The article was written with an assumption that the reader would have been exposed to the basic arguments in favor of volunteering ahead of time, which accounts for the imbalance.
Then you should definitely mention that, so the reader knows to expect the one-sidedness upfront.
There’s no contradiction here; if philanthropic opportunity A is better than philanthropic opportunity B, then convincing people to take opportunity A rather than B is net positive, even though there’s a negative effect.
Yes, but you advising people to donate to a nonprofit and someone “fundraising for a nonprofit” is essentially the same activity. You do it because it can be net positive, but then you criticize someone else doing it because “it can hurt other nonprofits”, without mentioning the net positive thing in that case.
P.S. Since I probably came off as curmudgeony, just wanted to mention that I think Cogito Mentoring is a promising endeavor and some of your articles have been great; don’t take my brisk criticism of this one as hostile or peeved.
Then you should definitely mention that, so the reader knows to expect the one-sidedness upfront.
Will do
Yes, but you advising people to donate to a nonprofit and someone “fundraising for a nonprofit” is essentially the same activity. You do it because it can be net positive, but then you criticize someone else doing it because “it can hurt other nonprofits”, without mentioning the net positive thing in that case.
I was mentioning it as an offsetting effect. Whether or not it’s net positive is highly contingent on the relative quality of the charity that’s fundraised for. If there were a fixed supply of charitable funds available then fundraising for the charities with below average marginal cost-effectiveness would be net negative.
P.S. Since I probably came off as curmudgeony, just wanted to mention that I think Cogito Mentoring is a promising endeavor and some of your articles have been great; don’t take my brisk criticism of this one as hostile or peeved.
Then you should definitely mention that, so the reader knows to expect the one-sidedness upfront.
Yes, but you advising people to donate to a nonprofit and someone “fundraising for a nonprofit” is essentially the same activity. You do it because it can be net positive, but then you criticize someone else doing it because “it can hurt other nonprofits”, without mentioning the net positive thing in that case.
P.S. Since I probably came off as curmudgeony, just wanted to mention that I think Cogito Mentoring is a promising endeavor and some of your articles have been great; don’t take my brisk criticism of this one as hostile or peeved.
Will do
I was mentioning it as an offsetting effect. Whether or not it’s net positive is highly contingent on the relative quality of the charity that’s fundraised for. If there were a fixed supply of charitable funds available then fundraising for the charities with below average marginal cost-effectiveness would be net negative.
Thanks :-)