Effective giving is the branch of effective altruism focused on charitable donations.donations.
The main purpose of effective giving is to support a charity or project that can achieve an especially large amount of good with that support. However, effective giving on a sufficient scale can also influence the charitable sector, giving charities an incentive to improve their own effectiveness.
IssuesQuestions related to effective giving
There areis a variety of issuesquestions related to effective giving.
Some of these issues relate toFor instance, how tocan one ensure that thea donation has the largest possible direct impact possible. For instance,? Should donors often tend to give to multiple organizations,organizations? This is common, but there are reasons to think that it may be more effective not to diversify donations in this way. Relatedly, donors have choicesDonors can also think about when to give their money. For instance, they could decide to save money, — in which cases is saving money and givegiving it away later, rather than giving now. There continues to be debate about whichlater better? And all of these options isthis gets more effective in general. Third, onecomplicated when multiple donors are involved; a person’s donations may impact the effectiveness of another person’s donations, raising the tricky question of how they should coordinate to collectively maximize their impact.
Other issues focus more on theThe indirect impact of donations, in particular the impact ondonations can also be important to consider. For instance, giving publicly could encourage others who are considering whether and where to donate. One way to increase your positive impact on others’ donations is to give publicly.
Finally, one way of improving the effectiveness of donations is to try to identify the features shared by past cost-effective donations. For this reason, studying the history of philanthropy may be a source of lessons that could improve how donors fund projects.
constraints on effective altruismdonation choice | diminishing returns | philanthropic coordination | philanthropic diversification | room for more funding | impact assessment | earning to give
Effective giving is the branch of effective altruism focused on charitable
donations.donations.The main purpose of effective giving is to support a charity or project that can achieve an especially large amount of good with that support. However, effective giving on a sufficient scale can also influence the charitable sector, giving charities an incentive to improve their own effectiveness.
IssuesQuestions related to effective givingThere
areis a variety ofissuesquestions related to effective giving.Some of these issues relate toFor instance, howtocan one ensure thatthea donation has the largest possible direct impactpossible. For instance,? Should donorsoften tend togive to multipleorganizations,organizations? This is common, but there are reasons to think that it may be more effective not to diversify donations in this way.Relatedly, donors have choicesDonors can also think about when to give their money. For instance, they could decide to save money,— in which cases is saving money andgivegiving itaway later, rather than giving now. There continues to be debate about whichlater better? And all ofthese options isthis gets moreeffective in general. Third, onecomplicated when multiple donors are involved; a person’s donations may impact the effectiveness of another person’s donations, raising the tricky question of how they should coordinate to collectively maximize their impact.Other issues focus more on theThe indirect impact ofdonations, in particular the impact ondonations can also be important to consider. For instance, giving publicly could encourage otherswho are considering whether and whereto donate.One way to increase your positive impact on others’ donations is togive publicly.Finally, one way of improving the effectiveness of donations is to try to identify the features shared by past cost-effective donations. For this reason, studying thehistory of philanthropymay be a source of lessons that could improve how donors fund projects.constraints on effective altruismdonation choice | diminishing returns | philanthropic coordination | philanthropic diversification | room for more funding | impact assessment | earning to give