Two key tips for giving season

It’s giving season! Cue excitement…or dread?

If you’re anything like me, December is a busy time. You’re wrapping up projects, reviewing the past year’s work, planning for holidays, and buying gifts. (Not to mention, drafting a newsletter!)

So “giving season” — the time of year when most charitable donations are made — may just feel like one more thing to do. But donating is one of the most important decisions you can make.

Consider that:

• If you have an average UK/US income and donate 10% of it, this year you can save a child who would otherwise have died of malaria.
• There are other cause areas where you can potentially have an even bigger impact.

Of course, the high stakes of giving can make it feel even worse to rush it, and even more daunting.

I’ve definitely struggled to live up to my ideals when faced with this. I can confirm that New Year’s Eve is not when you want to deal with details like finding a quick online payment method. And I used to be the executive director of Giving What We Can and a grantmaker for the EA Infrastructure Fund — so if you also struggle with this, you’re not alone!

My bottom line advice is: find ways to make fewer decisions. They’re stressful and time consuming.

Below are two key tips that work for me and make my giving season slightly less hectic.

1. Take a pledge

The biggest factor in ensuring I donate reliably is my pledge with Giving What We Can. I’ve promised to give 10% of my salary annually to the organisations I think can most effectively help others. This means I don’t stress about how much to give each year — I just donate 10%.

As Giving What We Can celebrates its 15th anniversary, I’ve been reflecting on my own pledge. Initially, I struggled to believe I could live up to the inspiring examples of those around me promising to give 10% of their income over the whole of their lives.

It took me two full years to actually pluck up the courage to pledge. But in the 13 years since, I’ve never once regretted it. I now have a husband, house, and son, and none of that has diminished my drive to help make a better world by donating.

While you don’t have to donate during giving season — you can make the choice whenever you want — there are some advantages to doing so. For example:

• Many charities plan their budgets around the donations they receive at this time.
• In some places, like the US, there can be tax reasons to get your donations in by the end of the year.

If you want to learn more about taking the 10% Pledge, I’d recommend reading more about it. And if you’re curious but not ready to fully commit, I’d suggest checking out the trial pledge.
Caption: Giving What We Can gives out pledge pins for members.

2. Rely on recommendations you think you can trust

In the past, I’ve really felt the pull to look into the details of specific charities to decide where and how much I should donate. I think it’s been useful for me to have evaluated how charities work and how they compare.

But this is time consuming to do well, so many people take advantage of the fact that there are full-time charity and grant evaluators who will do the work for us.

These include:

• GiveWell, which evaluates global health charities
• Effective Altruism Funds (where I used to work), which has separate funds for global development, animal welfare, the long-term future, and EA infrastructure
• Recommended funds and charities from Giving What We Can
• Local giving platforms, for example Effektiv Spenden in Germany

If you want to look more into specific charities you might donate to, the Effective Altruism Forum is particularly active during giving season. Many different charities and organisations have posted about their funding needs and the case that their work is high impact. You can start exploring options here.

I think staff at Open Philanthropy tend to be particularly insightful about donating — which makes sense, since its aim as a philanthropic foundation is to help others as much as it can. Some members of staff shared their donation suggestions for individuals in a post on the forum, which you might find useful. (Open Philanthropy is a major funder of 80,000 Hours. I’ve been following their recommendations since before I worked at orgs they funded.)

Finally, if you’re feeling rushed off your feet this festive period, but still care about donating impactfully, don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good. Even an imperfect choice can have a big impact.

Learn more:

• How to choose where to donate
• Why and how to earn to give
• No matter your job, here’s 3 evidence-based ways anyone can have a real impact