Here’s a heuristic: If there are two organizations that both claim the same goals, but one has specific accomplishments to point to and the other does not, then the former is probably a better bet for your donation. An organization that focuses on telling you how bad the world is, and not on making it any better, is not a good bet — at least, not if it has been around for long enough that it could have (if it were really trying to) made any accomplishments.
The trouble is it’s hard to disentangle credit. If two environmental groups take different tacks (grassroots vs buddy-buddy lobbying, let’s say), I don’t know how to apportion credit when the law is passed. And what do I make of more extreme groups that never achieve their stated goals but claim to be moving the Overton window?
Here’s a heuristic: If there are two organizations that both claim the same goals, but one has specific accomplishments to point to and the other does not, then the former is probably a better bet for your donation. An organization that focuses on telling you how bad the world is, and not on making it any better, is not a good bet — at least, not if it has been around for long enough that it could have (if it were really trying to) made any accomplishments.
The trouble is it’s hard to disentangle credit. If two environmental groups take different tacks (grassroots vs buddy-buddy lobbying, let’s say), I don’t know how to apportion credit when the law is passed. And what do I make of more extreme groups that never achieve their stated goals but claim to be moving the Overton window?