Earning to Give Course - Effektiv Altruism Sweden

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effektivaltruism.org·effektivaltruism.org/course/earning-to-give/

This resource is tangential to AI safety but relevant to the EA community ecosystem that overlaps with AI safety funding and talent pipelines; it addresses career and donation strategy rather than technical or governance AI safety topics.

Metadata

Importance: 20/100educational

Summary

An introductory course by Effective Altruism Sweden on the 'earning to give' strategy, where individuals pursue high-income careers specifically to donate a significant portion of their earnings to highly effective charities. The course explains the rationale, practical considerations, and how this approach fits within the broader effective altruism framework for maximizing positive impact.

Key Points

•Earning to give involves choosing a lucrative career path primarily to maximize charitable donations rather than direct work in a cause area.
•The strategy is evaluated against other high-impact career paths such as direct work or advocacy, with context-dependent tradeoffs.
•Emphasizes that financial contributions can be as impactful as direct work, especially when donations are directed to highly effective organizations.
•Covers practical guidance on pledge mechanisms, career selection, and integrating earning to give into a broader life plan.
•Part of a structured EA curriculum aimed at helping individuals reason through personal impact strategies.

Cited by 1 page

Page	Type	Quality
Earning to Give: The EA Strategy and Its Limits	--	63.0

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 What would have happened if Bill Gates had become a doctor instead? Usually, we don’t think of software development as a way to do good, but Gates, through philanthropy, has saved the lives of millions of children by paying for vaccines.

 This method involves taking a high-paying job and donating large sums to enable other efforts that do great good, such as important research or effective non-profit organizations. If you can fund the work of five (potentially more suitable) people, it may be a better option than doing the work yourself. As mentioned, the most important thing in the world is not that you work directly on a problem, but that as much progress as possible is made.

 There are things to think through before choosing this path. For example, you shouldn’t take a high-paying profession that does a lot of damage even if it means you can give away a lot of money. In general, we also believe that most people can make a bigger difference through the other professional categories. This strategy is especially promising if the other approaches don’t suit you, but you’re especially well-suited for very high-paying positions.

 The idea of earning a lot of money to make big donations was introduced in 2011 and since then hundreds of people have acted on it. Most give away around 30% of their income and some more than 50%. Together, they will donate tens of millions of dollars to effective charities and other projects that are expected to make a big difference. As we went through earlier, people with average salaries in rich countries can save several lives by donating 10% of their income. If it is an option you can think of, you have the opportunity to make a significant contribution through a variety of works.

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 Why and how to earn to give – article by 80,000 Hours

 
 
 
 EA Sweden Career Guide 

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Resource ID: 0949d327006890bb | Stable ID: MzU3MWJkNm