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Earning to Give - 80,000 Hours
webCredibility Rating
3/5
Good(3)Good quality. Reputable source with community review or editorial standards, but less rigorous than peer-reviewed venues.
Rating inherited from publication venue: 80,000 Hours
A foundational concept in effective altruism career thinking; relevant context for understanding how EA-aligned individuals may fund AI safety research and organizations rather than working on it directly.
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Importance: 45/100blog posteducational
Summary
80,000 Hours explains the 'earning to give' strategy, where individuals pursue high-paying careers primarily to donate a significant portion of their income to high-impact causes. The article assesses when this approach is most effective compared to direct work, and discusses its role within a broader portfolio of career options for those wanting to do the most good.
Key Points
- •Earning to give involves taking a lucrative career and donating substantially to effective causes, effectively 'buying' the impact of others' direct work.
- •It is most valuable when your donation can fund someone else who can do more good than you could in a direct role.
- •80,000 Hours now generally recommends direct work or advocacy over earning to give for most people, given the current talent gap in high-impact fields.
- •Earning to give remains a strong option for those with rare high-earning skills or those who are not a good fit for direct impact roles.
- •The strategy popularized effective altruism's quantitative approach to career choice and philanthropy in the early 2010s.
Cited by 1 page
| Page | Type | Quality |
|---|---|---|
| Earning to Give: The EA Strategy and Its Limits | -- | 63.0 |
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## On this page:
- [Introduction](https://80000hours.org/articles/earning-to-give/#top)
- [1 What is earning to give?](https://80000hours.org/articles/earning-to-give/#what-is-earning-to-give)
- [2 Why earn to give?](https://80000hours.org/articles/earning-to-give/#why-earn-to-give)
- [2.1 It gives you flexibility.](https://80000hours.org/articles/earning-to-give/#it-gives-you-flexibility)
- [2.2 You may be able to have a greater impact through earning to give.](https://80000hours.org/articles/earning-to-give/#you-may-be-able-to-have-a-greater-impact-through-earning-to-give)
- [2.3 Earning to give may allow you to work in a field that’s more personally fulfilling compared to other paths.](https://80000hours.org/articles/earning-to-give/#earning-to-give-may-allow-you-to-work-in-a-field-thats-more-personally-fulfilling-compared-to-other-paths)
- [2.4 In rare cases, it could be a very high-impact career.](https://80000hours.org/articles/earning-to-give/#in-rare-cases-it-could-be-a-very-high-impact-career)
- [3 Common objections to and reasons against earning to give](https://80000hours.org/articles/earning-to-give/#common-objections-to-and-reasons-against-earning-to-give)
- [3.1 Might you do harm in a high-earning career?](https://80000hours.org/articles/earning-to-give/#doing-harm)
- [3.2 Is there a risk of getting corrupted by a higher-earning career?](https://80000hours.org/articles/earning-to-give/#power-corrupts)
- [3.3 Doesn’t taking a high-earning job signal support for a bad system?](https://80000hours.org/articles/earning-to-give/#doesnt-taking-a-high-earning-job-signal-support-for-a-bad-system)
- [3.4 Isn’t charity ineffective?](https://80000hours.org/articles/earning-to-give/#isnt-charity-ineffective)
- [3.5 What if I won’t find earning to give motivating?](https://80000hours.org/articles/earning-to-give/#what-if-i-wont-find-earning-to-give-motivating)
- [3.6 What if I think X is higher-impact?](https://80000hours.org/articles/earning-to-give/#what-if-i-think-x-is-higher-impact)
- [4 Should you earn to give?](https://80000hours.org/articles/earning-to-give/#should-you-earn-to-give)
- [5 What’s the best way to earn to give?](https://80000hours.org/articles/earning-to-give/#whats-the-best-way-to-earn-to-give)
- [5.1 Which jobs are highest-paying?](https://80000hours.org/articles/earning-to-give/#which-jobs-are-highest-paying)
- [5.2 What are some of the best options overall?](https://80000hours.org/articles/earning-to-give/#what-are-some-of-the-best-options-overall)
- [5.3 Should you give now or later?](https://80000hours.org/articles/earning-to-give/#should-you-give-now-or-later)
- [5.4 Which charities are most effective to donate to?](https://80000hours.org/articles/earning-to-give/#which-charities-are-most-effective-to-donate-to)
Photo by [Clay LeConey](https://unsplash.com/ko/@clayleconey?utm_source=unsplas
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