There must be a simpler way. A simpler way to help you support others with your hard earned money.
(Don’t miss two amazing facts below).
But it is not easy. Just ask anyone at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. There, teams of very smart people spend countless hours trying to decide which charities to fund.
Fortunately, this video below can help you a lot – and take some of the torture out of trying to decide.
DOING GOOD BETTER, WITH A FREE SOFTCOVER BOOK
If you found this video enticing, you can get your own book for Free. Fill in the link on the Effective Altruism website and they will send you a free softcover book. No strings attached.
This is how I got my book.
I finished reading this book a little while ago, but keep coming back to it. It is an enjoyable read, packed with common sense useful information to help you make decisions about the charities you care about.
William MacAskill, the authour of Doing Good Better, is an associate professor in philosophy at the University of Oxford. He is the cofounder of the organizations, Giving What You Can and 80,000 Hours. These nonprofits have raised more than $600 million and have helped spark the Effective Altruism movement.
I have written about Effective Altruism and Peter Singer, in a previous post. Effective Altruism is about using evidence and careful reasoning to take actions that help others as much as possible.
And this is really their core message – a scientific approach to doing good better.
MacAskill and Singer help you with their unique approach, which is based on using evidence and careful reasoning to choose which charities are most deserving of your hard-earned money.
START WITH USEFUL QUESTIONS
Sometimes the best way to start it’s to ask the right questions. I have found that simple and clear questions work the best.
MacAskill really shines when it comes to finding the right questions to ask.
Here are a few helpful questions from his book, Doing Good Better.
1 – How many people would benefit from your support and by how much? You can find one clue from the next section.
2 – Is donating money to a particular cause the most effective thing you can do to help? Would volunteering help more or maybe seeking a career in a related non-profit organization?
3 – Has this area of charity work been neglected by others or by governments? Or has it already received a lot of support? MacAskill also asks, Why you shouldn’t donate to disaster relief?
4 – Would the benefits you are seeking have happened even if you hadn’t contributed? Are governments or NGOs likely to help anyway?
5 – What are the chances of success and how good would such success be?
These can be very hard questions to answer. Fortunately, this book helps walk you through each question and to break them down. The reading is easier than you might think.
TWO AMAZING FACTS
After reading this book, cover to cover, two amazing facts really jumped out at me.
1 – By helping people from a poor country, your money can often go 100 times further than if you had used your money to help someone in a richer country.
2 – Some charitable organizations can provide 10,000 times more benefit then others.
MacAskill provides real evidence and multiple examples to back up these claims. The stories and case studies are truly amazing. They have really opened up my eyes and I hope they will for you too.
And just as important, they will warm your heart.
Until next time, let our warm hearts soar!
Michael
michael@aWarmHeart.ca
And thank you for caring that little bit extra – it really makes a big difference.
