How to Make a Difference with Your Money

It’s not enough to just donate money. The best charities can be 100x more effective than the average charity [1] . Some can even be harmful. Your impact is much greater if you find charities that work on big but neglected problems, where there’s a clear route to progress. Within these problems, look for the most cost-effective charities. A typical American who donated 10% of their income to the Against Malaria Foundation could save 50 lives over their career.

Part 1
Part 1 of 5:

Choosing a Problem to Tackle

  1. Think hard about which problems you work on, as it might be your most important choice. The most pressing issues are:
    • Big: What’s the magnitude of this problem? How much does it affect people’s lives today? How much effect will solving it have in the long run?
    • Neglected: How many people and resources are tackling this problem? How well allocated are these resources?
    • Solvable: How easy would it be to make progress on this problem? Do interventions already exist to solve this problem effectively, and how strong is the evidence behind them?
  2. Identify a problem that seems big, neglected and solvable—this is where it’s easiest to have an impact. Some of the most pressing problems include:
    • Global health and development [2] . Eight hundred million people in developing countries live in absolute poverty—with less than $1.90 per day. Five million children die every year, mainly from preventable causes.
    • Intensive farms, where animals are caged, crammed, mutilated and indoors for all their life. Humans slaughter seventy billion land animals every year—2,000 per second [3] . Read How to Help Farmed Animals.
    • Existential risks that threaten the destruction of humanity’s long-term potential. [4] These arise from artificial intelligence [5] , biological hazards [6] great power conflict [7] , nuclear security [8] and extreme climate change [9] .
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Part 2
Part 2 of 5:

Finding an Effective Charity

  1. Do you trust someone else’s recommendations? If you know someone who shares your values and has already put a lot of thought into where to give, then consider simply going with their recommendations.
    • If you’re going to do your own research, decide how much research to do. The more you’re giving as a percentage of your annual income, the more time it’s worth spending on research.
  2. 2
    Consult charity evaluator GiveWell. GiveWell is a nonprofit dedicated to finding outstanding giving opportunities within global health and publishing the full details of its analysis to help donors decide where to give. Here are two of their recommended charities:
    • The Against Malaria Foundation provides funding for long-lasting insecticide-treated net distributions against malaria in developing countries. GiveWell estimates that you can help save one child’s life from malaria by donating $5,000 to the Against Malaria Foundation.
    • GiveDirectly is a nonprofit that gives cash directly to people living in extreme poverty in developing countries via mobile phone-linked payments. People living in poverty deserve the dignity to choose how best to improve their lives—cash enables that choice. GiveDirectly launched 15 independent randomized controlled trials on its impacts on recipients and the local economy.
  3. 3
    Consult Animal Charity Evaluators. Animal Charity Evaluators reviews and recommends animal charities based on their effectiveness. Here are their three recommended charities for 2022:
    • Faunalytics connects animal advocates with information. Faunalytics publishes independent research and promotes existing research and data for individual advocates through its website’s content library.
    • The Humane League works to improve animal welfare standards through grassroots campaigns, movement building, vegan advocacy, research, and advocacy training, as well as through corporate, media, and community outreach. The Humane League founded the Open Wing Alliance, an international animal advocacy coalition, to end the use of battery cages globally.
    • The Wild Animal Initiative works to strengthen the animal advocacy movement by creating an academic field dedicated to wild animal welfare. They compile literature reviews, write theoretical and opinion articles, and publish research results on their website and in peer-reviewed journals.
  4. The charity evaluators publish their transparent reasoning behind their recommendations for free. Whether you're reading their charity reviews or doing the research yourself, look for the following:
    • What does the charity do?
    • What’s the cost-effectiveness?
    • How transparent is the charity on its impact?
    • Are there high-quality studies on the charity’s impact?
    • How much more funding can the charity effectively use?
    • Does the charity have competent and honest leadership?
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Part 3
Part 3 of 5:

Donating to a Charity Fund

  1. 1
    Consider donating to a charity fund. There are many charities out there that are doing good work. But it’s hard to know which ones to trust, and the best charities are constantly changing. By donating to an effective fund, you can be sure that your money will go to a charity doing good work. Here are four funds focused on effective charities tackling pressing problems:
    • Effective Altruism Funds lets you choose how to split your giving across different areas: global health, animal welfare, effective altruism infrastructure, and the long-term future. An expert committee in each area selects the most effective charities. The fund or committee doesn’t take any fees.
    • GiveWell's Maximum Impact Fund supports GiveWell's recommended charities. Explore the transparent reasoning behind their grants on their website. GiveWell doesn’t take any fees.
    • Animal Charity Evaluator’s Recommended Charity Fund supports the top-rated animal charities recommended by Animal Charity Evaluators. Explore their transparent reasoning in the grant distributions reports on their website.
    • Founders Pledge Climate Change Fund supports high-impact solutions to tackle carbon emissions and air pollution. Explore their grant recipients on the fund's website, and donate here free of fees.
Part 4
Part 4 of 5:

Committing to Your Plan

  1. 1
    Take the Giving What We Can Pledge. You might lose your motivation to do good over time. The Giving What We Can pledge helps you commit to donating a meaningful portion of your income to improve the lives of others. It can help you live up to your values, meet like-minded people, and inspire others to follow suit. Sign the pledge here .
    • Almost 10,000 people signed the Giving What We Can Pledge, a non-binding pledge to donate more than 10% of your income to effective charities.
  2. While donating to the best charities is an effective way to have an impact, it's possible that your values might change in the future if your career is not directly tied to impact. Read How to Make a Difference in Your Career.
    • Also getting a promotion or changing career to earn more money can be high-impact, if you donate your extra income. Bill Gates and Warren Buffett are examples of entrepreneurs that donated more than 99% of their wealth.
  3. Discussing things with others is often the best way to make progress on your questions. Effective altruism is a global community with thousands of members. Here are some ways to get connected:
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Part 5
Part 5 of 5:

Multiplying Your Impact

  1. By encouraging others to donate to effective charities, you multiply the impact of your gift. For example, you can talk to a friend at dinner or share your donation on social media.
  2. You can create a fundraising campaign on Facebook, and 100% of the proceeds will go to your selected charity.
  3. By hosting a workplace workshop with your coworkers, you can expose your network to the idea of effective giving in an interactive and informative way.
  4. Some companies match charitable donations 1:1, or even more. By choosing an employer that does this, you may be able to double your donations with no effort.
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      References

      1. ↑ https://www.givingwhatwecan.org/charity-comparisons
      2. ↑ https://www.givingwhatwecan.org/cause-areas/global-health-and-development
      3. ↑ https://80000hours.org/problem-profiles/factory-farming/
      4. ↑ https://80000hours.org/articles/existential-risks/
      5. ↑ https://80000hours.org/problem-profiles/positively-shaping-artificial-intelligence/
      6. ↑ https://80000hours.org/problem-profiles/global-catastrophic-biological-risks/
      7. ↑ https://80000hours.org/problem-profiles/#reducing-great-power-conflict
      8. ↑ https://80000hours.org/problem-profiles/nuclear-security/
      9. ↑ https://80000hours.org/problem-profiles/climate-change/
      1. https://80000hours.org/
      2. https://animalcharityevaluators.org/
      3. https://www.givewell.org/
      4. https://www.givingwhatwecan.org/choosing-a-charity

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