On Charity and Me

Part 1: Me (and how great I am)

I consistently donate my money to charity. I used to get uncomfortable talking about this, because our culture has a weird taboo on talking about charity. The taboo is understandable: we want to be sure we're being charitable for the right reasons -- genuine selflessness and compassion, rather than performative self-aggrandizement.

The more I think about it, the more I find this dumb. I only donate because other people broadcasted their own contributions in very public and compelling ways, ways that inspired me personally. This publicity didn't do any harm -- quite the opposite; it actually inspired me to donate, and hence brought about a lot of good in the world.

Furthermore, even if  you donate purely for performative, self-aggrandizing reasons, like you just want to impress other people, it's still (literally) infinitely better than not giving anything at all. The people getting helped won't know the difference.

Part of why I'm writing this is to show how impactful your money is -- tiny amounts truly make an enormous difference. The degree of enormity is difficult to comprehend. Part of it is to show how incredibly easy and effortless it is -- if I can give this much, maybe you can give a little bit, too. (Or maybe you'll be able to give more, which I freely admit will make you superior to me in a very real way). Part of it is so I can get praise from all my peers. So here we go:

I currently make ~$40k/yr after taxes, or around $800/wk. I currently donate $50/wk (6.25%) to charity. I'm realizing I can do a lot more than that, though. As of this post, I will now commit to giving a minimum of 20% ($160/wk as of right now) of my post-tax income every week to the charities I list below (Against Malaria Foundation, GiveDirectly, Evidence Action), with additional monthly contributions to organizations that move me, such as the Clean Air Task Force, NAACP, Amnesty International, and charities impacting my local communities. This is a non-negotiable, lifelong commitment -- for all financial purposes, I'll simply consider my post-tax income to be 20% lower than it actually is, from now till death. And I'll also be dedicating a minimum of 90% of my lifetime earnings to these charities after death, as part of my will.

I expect these commitments to have absolutely zero negative impacts on my day-to-day quality of life, and an enormous number of positive impacts. I'll feel really good about helping people who truly need it. I'll be able to brag to everybody about how I'm a great person who's making a big impact in the world. Furthermore, every time I get the confirmation email for my monthly donations, I'm going to buy myself an extremely delicious meal, as another, even more immediate reward.

I understand I occupy a very privileged position. I know how incredibly annoying it is to hear about people bragging about how much money they're giving away are when you're struggling. If you don't feel comfortable committing to something like I did, that's totally fine. None of this means you're greedy, or selfish, or unkind. But maybe, even though you're struggling, you can give a little bit. Maybe you can only give a single dollar, right now. Or maybe you really, really can't give anything right now, but you can promise yourself you'll give a little bit later, when you're in a better place. I guarantee you it will be extremely effective. Give in such a way that doesn't impinge on your daily existence at all. It's easier than you think. As it turns out, billions of people in the world need a lot of help, and we're really good at helping people. You're free to join the party anytime.

Imagine if you ran into a burning building one day and saved a child from dying in the blaze. You would fondly remember that moment as a moment of great courage and heroism. Other people would rightly praise and feel inspired by you. Well, as it turns out, you can save a child any time you want, at zero risk to you, all for the price of a medium coffee.

 If you disagree with, or have any questions or comments on, anything in this post, message me directly or email me at wunsei@protonmail.com and we'll talk. I've heard tons of reasons people don't want to give to charity, and I've found none of them convincing.

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Part 2: Math (or, how unbelievably effective your money is)

If you live a middle-class life in a developed country, you are capable of doing an enormous amount of good while expending minimal effort. Truly enormous. The ratio of work to reward is so lopsided it's almost impossible to feel it. But let's try. Below are some of the best charities of the world (courtesy of GiveWell, a truly wonderful site doing really important and meaningful work).

1.) Malaria killed an estimated 229 million people in 2019 (source), even though it's a completely preventable and treatable disease. It costs $4.95 to provide a mosquito net that can save an entire family from malaria (source). It costs an estimated $6.59 to protect a child's life from malaria via chemoprevention (source). You can do it right now, here. (I timed myself doing it. It took less than 2 minutes, and I intentionally went slowly.)

2.) 200,000 children die from vitamin deficiencies a year (source). It costs $1 to deliver a vitamin A supplement that has the potential to prevent a child from dying via malnutrition (source). You can do it right now, here.

3.) Hundreds of millions of people suffer from parasitic worm infections that cause an enormous amount of suffering, reduction in income, and quality of life. It costs less than $1 to fully deworm a child, (source) leading to massively diminished suffering throughout their entire life. You can do it right now, here.

4.) Around 65% of people in the world live on $3700/yr, or ~$10/day (source). That means you can pay for someone's entire day for less than the cost of eating out once. Many high-quality studies show these impoverished people use the money to invest in business or agriculture, get housing, or get education, which results in massive improvements to their quality of life. You can give a direct (highly efficient) cash injection to these people right now, here.

5.) As a result of all these ultra-cheap interventions, GiveWell estimates the approximate cost of saving a human life to be $3-5k. That's an incredibly low cost for an incredibly high gain.

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P.S.: It's also weird how I have the instinct to condemn CEOs of extremely successful and efficient charities for making a lot of money. The more I think about it, the more I want those CEOs to be the best-compensated people in the world. Our incentive structures should heavily reward the people who are best at helping others.