Pretty much a corollary of this is Steve Landsburg’s (for some reason controversial) point that you should only ever be donating money to one charity at a time (unless you’re ridiculously rich). The charity which makes the best use out of your first $1 donation is almost certainly also the charity which makes the best use out of your 1000th dollar as well. Once you’ve done the calculation, spreading your money between different charities isn’t hedging your bets, it’s giving money to the wrong charity.
See his Slate article for a slightly more fleshed out version of the reasoning.
There is one exception to this, which is political charities (ACLU, for instance). Giving to political charities, has a signalling effect: a political charity can say “we have twelve million donors,” and this tells politicians that they had better listen to that charity or those twelve million people might be voting for someone else.
That said, a $10 donation is enough to get this effect.
The advice I hear is “limit yourself to three charities”- useful because it allows you to broaden your fuzzies (like supporting economic liberty and cute animals and 3rd world development) while significantly decreasing the overhead costs to the charities. They would much rather have a $1,000 donor than 10 $100 donors, especially if that donor has made an annual commitment.
I suspect that SIAI is in a different position from most charities.
I don’t know what percentage of charities are low on public support, but I suspect that is not a serious issue for most donors, as most donors couldn’t provide more than 2% of a charity’s total income, even with a third of their total charity budget.
Most charities have a practice of sending endless streams of junk mail, and so for most charities a gift of a few dollars is actually a losing proposition in the long term, since you sent the signal you would be receptive to future donation requests but don’t actually send more money. The SIAI’s strategy (and costs for emailing) are different from most charities, suggesting that different advice makes sense for them.
I actually tend to argue this point first, and the more general point about efficient charity second. I’m not sure if that’s the most effective way to argue it though.
From the aricle: “CARE is a noble organization that fights starvation. It would like your support. The American Cancer Society is a noble organization that fights disease. It would like your support, too. Here’s my advice: If you’re feeling very charitable, give generously—but don’t give to both of them. … Giving to either agency is a choice attached to a clear moral judgment. When you give $100 to CARE, you assert that CARE is worthier than the cancer society. Having made that judgment, you are morally bound to apply it to your next $100 donation.”
Landsburg is wrong, and here’s why. Because the world is shades of gray, not black and white. It’s not clear what the best charity is, even by one’s own standards (partly because those standards are not clear, and they sometimes conflict with each other). We know ourselves well enough to know we’re not smart enough to make those judgments perfectly, so we don’t bother with trying for perfection, but rather with making sure to do at least some good. It’s hedging our bets knowing that some of the money is going to the “wrong” charity (we’re just not sure which one is “wrong”).
This depends on why you’re donating. If you’re trying to get the mental state of feeling ‘I did some good’ or you’re trying to impress your friends/family (certainly legitimate goals), then this logic might work. If you’re trying to help people as much as possible then this logic does not work because the amount you expect to have helped people rises linearly with the probability that the charity helps.
One common strategy is to spend a smallish amount of money giving to various causes that make us feel good and/or impress others and a larger amount of money on a single charity optimized for helping people as much as possible.
Pretty much a corollary of this is Steve Landsburg’s (for some reason controversial) point that you should only ever be donating money to one charity at a time (unless you’re ridiculously rich). The charity which makes the best use out of your first $1 donation is almost certainly also the charity which makes the best use out of your 1000th dollar as well. Once you’ve done the calculation, spreading your money between different charities isn’t hedging your bets, it’s giving money to the wrong charity.
See his Slate article for a slightly more fleshed out version of the reasoning.
There is one exception to this, which is political charities (ACLU, for instance). Giving to political charities, has a signalling effect: a political charity can say “we have twelve million donors,” and this tells politicians that they had better listen to that charity or those twelve million people might be voting for someone else.
That said, a $10 donation is enough to get this effect.
The advice I hear is “limit yourself to three charities”- useful because it allows you to broaden your fuzzies (like supporting economic liberty and cute animals and 3rd world development) while significantly decreasing the overhead costs to the charities. They would much rather have a $1,000 donor than 10 $100 donors, especially if that donor has made an annual commitment.
Is that compatible with points five and six here, or is it a standing disagreement among activists?
I suspect that SIAI is in a different position from most charities.
I don’t know what percentage of charities are low on public support, but I suspect that is not a serious issue for most donors, as most donors couldn’t provide more than 2% of a charity’s total income, even with a third of their total charity budget.
Most charities have a practice of sending endless streams of junk mail, and so for most charities a gift of a few dollars is actually a losing proposition in the long term, since you sent the signal you would be receptive to future donation requests but don’t actually send more money. The SIAI’s strategy (and costs for emailing) are different from most charities, suggesting that different advice makes sense for them.
I actually tend to argue this point first, and the more general point about efficient charity second. I’m not sure if that’s the most effective way to argue it though.
I suspect convincing people optimal philanthropy is a good idea is probably one of the most important things one could do. Maybe you should find out?
What about the idea of minimizing the possibility of potential failure?
From the aricle: “CARE is a noble organization that fights starvation. It would like your support. The American Cancer Society is a noble organization that fights disease. It would like your support, too. Here’s my advice: If you’re feeling very charitable, give generously—but don’t give to both of them. … Giving to either agency is a choice attached to a clear moral judgment. When you give $100 to CARE, you assert that CARE is worthier than the cancer society. Having made that judgment, you are morally bound to apply it to your next $100 donation.”
Landsburg is wrong, and here’s why. Because the world is shades of gray, not black and white. It’s not clear what the best charity is, even by one’s own standards (partly because those standards are not clear, and they sometimes conflict with each other). We know ourselves well enough to know we’re not smart enough to make those judgments perfectly, so we don’t bother with trying for perfection, but rather with making sure to do at least some good. It’s hedging our bets knowing that some of the money is going to the “wrong” charity (we’re just not sure which one is “wrong”).
This depends on why you’re donating. If you’re trying to get the mental state of feeling ‘I did some good’ or you’re trying to impress your friends/family (certainly legitimate goals), then this logic might work. If you’re trying to help people as much as possible then this logic does not work because the amount you expect to have helped people rises linearly with the probability that the charity helps.
One common strategy is to spend a smallish amount of money giving to various causes that make us feel good and/or impress others and a larger amount of money on a single charity optimized for helping people as much as possible.
Also, to quote text simply use the modifier >