This is an issue that I’m very interested in and I’ll post a longer response later. Concisely, I think all of the points you made are basically right, but that we should pursue more corporate involvement anyway.
I agree with Elizabeth and RomeoStevens that a watered-down pitch (which shouldn’t necessarily mention ‘EA/Effective Altruism’ at all, and definitely shouldn’t reference Peter Singer) can be effective in this context, but I think your observation about corporate giving and PR is much more important than it might initially seem. Many corporations are intimidated by any significant charitable giving in part because they worry that large donations (monetary or otherwise) will be perceived as a misappropriation of shareholder funds. In addition, many corporations want to focus their charitable contributions on the communities where they operate, in order to maximize PR gains and minimize real cost.
That being said, huge sums of corporate money are potentially available, if the pitch is handled in the right way, and even a failed pitch to a corporation creates networking opportunities to talk to wealthy/influential donors on a personal basis, which can lead to donations/other assistance that is not limited in the same way as corporate donations.
This is an issue that I’m very interested in and I’ll post a longer response later. Concisely, I think all of the points you made are basically right, but that we should pursue more corporate involvement anyway.
I agree with Elizabeth and RomeoStevens that a watered-down pitch (which shouldn’t necessarily mention ‘EA/Effective Altruism’ at all, and definitely shouldn’t reference Peter Singer) can be effective in this context, but I think your observation about corporate giving and PR is much more important than it might initially seem. Many corporations are intimidated by any significant charitable giving in part because they worry that large donations (monetary or otherwise) will be perceived as a misappropriation of shareholder funds. In addition, many corporations want to focus their charitable contributions on the communities where they operate, in order to maximize PR gains and minimize real cost.
That being said, huge sums of corporate money are potentially available, if the pitch is handled in the right way, and even a failed pitch to a corporation creates networking opportunities to talk to wealthy/influential donors on a personal basis, which can lead to donations/other assistance that is not limited in the same way as corporate donations.