Hi guys,
I am currently looking into the research around altruism and "consumer behavior".
One thing that struck me is that many people seem to not care who or what receives their donations (Breeze, 2013), arguably because the act of helping seems to give them some kind of satisfaction. Moreover, they probably donate out of some feeling of guilt and the act of donating is then some kind of "letter of indulgence". However, given their desire to do something good but also their laziness, it is conceivable that their donations are not perfectly effective and it would be conceivable that these people would positively respond to an offering in which they would give their money to somebody who allocates it wisely to the most effective charities which would, minus the advisors fee, still probably cause a net better outcome.
Do you know whether something likes this exists and whether there is research around this?
Surely this would make the donor very passive as he/she only provides the money and is not involved in the information gathering. Is this even desirable from your perspective?
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Breeze, Beth. (2013). How Donors Choose Charities: The Role of Personal Taste and Experiences in Giving Decisions. Voluntary Sector Review. 4. 165-183. 10.1332/204080513X667792.
Hey,
thank you for your response. Sorry for my ignorance, as I did know about Givewell but not about this possibility and am just starting my EA journey.
In my post I am actually referring to one finding of the article such as:
"While the sample was composed entirely of people sufficiently committed to charitable giving to have gone to the trouble of setting up a charity bank account, interviewees were often disarmingly honest about their lack of knowledge regarding the causes and charities they support. Despite distributing thousands of pounds a year, ... (read more)