I work as Software Tester and donate a part of my income.
I got into EA in 2012.
Imma
Karma: 669
some of them (3, 5, 6, 7) already need quite a bit of knowledge. I am not saying they are not worth doing!
I am an older “mediocre EA”.
I learnt about EA in 2013. I never felt that 80k was talking to me, simply because my talent set is … well, mediocre (plus some cultural things). Also, at 23, my CV was already unimpressive enough that it would be hard to catch up. The best thing I can do for the world, is to be born with a different brain.
I have a normal job as software tester and I call it “earning to give”. I have been in normal jobs for 10 years. I never interned or worked at an organization aiming for direct impact, and barely even volunteered. I am very satisfied with my involvement in the community and the way I try to do good in the world.
Some other things I do:
being very excited about effective giving. I love to consume content about charities, charity evaluations, etc.
keep working fulltime so I have a decent donation budget. I live in an area where working part time is common even among some healthy non-parents. Working fulltime is already a challenge because I get distracted and overwhelmed easily. My job requires me to reliably get things done. I can be very reliable as long as I am not stressed out.
attend EAGx (no EAG please) and local retreats, chat with others about effective giving and earning to give. Sometimes these are people earlier in their career, or newer in the community, or have reasons to not dedicate themselves too much. I can make time for anyone. One might call it “mentoring”. (data point: I never got rejected for any event)
aim for small, very small, steps towards career progress. Aiming for big steps has failed.
be frugal. Keep track of my budget. Frugality matters. I don’t overdo it.
engage with the local community at in person events. People are much less intimidating in real life than on the internet. I rarely have the feeling that I am the least smart person in the room (partially, because I don’t care).
I can’t help smiling even though it s*cks. Donating is complicated.
A few years ago, I spent the last working day of the year rushing on a bicycle between 2 bank offices in order to get a donation through (successfully).
Always leave a few days of extra time before 31 December...
If animal welfare is a priority cause for you, the Animal Advocacy Careers’ Bottlenecks survey is helpful.
As another way of understanding this trade-off, we asked meta respondents the following question: “Imagine an individual who is skilled and motivated enough to be a good (but not outstanding) candidate for roles in effective animal advocacy nonprofits. I.e., after a few applications, they are likely to secure a role, but they are not likely to be substantially better than the next best candidate, at least in their first paid role. How much money would you estimate that that person would have to be able to donate per year, on average, to effective animal advocacy nonprofits, to be indifferent (from an impact perspective) between focusing on a career “earning to give” vs. a career in animal advocacy nonprofits?”[28] The average answer given was $28,200, with a range from $100 to $90,000.[29]
Don’t take these numbers literally. But it can give you some guidance.
It depends on the living costs, but my impression is that there are people earning (much!) less 100k/year for whom ETG is the best they can do.
For other cause area’s I don’t know, sorry.
Bay Area is one of GWWC’s priority areas to start a local group.
Someone knowledgeable about
Wild Animal Welfare (Please help me suggest a name)
Animal Sentience (Rethink Priorities? - please help me suggest a name)
Intersection between Animal Welfare and AI Alignment/governance (Please help me suggest a name)
Someone from Doneer Effectief, Effektiv Spenden, De Tien Procent Club or another local Effective giving org
I avoid flying and travel by train instead (most of the time)=> even if it costs me a substantial part of my limited vacation time. I could compensate my extra emissions many times if I donated (my hourly salary)*(time saving) to a giving green top charity—but I don’t do it.
I don’t think this is very inconsistent with EA values.
80k is not the only one who provides altruistic career advice. You can check out
There are probably a few more.
Welcome to the EA forum. Great to hear that you would like to donate :).
You can find information about charity selection and tax on the Doneer Effectief website. You can donate to GiveWell recommended charities via Doneer Effectief, but also to a few other charities. They also have a page with info about tax—but you may want read the website of the Belastingdienst to double check. (I can try to find the info in English for you upon request).
If you are looking for a community where you can talk about giving and charity selection, see De Tien Procent Club which is specific for the Netherlands, and Giving What We Can which is international.
How important is it for (small-ish) donors to be knowledgeable about effective giving? They can just defer to charity evaluators.
Related question: what other initiatives might help here?
What is your view on frugality? Is it helpful is people are more frugal to donate (a bit) more?
To what extent can GWWC or similar communities help solve the problem that philanthropy is undemocratic (very wealthy people can have a lot of influence on society, but people have not elected them).
Does most of GWWC’s impact come from a very few wealthy or high-income members?
Should the idea of ‘effective giving’ be discoupled from ‘effective altruism’? To what extent?
E.g. should I be able to be a highly engaged effective giver (let’s say, further pledge) without having to touch ‘effective altruism’ at all?
What things can people in ‘normal’ jobs do for the world, besides donating? What things are well worth their time?
Do you see different attitudes to donating in different countries or cultures? How do you accommodate to as many of them as possible?
What do regular donors need to stay committed to donating over the course of their lives?
Your comment makes me smile :)
FWIW: I moved back for reasons fully in line with my (mixture of altruistic and non-altruistic) values and for kickstarting the Dutch EA community I would really really assign the credits to other people. Big thanks to them.
I agree with Jason though, in general terms.