I am skeptical of 80,000 hours and the general concept of “earning to give” because I suspect very few people will actually be able to execute this correctly. What tracking programs (if any) do you have to ensure that people actually follow up on their plans?
That being said, your cause seems a noble one and I wish you well.
Thanks for this, this is a common response to earning to give. However, we already have a number of success stories: people who have started their EtG jobs and are loving them.
It’s rare that someone had their heart set on a particular career, such as charity work, then completely changes their plans and begins EtG. Rather, much more common is that someone is thinking “I really want to do [lucrative career X], but I should do something more ethical” or that they think “I’m undecided between lucrative career X, and other careers Y and Z; all look like good options.” It’s much easier to convince these people.
We certainly want to track behaviour. We will have an annual survey of members, to find out what they are doing, and how much they are giving, and so on. If someone really isn’t complying with the spirit of 80k, or with their stated goals, then we’ll ask them to leave.
I’m not surprised that people are doing this now, but I will be surprised if most of them are still doing it in five years, much less in the actual long term.
That being said, if the organization can maintain recruitment of new people, a lot of good will still be done even under this assumption.
I am skeptical of 80,000 hours and the general concept of “earning to give” because I suspect very few people will actually be able to execute this correctly. What tracking programs (if any) do you have to ensure that people actually follow up on their plans?
That being said, your cause seems a noble one and I wish you well.
Thanks for this, this is a common response to earning to give. However, we already have a number of success stories: people who have started their EtG jobs and are loving them.
It’s rare that someone had their heart set on a particular career, such as charity work, then completely changes their plans and begins EtG. Rather, much more common is that someone is thinking “I really want to do [lucrative career X], but I should do something more ethical” or that they think “I’m undecided between lucrative career X, and other careers Y and Z; all look like good options.” It’s much easier to convince these people.
We certainly want to track behaviour. We will have an annual survey of members, to find out what they are doing, and how much they are giving, and so on. If someone really isn’t complying with the spirit of 80k, or with their stated goals, then we’ll ask them to leave.
I’m not surprised that people are doing this now, but I will be surprised if most of them are still doing it in five years, much less in the actual long term.
That being said, if the organization can maintain recruitment of new people, a lot of good will still be done even under this assumption.