Imma
Bio
I work as Software Tester and donate a part of my income.
I got into EA in 2012.
Posts 1
Comments87
(have not watched the video fully). I agree with you.
Multiple things can be true at the same time
- People who live in global poverty are are very poor
- Many people in developed countries are among the top 10-1 percent richest globally and don't realize that they comparatively rich
- If these people donate a bit, they can help extremely poor people by a lot.
- Living in relative poverty in rich countries is hard - even if people are globally "rich". (I don't have experience with that myself, but I have consumed a bit of media on relative poverty in my own and nearby countries in Western Europe, out of curiosity. I might still be completely wrong when I imagine what it's like). Some features of a rich society make living in relative poverty even harder. For instance, sharing a small house with a large number of people is made illegal.
It's good when people know these things!
I don't know where you live, but donating $10k while being on the top ~20% percentile globally sounds a lot. It does not help to donate so much to be unable to afford your living costs. It is simply not sustainable. Maybe donating a small bit is feasible. If donated well, a tiny amount already help people a lot, and I find donating very fulfilling. It also helps creating a culture where giving is normal, and not something weird.
Wealth is distributed insanely unequally. Billionares exist. They can donate much more with a much less sacrifice to themselves. They should (and pay taxes), do so thoughtfully, and keep their ego's and individual preferences on the background.
I'm really sad to hear you feel that 80k isn't talking to you.
Hm, maybe I exaggerated a bit, the reality is a more complicated, I should have phrased it differently.
But it would be nice if we could just all feel glad about our contributions.
Oh yes!
Your comment makes me smile :)
FWIW: I moved back for reasons fully in line with my (mixture of altruistic and non-altruistic) values and for kickstarting the Dutch EA community I would really really assign the credits to other people. Big thanks to them.
I agree with Jason though, in general terms.
some of them (3, 5, 6, 7) already need quite a bit of knowledge. I am not saying they are not worth doing!
I am an older "mediocre EA".
I learnt about EA in 2013. I never felt that 80k was talking to me, simply because my talent set is ... well, mediocre (plus some cultural things). Also, at 23, my CV was already unimpressive enough that it would be hard to catch up. The best thing I can do for the world, is to be born with a different brain.
I have a normal job as software tester and I call it "earning to give". I have been in normal jobs for 10 years. I never interned or worked at an organization aiming for direct impact, and barely even volunteered. I am very satisfied with my involvement in the community and the way I try to do good in the world.
Some other things I do:
- being very excited about effective giving. I love to consume content about charities, charity evaluations, etc.
- keep working fulltime so I have a decent donation budget. I live in an area where working part time is common even among some healthy non-parents. Working fulltime is already a challenge because I get distracted and overwhelmed easily. My job requires me to reliably get things done. I can be very reliable as long as I am not stressed out.
- attend EAGx (no EAG please) and local retreats, chat with others about effective giving and earning to give. Sometimes these are people earlier in their career, or newer in the community, or have reasons to not dedicate themselves too much. I can make time for anyone. One might call it "mentoring". (data point: I never got rejected for any event)
- aim for small, very small, steps towards career progress. Aiming for big steps has failed.
- be frugal. Keep track of my budget. Frugality matters. I don't overdo it.
- engage with the local community at in person events. People are much less intimidating in real life than on the internet. I rarely have the feeling that I am the least smart person in the room (partially, because I don't care).
I can't help smiling even though it s*cks. Donating is complicated.
A few years ago, I spent the last working day of the year rushing on a bicycle between 2 bank offices in order to get a donation through (successfully).
Always leave a few days of extra time before 31 December...
If animal welfare is a priority cause for you, the Animal Advocacy Careers' Bottlenecks survey is helpful.
As another way of understanding this trade-off, we asked meta respondents the following question: “Imagine an individual who is skilled and motivated enough to be a good (but not outstanding) candidate for roles in effective animal advocacy nonprofits. I.e., after a few applications, they are likely to secure a role, but they are not likely to be substantially better than the next best candidate, at least in their first paid role. How much money would you estimate that that person would have to be able to donate per year, on average, to effective animal advocacy nonprofits, to be indifferent (from an impact perspective) between focusing on a career “earning to give” vs. a career in animal advocacy nonprofits?”[28] The average answer given was $28,200, with a range from $100 to $90,000.[29]
Don't take these numbers literally. But it can give you some guidance.
It depends on the living costs, but my impression is that there are people earning (much!) less 100k/year for whom ETG is the best they can do.
For other cause area's I don't know, sorry.
Someone knowledgeable about
- Wild Animal Welfare (Please help me suggest a name)
- Animal Sentience (Rethink Priorities? - please help me suggest a name)
- Intersection between Animal Welfare and AI Alignment/governance (Please help me suggest a name)
2 small donations through Effektiv Spenden.
Unfortunately I will not move a lot of money this year, nor will I spend a lot of time thinking about my donations. But I am happy that I can do at least this little bit.
* I thought that, if everyone with an income similar to mine would do this, the climate would be in a better state, but I was wrong. I quickly fact-checked this. This article on nature.com says "The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) says that an annual investment of $2.4 trillion is needed in the energy system alone until 2035 to limit temperature rise to below 1.5 °C from pre-industrial levels.". I understand from the article this includes funding from governments and companies. I am not going to disclose my income and my donation budget here, but I can say that my donation is much less than a fair share of this 2.4 trillion. (It may be, if my donation is unusually cost-effective). - apparently it's damn hard to fix climate change.
** there may be difference between funding gap that the org believes they have themselves, and the funding gap that ACE thinks the org has. I mean the latter.