- How and why to donate -
Admittedly, sometimes donating is not the best way to use your money. Do you trust whomever your donating the money to? Will a nominal amount of funds actually make any sort of difference? Did you do enough research before donating? Which area of need is most pressing, world hunger, world poverty, or climate change? And does the charities program even function, because most have very little impact on their problem areas.
We have consulted with an SF based organization 80,000 hours, to relay some important information to those who are thinking of donating. They claim that an effective organization is often more than 10x more effective than the next most impactful in the same sector. This occurs for many reasons, but it is apparent that research is needed for those donation dollars to go the furthest. That is why 80,000 hours recommends not donating to individual organizations like Greenpeace, or the red cross, they encourage donations to "Effective Altruism Funds" which conduct annual analyses that determine which organizations have had the most success across the past year. They do this across four different mediums including; Global Development, Animal Welfare, Long-Term Future, and the Effective Altruism Community. By donating to funds of this sort, individuals are able to pool their money collectively and collectively participate in programs which otherwise would have not been available to them.
Though when to donate should also be a consideration, 80,000 hours has produced this infographic to determine if now is the best time to donate, and often it might be more beneficial to save up not, and donate later.
