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gwwc_donation_influenceother_comments
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It has shown me how my donations can effectively be spent in order to save the most lives.
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This year I made a planned gift of 5% to GiveWell and 5% to the Rainforest Trust. I think I will modify the will so that we are giving the second half to a Giving What We Can evaluated group rather than to Rainforest Trust.I had planned to build up to about 5.5% of income according to the amount recommended for my household income (~$140,000) by Peter Singer. Giving What We Can has convinced me to set the horizon at a minimum of 10%. However, my plan is to do add 1% per year over the next 10 years, so that the spending impact on the rest of my household is light. By the end of that period, we *should* have finished paying for daycare for our daughter and student loans for ourselves, lessening the opportunity cost associated with a more aggressive charitable giving campaign. We have already committed 10% of our estate.
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Following the recommendations of donating to the Effective Altruism funds.
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Mainly in the amount.
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From the reports I've seen, I think that EA members underprioritise non-AI existential risks and particularly climate risk as cause areas (for example, GWWC giving in 2016 was only 5% for existential risks according to 80,000 hours). I was surprised about this because I thought longtermism was more popular. Hence why I'm donating to climate (~75%) and bio/nuclear risk (~25%).I was wondering why there seems to be relatively little prioritisation for outreach & community building for GWWC. The trend in GWWC membership looks relatively linear and suggests a large opportunity for growth. Seems to me that the pledge is one of the most accessible EA concepts for people who don't know anything about EA so I would imagine that membership would be relatively easy and low cost to grow - the pledge is simple to understand & not too academic (1. give more 2. give more effectively), familiar (charitable giving in some form is already fairly common - a brief internet search tells me that the average American person donates roughly 2-5% of their income to charity) and effective. Promoting GWWC would likely increase general EA membership and awareness as well.

Overall, it seems that achieving a better-than-linear growth would might be quite cost-effective.
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YesOther
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You've inspired me to donate more, knowing that my donations can do an enormous amount of good if I'm smart about how I donate. You organization provides a dramatic example of how reason and knowledge can be used to better the world."Who saves one life saves the world entire."
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Understanding which charities are effective, and learning what metrics should be looked out for.
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The EA funds
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Likely more towards Givewell-recommended charities.
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the research and analyses on effectiveness of charities
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To choose the most effective charities
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giving to ea funds and givewell charities
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EA has pushed me to approach giving in an evidence based, outcome oriented way. I have always prioritized local issues in my home state and where I live currently, but EA has given me an impetus to track the actual effect of my donations.
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If I haven't heard of effective altruism, I probably would have donated to major aid organisations (Red Cross International, UNICEF, Doctor's Without Borders) rather than organisations recommended by meta-researchers.
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brought to my attention charities that I had not known existeda very worthwhile cause - thankyou for providing me with an opportunity to contribute to a better world
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I'm taking into account effectivness before giving. Although I still donate to non-recommended organisations.
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Not sure yet- just trying this out!
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To give more!None
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In general EA has definitely influenced me, and I cover it in some college classes I teach....I had honestly thought I'd already signed up for this years ago but it must have just been the list on one of Peter Singer's sites, but for what it's worth I'm already on track for 10% of my lifetime earnings going back to my first year out of college in 1993...I'm an untenured academic, so that's not a ton of money so far, but it's about $110,000 in donations on a little over $1 million in earnings...I've been involved in global poverty issues ever since high school, and one way I look at writing a check, is that back in high school and college we used to put hours and hours of collective planning and organizing of fundraisers for global poverty charities, and some of them would be total flops and if something was a smashing success maybe it'd raise like $2000 (which I guess would be $4000 now)....But now it takes me all of 3 minutes to click on a givedirectly or UNICEF link, give two times that annually, and plus I can now spend my free time doing things that interest me more...
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I would have donated almost exclusively to small local charities.
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The existence of the pledge caused me to realign my giving toward highly effective charities earlier than I would have otherwise done.
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It showed me just how well off I am and that I should set back my FIRE plans a little bit to help people who are not as fortunate as I.
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I am not sure if it is Giving What We Can or EA as a whole which has influenced my donation decisions. Hearing about Giving What We Can certainly motivated me to put what I have heard into action, however.
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Information about where to get most impact per dollar
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80,000 hours podcast discussion of GiveWell, the opening chapters of Will MacAskill's book
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Increased donation and far more effective
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It showed me how no impact is too small and can be very effective when dealt with well. Hence, it motivated me to start and continue my passion of doing my best to help those in need.
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Another place to give effectively.
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If at all I would most likely have donated to Cancer research after the death of my Dad and Aunty even though before EA I knew that it was over funded and not necessarily very effective.
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I couldn't decide what to focus on before. So it feels good to donate, knowing it will be used effectively.
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I am hoping to donate in an effective way and ensure that my donations have the most impact.
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It has convinced me that my biases prevent me from donating as effectively as I could.
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I will base my research on which charities 'Giving What We Can' and 'Effective Altruism' will recommend - I've always been interested in giving to charity but it provides a way of understanding what donations will be effective.
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Influenced me to seek out charities that have evidence of the impact they make and to seek out those that have the biggest impactI've been doing the 10% thing for about 18 months, after reading 80,000 hours, but had never taken the pledge for some reason.
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Stop giving sympathetically and spontaneously signing up for donations
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I decided to donate to the most effective charities.
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Choosing to donate more productively.
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Giving what we can has inspired me to live more minimally and donate excess to those who need it more. Once I am employed, I will be committing more fully.
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effective giving - know its intelligently well thought out and given for the most impactful reasons
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It's influenced me to donate a lot more than I would have donated otherwisePlease keep people updated with how the donations are being used effectively.
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Right now, I give once in a while, non-systematic. From now on, it will be more thought out.
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Yes, Giving What We Can has influenced my donation decisions.
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By providing me information on the charities that are most effective at improving human welfare, and the evidence to back it up.Keep up the great work!
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It has compelled me to increase my monthly rate and aim for 10% eventually.
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Made me think about what my responsibilities are.No
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My future charitable donations will likely be guided in large part by the Effective Altruism community in general, both in terms of the sizes of my donations and the organizations to which I choose to give.I appreciate the work that this community is doing. I was surprised by the problems on which Effective Altruists tend to focus, but only because they happen to be problems that were already important to me, such as the treatment of factory-farmed animals. I hope you guys can continue to grow and keep doing what you're doing.
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Reviewing charity, financials and % of cash on hand that goes directly to effective programs.
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Bien-être des animaux
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It made me more commited to donating larger amounts of my income, and to start this lifestyle change now even though I am a student to improve my mindset around giving.
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I always wanted to donate my money to organisations that are working to make the future better. 80,000 hours has played an influential part in this.
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Giving What We Can has made me more confident that my donations will have a real impact.
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It has made more clear which charities are most effective.
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You guys use reason and logic to determine the best way to do good.
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I will be donating to Give Well recommendations.
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Yes, Giving What We Can has influenced my donation decisions.
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AMF
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Yes, Giving What We Can has influenced my donation decisions.
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I will add a donation of about 2% of my income, probably to EA community organizations.
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Yes, Giving What We Can has influenced my donation decisions.
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Using GiveWell to find an organization that is effective and aligned with my personal cause
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Yes, Giving What We Can has influenced my donation decisions.
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I searched a lot online with charitynavigator.com for a suitable charity. I trust the EA funds to do this better than i did
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I had someone from Giving What We Can come in to my school to give a talk many years ago - probably in 2009/2010. It's stuck with me, and now that I have my first stable job in a career I plan on staying in, I want to do my part.
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Will choose charities based on GiveWell recommendations.
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To most effective net benefit for society

Helping to improve quality of people’s lofe most in need
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I had stopped donating because I was deflated by all the reasons that EA and Giving What We Can exist (core idea of EA) but hadn't come across EA - what a great answer!I am not sure that I can yet commit to 10 per cent and I don't have six months runway yet but I want to start giving something - and - I am still skeptical and want to try it out first.
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decided to make pledge and start, start small, but start
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Yes, Giving What We Can has influenced my donation decisions.
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Community of people who are doing this - shows me it is possible
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Yes, Giving What We Can has influenced my donation decisions.
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By looking at your charity recommendations.
However, I must stress that, although largely guided by your research, my donations will also go towards minor charities close to my heart
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Funds and reccomendations
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Yes, Giving What We Can has influenced my donation decisions.
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Yes, Giving What We Can has influenced my donation decisions.
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Yes, Giving What We Can has influenced my donation decisions.
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Yes, Giving What We Can has influenced my donation decisions.
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Yes, Giving What We Can has influenced my donation decisions.
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Yes, Giving What We Can has influenced my donation decisions.
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It's inspired me to think more seriously about where I'm donating to. I would have thought somewhat seriously about it before, but I appreciate the nudge to make sure I'm donating to the places I sincerely think are best.
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I will give through Givewell for the moment but plan to read more about giving what we can reccomendations
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Yes, Giving What We Can has influenced my donation decisions.
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Yes, Giving What We Can has influenced my donation decisions.
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Yes, Giving What We Can has influenced my donation decisions.
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reorientated to long-term potential risksI saw that you were allocating money to OFTW and that was what convinced me in the end
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I’d like to follow your recommendations so as to donate where it may do the most good.
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Certainly influenced me to be more careful about how I donate, and to donate more than I otherwise would have. I remain skeptical of some of the organisations with which GWWC and EA are aligned with, such as MIRI and anything Bill Gates does.
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Plus, Peter Singer 'The Life You Can Save' Book.
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Broadening the recipients I'm considering.
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I was already convinced of the Effective Altruism methodology.I'm part of a business community (California cannabis) that is a large untapped resources for charitable donations to EA.

I understand that the first impression of EA to people in the community is very important to the long term success and have been hesitant to do so myself, knowing that there may be someone better suited to that. If anyone at EA or Givewell is interested, please contact me - 707-616-7723.
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I wanted to find effective charities without having to spend time researching them myself so I prefer just to rely on what I see on this site.
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Yes, Giving What We Can has influenced my donation decisions.
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Yes, Giving What We Can has influenced my donation decisions.
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Referenced highly effective organizations
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Yes, Giving What We Can has influenced my donation decisions.
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Yes, Giving What We Can has influenced my donation decisions.
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Yes, Giving What We Can has influenced my donation decisions.
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I have found out about the different types of oranizations, specialising in long-term and hits for example and now have much more appreciation for those I have been perplexed by the thought that has gone into your deliberations and explenations on where to donate, what is good altriusm, and many of the other problems and issues you bring up on philantrophy.
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Yes, Giving What We Can has influenced my donation decisions.