3 ms·

"dumping money in a black hole" is a very misleading word choice. The analogy with a black hole suggests that money disappears with no good. Donating to cost-e

by yboris 6y ago

"dumping money in a black hole" is a very misleading word choice. The analogy with a black hole suggests that money disappears with no good. Donating to cost-effective charities directly and significantly improves the quality of life for numerous individuals. Just because you don't "solve the whole problem" with your donations doesn't mean it shouldn't be done. Just like you don't choose to stop eating because eating a single meal won't satisfy your hunger for the next 30 years.

nicbou 6y ago
It's a deliberate choice of words. Yes, your money is going towards a good cause, but if you accidentally sent the money to the wrong place, you couldn't possibly tell. Your donation is never mapped to a specific result. It's just added to a much larger pool. You will never get a message saying "your donation paid Paul's first month of rent" or something to that effect. By comparison, volunteering at a soup kitchen feels real, regardless of effectiveness. You see the people you help, and I suspect that's why people prefer being charitable in less efficient ways.
- yboris 6y ago
  There are charities with extreme transparency. For example, all the money sent to the highly-rated (by GiveWell) charity the Against Malaria Foundation (AMF) gets tied to specific distributions (specific villages). You get to see the photos of your money at work and updates about the quality of the malaria-protecting bednets years after they have been distributed. [0] https://www.givewell.org/charities/amf https://www.givewell.org/charities/amf
- neilparikh 6y ago
  This isn't true. There are charities that do exactly what you claim they don't do. For example, https://www.againstmalaria.com/Default.aspx https://www.againstmalaria.com/Default.aspx maps each donation to a specific bed net distribution, then gives you a status page (that you can share with others!), which tells you exactly what stage your distribution is at. For example, I can see that one of my donations is currently in the manufacturing stage, one is on a boat travelling to the country, and one is being distributed to households right now. After the distribution is complete, they'll post pictures from that distribution, as well as conduct follow up surveys in a few months, to ensure effective use. All this information is shared with the donor directly.
  - imtringued 6y ago
    It sounds like charities have an accountability problem that could be solved with technology. If everything the charity did was public then people could rest assured that their money is well spent.
- yboris 6y ago
  Evolution fucked us again. As a result, we feel drawn towards performing acts where we can be seen as doing good, not towards acts that do good. Being in a soup kitchen gives you witnesses, writing a check does not (especially with our shitty culture that often discourages people from talking about their philanthropic deeds).

by yboris 6y ago

nicbou 6y ago

It's a deliberate choice of words. Yes, your money is going towards a good cause, but if you accidentally sent the money to the wrong place, you couldn't possibly tell. Your donation is never mapped to a specific result. It's just added to a much larger pool. You will never get a message saying "your donation paid Paul's first month of rent" or something to that effect. By comparison, volunteering at a soup kitchen feels real, regardless of effectiveness. You see the people you help, and I suspect that's why people prefer being charitable in less efficient ways.

yboris 6y ago
There are charities with extreme transparency. For example, all the money sent to the highly-rated (by GiveWell) charity the Against Malaria Foundation (AMF) gets tied to specific distributions (specific villages). You get to see the photos of your money at work and updates about the quality of the malaria-protecting bednets years after they have been distributed. [0] https://www.givewell.org/charities/amf https://www.givewell.org/charities/amf
neilparikh 6y ago
This isn't true. There are charities that do exactly what you claim they don't do. For example, https://www.againstmalaria.com/Default.aspx https://www.againstmalaria.com/Default.aspx maps each donation to a specific bed net distribution, then gives you a status page (that you can share with others!), which tells you exactly what stage your distribution is at. For example, I can see that one of my donations is currently in the manufacturing stage, one is on a boat travelling to the country, and one is being distributed to households right now. After the distribution is complete, they'll post pictures from that distribution, as well as conduct follow up surveys in a few months, to ensure effective use. All this information is shared with the donor directly.
- imtringued 6y ago
  It sounds like charities have an accountability problem that could be solved with technology. If everything the charity did was public then people could rest assured that their money is well spent.
yboris 6y ago
Evolution fucked us again. As a result, we feel drawn towards performing acts where we can be seen as doing good, not towards acts that do good. Being in a soup kitchen gives you witnesses, writing a check does not (especially with our shitty culture that often discourages people from talking about their philanthropic deeds).