I would strongly suggest recanting the statement about AMF having “more money than they can use”.
Part of the logic of donating to a single maximal-marginal-benefit charity is that your contribution works at the margin. You don’t get to donate to a cancer charity and think “well, that wraps cancer up; now onto solving child abuse”. In telling you about what “your money” is doing, AMF are being psychologically savvy, but they are also creating the illusion that your contribution is facilitating some sort of discrete satisfying chunk of work you can draw a line under.
Around here we like to think about charities as machines that take in money and spit out utility, but in the real world they’re organisations with cash flows, long-term strategies and earmarked funds. The presence of such earmarked funds does not mean they have more money than they can use, and it would be awful if this notion got stuck in people’s minds.
I agree that having earmarked funds does not imply AMF has more money than they can use, but (1) I don’t think OP was saying that and (2) I do think AMF has more money than it can use.
I appreciate what you’re saying. Just going by the information I posted, that wasn’t nearly enough information to conclude “AMF has more money than they can use”. It merely raised the question—which I had answered here. :)
I would strongly suggest recanting the statement about AMF having “more money than they can use”.
Part of the logic of donating to a single maximal-marginal-benefit charity is that your contribution works at the margin. You don’t get to donate to a cancer charity and think “well, that wraps cancer up; now onto solving child abuse”. In telling you about what “your money” is doing, AMF are being psychologically savvy, but they are also creating the illusion that your contribution is facilitating some sort of discrete satisfying chunk of work you can draw a line under.
Around here we like to think about charities as machines that take in money and spit out utility, but in the real world they’re organisations with cash flows, long-term strategies and earmarked funds. The presence of such earmarked funds does not mean they have more money than they can use, and it would be awful if this notion got stuck in people’s minds.
I agree that having earmarked funds does not imply AMF has more money than they can use, but (1) I don’t think OP was saying that and (2) I do think AMF has more money than it can use.
Huh. OK.
I appreciate what you’re saying. Just going by the information I posted, that wasn’t nearly enough information to conclude “AMF has more money than they can use”. It merely raised the question—which I had answered here. :)