Donating strategically this holiday season

Your guide to multiplying the social impact of your donations

Winter 2023

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Short on time? Improve thousands of lives in less than 5 minutes

DONATE

MATCH

BE PROUD!

You just changed the world!

• Note: These donations are likely tax-deductible. Include the donation in your tax return form! �
• See appendix for an overview based on your country

• Give to an effective charity of your choice, or lean on the expertise of GiveWell (an independent charity evaluator) by donating to their Top Charities Fund, and they will make sure your donation goes to the charities that need it most.

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• If your company has a donation matching program, leverage it to double your impact!

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Give Now

• www.givewell.org/charities/top-charities

This is you!

Explore Whether Your Company Matches Here

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You can save more lives�than a doctor by donating strategically¹

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

• As consultants, most of us strive to create a positive social impact in our private and professional lives
• Donating strategically is relatively neglected as few of us take an investment approach to our donations
• You yourself are uniquely positioned to do a lot of good and create a substantial positive impact
• If you’re reading this, you likely belong to the richest 1% of the world’s population
• You have the consulting mindset that drives you to follow the data and find outlier impact opportunities
• You can multiply your impact ×10-100 vs typical donations by strategically prioritizing nonprofits
• Donating makes you happy. According to research, donating will likely boost your happiness and wellbeing

• Best-in-class charities focus on addressing one of the world’s most pressing problems, are highly cost-effective, and evidence-backed
• Donate now to a charitable fund managed by experts, or pick your own high-impact charities, all of which radically outperform their peers’ impact
• Learn more about how to maximize the ROI of your donations on givewell.org and join the Effective Altruism Consulting Network

WHY

HOW

1. According to researchers at 80000hours.org

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You are uniquely positioned to do a lot of good

WHY

1. Giving What We Can 2. GiveWell; Cost-effectiveness may vary between regions

• Belong to the richest 1% of �the world’s population^1....

• With an annual income of $100,000, you…

• … all while having dramatically improved the lives of of up to

by protecting them from malaria for 3 years when donating to the Against Malaria Foundation ²

• 5,000 people

1%

99%

This is just one sample impact illustration – See page 11 for other high impact donation options

Smaller commitments are also extremely valuable, as an individual long-lasting insecticidal net costs less than $6 USD and malaria kills over 400,000 people annually

Can donate 10% of your income and still be in the richest 1%¹…

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WHY

Few donors think strategically about their charitable impact

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• Typically, money is donated to popular causes instead of high-impact causes

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• Few people assess the ROI of their donations in the way they do for other investments

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• Why not take an investment approach to your donations with the goal of maximizing your impact?

Source: Animal Charity Evaluators, 2016

• The majority of animal suffering is experienced by animals who live on farms …

… however, the majority of donations aimed at improving animal welfare go to shelters

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WHY

You can multiply your impact ~140x depending on which program you support

• Helping 1 person is great – helping more people is even better
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• Best-in-class charities radically outperform their peers in terms of impact generated

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• Where you donate is more important for your overall impact than how much you donate
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How much good can you do with $40,000 USD?

• Provide 1 guide dog for �a blind person in a developed country

• Fund 1,400 eye operations �to fully restore sight in Uganda

LOCAL

GLOBAL

Source: The Life You Can Save; Sightsavers

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WHY

Why is effective, rational donating so neglected?

1. For example, by leveraging professional charity evaluators such as GiveWell | Sources: Giving What We Can, GiveWell, The Life You Can Save

Challenge

Solution

Heart crowds out head

• Lack of transparency when it comes to impact

• Preference for giving locally

• Local organizations feel easier to donate to than international, “intangible” organisations
• In practice, the impact of donating in developing countries is often much higher since the need is greater

• Visualize the 1 person your $ could help locally vs the 140 people you could help with the same amount by expanding your geographic horizons

• Emotionally driven preference for personal stories over statistics
• Giving makes us feel good; thinking critically can undermine this effect

• Combine your heart and head: use your heart to motivate yourself to give to others and then use your head to ensure that your donation is effective and impactful¹

• Minimal trustworthy information from NGOs about their actual impact (e.g., # of lives saved)
• Low motivation to donate due to doubt that the donation will amount to any real impact

• Use the The Life You Can Save’s impact calculator or refer to GiveWell to assess how much each dollar can achieve with effective charities; trust expert-led charitable funds.

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WHY

Donating boosts your happiness more than accumulating wealth

Source: Money and Happiness; Bonus and Happiness

Other than the impact, why donate?

• Financial benefits�Donating to effective charities is tax-deductible�in most countries (see appendix)

• Purpose �Giving enables us to become part of building a�better world

• Justice�Alleviating poverty for those less fortunate�than us will make the world more equitable

• Happiness�Research shows that spending our bonuses on helping others will likely boost happiness

Increasing your wealth has diminishing returns on your happiness

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Andrew Carnegie, The Gospel of Wealth, 1889

It is more difficult to give money away intelligently than to earn it in the first place.

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HOW

Prioritize cost-effectiveness when deciding where to donate

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Check out GiveWell to learn how to have more impact with your donation

How cost-effective�is the charity in achieving its goals?

How evidence-backed�is the charity’s

approach?

How urgent

is the issue the charity is addressing?

How far does a dollar go?

How far will my marginal dollar or donation go?

What drives the charity’s decisions?

Are there reliable internal or external evaluations of their work?

Is the charity transparent?

What is the scale of the problem?�Is the problem neglected by others?

Is it solvable?

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HOW

Donate Now: Support best-in-class organizations

Reduce CO2₂ emissions with smart advocacy�and tech investments

Reduce CO2₂ emissions with the effective protection of�our rainforests

Mitigate negative impacts of AI on society

Invest in research to increase the quality of life for generations to come

Spare animal lives with targeted outreach to companies

Spare animal lives �with the development �of meat alternatives

With a $1000 donation, you can protect 142 children from malaria. Impact report here

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With a $1000 donation, you can vaccinate 6 infants against 7 diseases. Impact report here

Clean

Air Task Force

CHAI

Centre on Long-Term �Risk

The

Humane League

The Good �Food

Institute

Against �Malaria Foundation

Global Health

Climate Change

Long-term Future

Animal Suffering

Most pressing problems

Selection of best-in-class organizations*

Impact of your donation

See appendix for tax-deductible options in your country

New Incentives

Future Cleantech Architects

*Find more best-in-class organizations here.

Sources: 80000hours.com; The Life You Can Save; GiveWell; Founders Pledge; ACE

Donate here

Donate here

Donate here

Donate here

Donate here

Donate here

Donate here

Donate here

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HOW

Leverage expert-led charitable funds

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Global Health

Climate Change

Long-term Future

Animal Suffering

Most pressing problems

Selection of expert managed funds*

Potential impact of your donations

See appendix for tax-deductible options in your country

*Find more expert-led funds here.

Sources: 80000hours.com, Giving What We Can, GiveWell, Founders Pledge, EA Funds

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Donate here

Donate here

Donate here

Donate here

GiveWell’s Top charities Fund

Founders Pledge’s Climate Change Fund

Long-Term Future Fund

Animal Welfare Fund

The cost of saving a life through the GiveWell Top Charities Fund is estimated to be $5,500. Learn more about GiveWell estimations here.

The Founders Pledge’s Climate Change Fund is targeted towards neglected solutions, audacious advocacy and low-carbon innovation. Learn more about the fund’s rationale here.

The Long-Term Future Fund Address potential risks from advanced artificial intelligence, build infrastructure and advocate for global catastrophic risk projects. More info on the fund can be found here.

The Animal Welfare Fund is focused on neglected geographic regions or groups of animals, and on promising research into animal advocacy and well-being. More info here.

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Anne Frank

How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.

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Thank you!

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Want to learn more about doing good strategically?

• TED talk Effective Altruism

• The science of doing good

• Tailored advice for consultants

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Tax-deductible donations to effective charities using local grantmaking organisations

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