I was surprised too when I saw that number on their website. I think you could get there though by just thinking about how many employees are at these companies that offer matching. The large caveat that I previously mentioned in the post though is that these companies would certainly alter their matching programs if too many donations started to be requested. I still think there are at least millions of dollars of easily available matching donations opportunities that we could take advantage of especially if we spread out the campaign across as many companies as possible.
Tyler Smith
Karma: 41
Minneapolis, Minnesota EA Group
Good points, thanks for sharing.
Thank you for the reply, Peter. Yes, I’ve come across people at my company not knowing the match existed as well so that makes sense. I actually think your concern around how many companies will be willing to match EA organizations will not be a problem. If my experience has any relevance to the rest of the world, which I think it does because my Fortune 500 company is supported by an umbrella donating organization that helps multiple companies, GiveWell organizations were already approved for matching. Even the NTI was already approved for matching. The EA funds themself took a little more effort to get approved though and other AI organizations were not approved. I didn’t put any effort into getting the AI organizations approved though once the funds became available for matching so maybe they would be approved if requested.
Your last two points seem good. Maybe the best way would be having CEA or GWWC directly reach out to your attached website so that the contact is more professional? I’ll send CEA/GWWC an email and let them know they should pitch EA organizations to your linked website and consider making a project that incentivizes more matching. Let me know if you think there’s a better way of going about this.
Thank you for your feedback, Sam! After thinking futher about this idea and emailing a GWWC contact I think this idea is not worth pursuing any further. I now agree with your statement “This feels like the type of ends-justifying-means action that is righteous in intent, but underhanded in public appearance.” The person I emailed sent me this article on “Considering considerateness: Why communities of do-gooders should be exceptionally considerate” https://www.centreforeffectivealtruism.org/blog/considering-considerateness-why-communities-of-do-gooders-should-be
I think it was a good attempt and worth posting but it’s now time for me to keep brainstorming and see if I can come up with any better ideas. Thank you everyone for your time!