How specifically would you do better than status quo?
I could easily dismiss some charities for causes I don’t care about, or where I think they do more harm than good. Now there are still many charities left whose cause I approve of, and that seems to me like they could help. How do I choose among these? They publish some reports, but are the numbers there the important ones, or just the ones that are easiest to calculate?
For example, I don’t care if your “administrative overhead” is 40%, if that allows you to spend the remaining 60% ten times more effectively than a comparable charity with smaller overhead. Unfortunately, the administrative overhead will most likely be included in the report, with two decimal places; but the achieved results will be either something nebulous (e.g. “we make the world a better place” or “we help kids become smarter”), or they will describe the costs, not the outcomes (e.g. “we spent 10 millions to save the rainforest” or “we spent 5 milions to teach kids the importance of critical thinking”).
Now, I don’t have time and skills to become a full-time charity researcher. So if I want to donate well, I need someone who does the research for me, and whose integrity and sanity I can trust.
How specifically would you do better than status quo?
I could easily dismiss some charities for causes I don’t care about, or where I think they do more harm than good. Now there are still many charities left whose cause I approve of, and that seems to me like they could help. How do I choose among these? They publish some reports, but are the numbers there the important ones, or just the ones that are easiest to calculate?
For example, I don’t care if your “administrative overhead” is 40%, if that allows you to spend the remaining 60% ten times more effectively than a comparable charity with smaller overhead. Unfortunately, the administrative overhead will most likely be included in the report, with two decimal places; but the achieved results will be either something nebulous (e.g. “we make the world a better place” or “we help kids become smarter”), or they will describe the costs, not the outcomes (e.g. “we spent 10 millions to save the rainforest” or “we spent 5 milions to teach kids the importance of critical thinking”).
Now, I don’t have time and skills to become a full-time charity researcher. So if I want to donate well, I need someone who does the research for me, and whose integrity and sanity I can trust.