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Now there is no way of obviously measuring this, but I'd make the case that donating time (volunteering on the ground) to organizations is way better than donat

Now there is no way of obviously measuring this, but I'd make the case that donating time (volunteering on the ground) to organizations is way better than donating money. First, money goes through so many layers that it's hard to actually know what they go to, and how much actually ends up being useful and not just scavenged by middlemen. Secondly, donating your time by volunteering gives you more than just the feeling of feeling good. You also gain so much more perspective on life that will make you a better person, you'll appreciate what you have more and you can make sure what you actually spend time on is worthwhile. So, please donate time by volunteering! But if you can't, money is also good of course.

hilbertseries 6y ago
This is nice, but money very likely goes further than time. The work done by volunteers in organizations is typically not that high impact and usually grunt work. If you work in a high paying industry such as tech, working money and donating it will absolutely have a larger impact than volunteering. I agree volunteering can have a greater personal benefit, but from a utilitarian standpoint donating is better. Peter Singer makes this argument very well in his book the most good you can do.
zozbot234 6y ago
The thing is, you can only donate time to organizations who are local to you, and there's a limit as to what causes these organizations can work on - highly-impactful local causes are quite few and far between. So if you're going to volunteer for some charitable purpose, be sure to choose something that has a decent chance of being genuinely worthwhile. (Advocating for criminal justice reform might be a good example.)