ineffective altruism. Nature Human Behaviour, 4(12), 1245-1257.
Thanks for that James!