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If you know the word "utility", the people who actually seriously try to figure out the answer to that question live at: * http://www.givingwhatwecan.org/ http
by Eliezer 14y ago
If you know the word "utility", the people who actually seriously try to figure out the answer to that question live at:
* http://www.givingwhatwecan.org/ http://www.givingwhatwecan.org/
* http://www.givewell.org/ http://www.givewell.org/
* http://80000hours.org/ http://80000hours.org/
None of these groups recommend giving to the Gates Foundation, btw. GF is better than average but it's not in the league of the best.
(I honestly think that if Gates, Buffett, or Lucas truly deeply cared more about saving lives than anything, they'd just hand $10M to Givewell, and that as a test for $100M the next year. I don't see how anyone with $10B to give could possibly not think this was a good idea - there's more than enough Givewell track record to establish the point.)
- polymatter 14y agoMaybe its obvious to others, but I think most philanthropists want to make sure their donation is unmistakenly theirs, attributed to them and highlighted with their name. This way you maximise all those nice social benefits to giving. Just setting a hands-off donation to Givewell doesn't reap quite as much.
- dbaupp 14y agoIf one is looking at it that way: why does it have to be a hands-off donation? I'm sure there are myriad ways for such a donation to be used as PR material.
- nosignal 14y agoThanks for sharing these links. Honestly, charity isn't something I think much about, but have a poor opinion of. Nice to be reminded that good applications of it exist, and that it's measurable and assessable. The 80,000 Hours site in particular looks like a great resource. Also quite a recommendation coming from you - never fails to amaze me the people you find posting on here.