I think building your movement is probably the best thing to do until its very well known, because more people multiplies the impact you have. However if you just build your movement people might criticize you of not doing anything so its probably neccesary to be taking some action always.
I havnt read this yet but thanks for posting it! In his reply to your first question it says “AdF: I’ve never been convinced ” presumably this should be “AdG” ?
Hi Eitan, yes I imagine it’s probably harder to get donors for non-human animal charities, I’m reading “change of heart” by Nick Cooney at the moment and he says that in the U.S only 2% of donations go to non-human animal causes. However the people I spoke with who managed fundraisers said that non-human animal charities do very well, although I think they meant charities who care for dogs or cats rather than ones which campaign against factory farming. I bet effective fundraisers can make a huge difference but if we just hire them from outside of our effective-altruist-community-thing then theres a big marginal benefit and a good chance we may as well hire someone to do the work and do something else ourselves :)
Chris, thank you very much for that I’ll edit the post :)
Sorry when I say “theres a big marginal benefit” I really mean “your marginal benefit compared to the person who could do the work instead may be small” !
Nice post. this is basically the reason I’ve decided not to study neuroscience and instead want to make social change that will hopefully, among other things, lead to other people doing the kind of research I want done
What’s best to study in college if you want to create social change. How to effectively inspire many people as, say, the head of a charity you found? Information about effectively creating social change in general
Also could 80k look at the kind of questions raised here;
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Specifically, do repeating returns on giving to developing world charities making them better at reducing suffering per dollar the non-human animal charities? Can we get the same kind of repetition with non-human animal charities if these charities are trying to inspire people to inspire more people or something like that?
Haha I suspect it will be constrained in both areas ;) I’ll try and think on where it is likely to be more constrained. If I do a 3 year psychology degree then I’ll be finished in summer 2016.
My plans for money making were something like law, although I’m not sure if I can use an Irish law degree in other countries, which might be neccesary to get tax free donations. So maybe something business related, I really havn’t looked into this path.
Yes, I wonder how much I could make as a marketer. And maybe pick up useful information from the private sector.
Awesome! I wonder if new charities end up starting with incredible fundraising returns or if they have start with the “extra fundraising” figure of about 200%
If I was a donor my plan would be to pay someone to do my plan:
“as regards specific charities; if there’s nowhere I can do awareness raising combined with fundraising, with a certain amount of the stuff focused on wild animal suffering, then my current plan is to start my own charity. I’m hopeful that money made from fundraising can be re-invested in fundraising and so on. If your fundraising literature contains all of the information about the issue you’re trying to raise awareness/action on, and if the re-investment fundraising plan works, then in theory the only things I think one really needs to focus on is making the fundraising pitch and the call-to-action pitch as effective as possible.”
So if there’s no one who wants to do that that’s also a problem…
Not sure if there are severly diminishing returns for trying to get people to “upgrade” their donations, I remember reading this is quite effective.
Just had a thought, I wonder if rather than fundraising returns actually starting to fall of dramatically you instead start taking money from other charities, hence the national figure isn’t so high.
Hm, this all sounds great because I prefer psychology :)
I suspect lawyers are generally smarter than marketers, so while I think I might be an average lawyer I think I might be an above average marketer. This might bringing the incomes closer together still.
Afaik law would be 4 years rather than 3 for psychology. Agree very much with haste consideration stuff.
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I think it may be an area where we can get really really good returns :D
This is hard for me too. Brian Tomasik looks at videos of animals suffering, it would probably be a bit tough for me, but then again Brian is incredibly productive!
I think convincing yourself probably is a good idea, and maybe get some posters or something from the organization(s) you donate to and put them up too?
Reasonably so, January is when I put the application in, but I think I can change my mind up until February. But to get the grades to get into these courses I need to spend most of my free time studying, and also I prefer to know what I’m working towards as it makes me more motivated and generally happier.
Hm, as regards specific charities; if there’s nowhere I can do awareness raising combined with fundraising, with a certain amount of the stuff focused on wild animal suffering, then my current plan is to start my own charity. I’m hopeful that money made from fundraising can be re-invested in fundraising and so on. If your fundraising literature contains all of the information about the issue you’re trying to raise awareness/action on, and if the re-investment fundraising plan works, then in theory the only things I think one really needs to focus on is making the fundraising pitch and the call-to-action pitch as effective as possible.
Hm, cool! I’d like to live on less than that, in both cases. But if people pay for me to do the campaigning work then im taking that money out of the charity :( So if I’m worth 40k and they pay me 20k, then as a donor I only need to donate 20k to break even. Or is there something wrong with this logic?
I’m afraid I don’t think I could get an internship till the summer? and this will all be very much decided before then.
“That would require being reasonably successful in law, and would probably take about 5 years after graduating?”
If it’s anywhere near that long I suspect the social returns (haste consideration, etc) make campaigning much better. Also as regards law I don’t know if I can work in the US with an Irish degree, likewise with medicine, so I guess that leaves business-stuff? Is there a similar delay before you start earning well there? I guess if a charity I wanted to donate to set itself up in Ireland I could do law, if my donations are big it would be worth it I imagine?
“Time is another factor. If you think the anti-spec cause is a movement with rapidly compounding growth opportunities, then there’s a strong reason to contribute to it sooner rather than later. This probably tells against taking the law path, though I’m not completely sure.”
Agree very much.
“Finally, I guess you’d be way happier working as a campaigner than a lawyer!”
Without a doubt :D
Also if I’m twice as effective as the average hired fundraiser at fundraising it could well be possible I’ll make more money for a charity doing that than as a pro. donor. Especially given the haste consideration.
Posted a comment in The haste consideration:
I think building your movement is probably the best thing to do until its very well known, because more people multiplies the impact you have. However if you just build your movement people might criticize you of not doing anything so its probably neccesary to be taking some action always.
Posted a comment in Salary or startup? How do-gooders can gain more from risky careers:
cool! but what are the odds for getting venture capital?
Posted a comment in Living to 1000: an interview with Aubrey de Grey:
I havnt read this yet but thanks for posting it! In his reply to your first question it says “AdF: I’ve never been convinced ” presumably this should be “AdG” ?
Posted a comment in Fundraising for charity - A career for effective altruists?:
Hi Eitan, yes I imagine it’s probably harder to get donors for non-human animal charities, I’m reading “change of heart” by Nick Cooney at the moment and he says that in the U.S only 2% of donations go to non-human animal causes. However the people I spoke with who managed fundraisers said that non-human animal charities do very well, although I think they meant charities who care for dogs or cats rather than ones which campaign against factory farming. I bet effective fundraisers can make a huge difference but if we just hire them from outside of our effective-altruist-community-thing then theres a big marginal benefit and a good chance we may as well hire someone to do the work and do something else ourselves :)
Chris, thank you very much for that I’ll edit the post :)
Posted a comment in Fundraising for charity - A career for effective altruists?:
Sorry when I say “theres a big marginal benefit” I really mean “your marginal benefit compared to the person who could do the work instead may be small” !
Posted a comment in Why do people love charity workers? pt 1:
Great point! I hope this is one of the things 80k writes about!
Posted a comment in The high impact PA: how anyone can bring about ground-breaking research:
Nice post. this is basically the reason I’ve decided not to study neuroscience and instead want to make social change that will hopefully, among other things, lead to other people doing the kind of research I want done
Posted a comment in What questions do you have about making a difference?:
What’s best to study in college if you want to create social change. How to effectively inspire many people as, say, the head of a charity you found? Information about effectively creating social change in general
Posted a comment in What questions do you have about making a difference?:
Also could 80k look at the kind of questions raised here;
Specifically, do repeating returns on giving to developing world charities making them better at reducing suffering per dollar the non-human animal charities? Can we get the same kind of repetition with non-human animal charities if these charities are trying to inspire people to inspire more people or something like that?
Posted a comment in Marketing vs. Donating, & the benefits of out-sourcing:
Hey Ben!
Haha I suspect it will be constrained in both areas ;) I’ll try and think on where it is likely to be more constrained. If I do a 3 year psychology degree then I’ll be finished in summer 2016.
My plans for money making were something like law, although I’m not sure if I can use an Irish law degree in other countries, which might be neccesary to get tax free donations. So maybe something business related, I really havn’t looked into this path.
Yes, I wonder how much I could make as a marketer. And maybe pick up useful information from the private sector.
Posted a comment in Why don't charities spend more on fundraising?:
Awesome! I wonder if new charities end up starting with incredible fundraising returns or if they have start with the “extra fundraising” figure of about 200%
Posted a comment in Interview with Brian Tomasik:
Awesome! The link to Brian’s editorial for his school paper doesn’t seem to be working
Posted a comment in Why attractive people are dangerous:
Haha awesome!
I noticed a typo; “One day, you magnificent beast, you’re interview(ed?) for an important job at the World Bank. ”
Posted a comment in Marketing vs. Donating, & the benefits of out-sourcing:
If I was a donor my plan would be to pay someone to do my plan:
“as regards specific charities; if there’s nowhere I can do awareness raising combined with fundraising, with a certain amount of the stuff focused on wild animal suffering, then my current plan is to start my own charity. I’m hopeful that money made from fundraising can be re-invested in fundraising and so on. If your fundraising literature contains all of the information about the issue you’re trying to raise awareness/action on, and if the re-investment fundraising plan works, then in theory the only things I think one really needs to focus on is making the fundraising pitch and the call-to-action pitch as effective as possible.”
So if there’s no one who wants to do that that’s also a problem…
Posted a comment in Why don't charities spend more on fundraising?:
Not sure if there are severly diminishing returns for trying to get people to “upgrade” their donations, I remember reading this is quite effective.
Just had a thought, I wonder if rather than fundraising returns actually starting to fall of dramatically you instead start taking money from other charities, hence the national figure isn’t so high.
Posted a comment in Marketing vs. Donating, & the benefits of out-sourcing:
Hm, this all sounds great because I prefer psychology :)
I suspect lawyers are generally smarter than marketers, so while I think I might be an average lawyer I think I might be an above average marketer. This might bringing the incomes closer together still.
Afaik law would be 4 years rather than 3 for psychology. Agree very much with haste consideration stuff.
Will find out about qualifications and countries. Doesn’t look promising from this: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100607163529AAZBISj
Sounds great thanks! I’ll send you an email! I think my college course decision has taken up a significant amount of 80k time at this stage! :P
Posted a comment in Marketing vs. Donating, & the benefits of out-sourcing:
Thanks Lex!
As regards online ads you may like to read this.
I think it may be an area where we can get really really good returns :D
Posted a comment in Why most charity fundraisers cause harm:
Awesome! But as you say, if your cause is fabulously effective then keep fundraising! :D
Posted a comment in How to be a high impact volunteer:
Awesome! Love it! :)
Posted a comment in Getting motivated:
This is hard for me too. Brian Tomasik looks at videos of animals suffering, it would probably be a bit tough for me, but then again Brian is incredibly productive!
I think convincing yourself probably is a good idea, and maybe get some posters or something from the organization(s) you donate to and put them up too?
Posted a comment in Marketing vs. Donating, & the benefits of out-sourcing:
Reasonably so, January is when I put the application in, but I think I can change my mind up until February. But to get the grades to get into these courses I need to spend most of my free time studying, and also I prefer to know what I’m working towards as it makes me more motivated and generally happier.
Hm, as regards specific charities; if there’s nowhere I can do awareness raising combined with fundraising, with a certain amount of the stuff focused on wild animal suffering, then my current plan is to start my own charity. I’m hopeful that money made from fundraising can be re-invested in fundraising and so on. If your fundraising literature contains all of the information about the issue you’re trying to raise awareness/action on, and if the re-investment fundraising plan works, then in theory the only things I think one really needs to focus on is making the fundraising pitch and the call-to-action pitch as effective as possible.
Hm, cool! I’d like to live on less than that, in both cases. But if people pay for me to do the campaigning work then im taking that money out of the charity :( So if I’m worth 40k and they pay me 20k, then as a donor I only need to donate 20k to break even. Or is there something wrong with this logic?
I’m afraid I don’t think I could get an internship till the summer? and this will all be very much decided before then.
“That would require being reasonably successful in law, and would probably take about 5 years after graduating?”
If it’s anywhere near that long I suspect the social returns (haste consideration, etc) make campaigning much better. Also as regards law I don’t know if I can work in the US with an Irish degree, likewise with medicine, so I guess that leaves business-stuff? Is there a similar delay before you start earning well there? I guess if a charity I wanted to donate to set itself up in Ireland I could do law, if my donations are big it would be worth it I imagine?
“Time is another factor. If you think the anti-spec cause is a movement with rapidly compounding growth opportunities, then there’s a strong reason to contribute to it sooner rather than later. This probably tells against taking the law path, though I’m not completely sure.”
Agree very much.
“Finally, I guess you’d be way happier working as a campaigner than a lawyer!”
Without a doubt :D
Also if I’m twice as effective as the average hired fundraiser at fundraising it could well be possible I’ll make more money for a charity doing that than as a pro. donor. Especially given the haste consideration.
Thanks!