Donations are almost entirely signaling. The donations disclosed in comments here signal your values, or more precisely, what you want others to believe are your values. The Singularity Institute is hailed here; donations signal devotion to a common cause. Yes, even donating based on efficiency criteria is signaling and much as other donations. It signals that the donor is devoted to rationality.
One data point in the other direction: I donated yesterday, before this was posted, and hadn’t particularly been expecting to tell anyone. Once I saw this post, I figured I may as well get rewarded in karma for my existing donation, but it would have already been there whether or not I ended up having a chance to use it to signal cause solidarity.
One data point in the other direction: I donated yesterday, before this was posted, and hadn’t particularly been expecting to tell anyone. Once I saw this post, I figured I may as well get rewarded in karma for my existing donation, but it would have already been there whether or not I ended up having a chance to use it to signal cause solidarity.