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Giving What We Can, 80,000 Hours, and Meta-Charity - LessWrong
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wdmacaskill
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A foundational 2012 LessWrong post by William MacAskill introducing the effective altruism movement's two flagship organizations to the rationalist community, representing early EA movement-building thinking relevant to coordination and cause prioritization.
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lesswrong
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80,000 HoursEffective altruism
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Summary
William MacAskill introduces Giving What We Can (10% income pledge to poverty charities) and 80,000 Hours (high-impact career advice) as meta-charities that generate donation multipliers. The post argues that funding organizations which redirect resources more effectively can be more impactful than direct giving. MacAskill transparently acknowledges founder bias and invites critical community feedback.
Key Points
- •Meta-charities like GWWC and 80k generate multipliers by directing more resources to high-impact causes than direct donations would alone.
- •Giving What We Can focuses on pledging 10% of income to the most effective global poverty charities.
- •80,000 Hours provides career advice to maximize lifetime positive impact across causes including poverty, animal welfare, and existential risk.
- •MacAskill explicitly acknowledges the conflict of interest in promoting his own organizations and invites critical scrutiny.
- •This 2012 post is an early public articulation of effective altruism movement-building strategy to the rationalist community.
Cited by 1 page
| Page | Type | Quality |
|---|---|---|
| Giving What We Can | Organization | 62.0 |
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Giving What We Can, 80,000 Hours, and Meta-Charity
by wdmacaskill 15th Nov 2012 4 min read 184 63
Disclaimer: I’m somewhat nervous about posting this, for fear of down-voting on my first LW post, given that this post explicitly talks in a positive light about organisations that I have helped to set up. But I think that the topic is of interest to LW-ers, and I’m hoping to start a rational discussion. So here it goes…
Hi all,
Optimal philanthropy is a common discussion topic on LW. It’s also previously been discussed whether ‘meta-charities’ like GiveWell — that is, charities that attempt to move money to other charities, or assess the effectiveness of other charities — might end up themselves being excellent or even optimal giving opportunities.
Partly on the basis of the potentially high cost-effectiveness of meta-charity, I have co-founded two such charities: Giving What We Can and 80,000 Hours. Both are now open to taking donations (info here for GWWC and here for 80k). In what follows I’ll explain why one might think of Giving What We Can or 80,000 Hours as a good giving opportunity. It’s of course very awkward to talk about the reasons in favour of donating to one’s own organization, and the risk of bias is obvious, so I’ll just briefly describe the basic argument, and then leave the rest for discussion. I hope I manage to give an honest picture, rather than just pitching my own favourite idea: we really want to do the most good that we can with marginal resources, so if LW members think that giving to meta-charity in general, or GWWC or 80k in particular, is a bad idea, that’s important for us to know. So please don’t be shy in raising comments, questions, or criticism. If you find yourself being critical, please try to suggest ways in which GWWC or 80k could either change its activities or provide more information such that your criticisms would be addressed.
What is Giving What We Can?
Giving What We Can encourages people to give more and to give more effectively to causes that fight poverty in the developing world. It encourages people to become a member of the organisation and pledge to give at least 10% of their income to the charities that best fight extreme poverty, and it provides information on its website about how people can give as cost-effectively as possible.
What is 80,000 Hours?
80,000 Hours provides evidence-based advice on careers aiming to make a difference, through its website and through on-one-one advice sessions. It encourages people to use their careers in an effective way to make the world a significantly better place, and aims to help its members to be more successful in their chosen careers. It provides a community and network for those convinced by it
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