Donate Effectively
Many efforts make no difference at all, but the best ones are exceptional. By donating to the most effective organizations, you can amplify the impact of your donations by hundreds of times.
Choosing the Right Organizations for Greater Impact
Many attempts to improve the world unfortunately have no impact, little impact, or in the worst case, a negative effect. However, there are organizations with programs that truly work, and the most effective solutions can make a difference hundreds of times greater than others. According to Nobel Prize-winning research on the effectiveness of various aid initiatives, the difference in impact can be significant: the best organizations can be up to 100 times more effective than an average effort!
An SMC Community Distributor in Burkina Faso shows an infant a strip for measuring malnutrition, which may be done alongside delivery of the antimalarial medicine.
Photo credit: Malaria Consortium/Sophie Garcia
How to Find the Most Effective Charities?
Searching for the most effective organizations to donate to can seem daunting, almost like looking for a needle in a haystack. Fortunately, several independent organizations evaluate the impact of charitable efforts and provide specific recommendations. They conduct thorough analyses of charitable activities to identify those that deliver the greatest possible improvements per donated dollar. This meticulous selection process ensures that your donations have the maximum impact.
A notable example of an organization focused on effective charity is GiveWell, which specializes in global health and poverty alleviation. You can delve into their evaluation processes by visiting their website. Since 2011, more than 125,000 donors have trusted GiveWell to direct their donations. Together, they have given over $2 billion to the organizations we recommend. Based on GiveWell cost-effectiveness analysis, these donations will save over 200,000 lives.
In other focus areas, Animal Charity Evaluators work on animal welfare, Giving Green focuses on climate issues, and Open Philanthropy addresses policy work, research, and global catastrophic risks, among other areas. Of course, they haven’t analyzed every organization out there, but their top recommendations result in incredible global improvements per donated dollar and are likely among the best giving opportunities available.
An important point to keep in mind is that their advice considers what others are already doing. Many problem areas and efforts are recommended because others care about them, offering good opportunities to make a significant difference at the margin. Thus, the recommendations should not be seen as suggestions for how all the world’s resources should be allocated, but rather as promising opportunities given the current use of resources.
You Have More Power Than You Think
With a median Swedish income of SEK 35,600, you are among the world’s wealthiest 4 percent. This relative wealth provides a tremendous opportunity to make a significant difference through effective giving. GiveWell evaluates efforts in global health and estimates that a life can be saved for $3,000 to $5,000. This means that by donating ten percent of a median Swedish salary over your working life, you could save 20 to 30 lives. If you were to save as many lives by running into burning buildings, you would probably feel like a hero. In today’s world, you can achieve the same impact with an ordinary job.
With a median Swedish salary , you are among the top 4% of the world's richest . By donating ten percent of your income over an average working life, you can save 20-30 lives .
With a Swedish median salary, you belong to the world's richest 5% and can save 20-40 lives by donating ten percent of your income during your working life.
Minimize your transaction costs with Ge Effektivt
The Swedish donation portal geffektivt.se was launched in November 2020 to make it easier for Swedes to donate to effective aid organizations. The organization ensures that transaction costs are minimized so that as much of the donations as possible can reach their intended targets and improve the lives of others.
Since its launch, Ge Effektivt has collected over 20 million Swedish crowns. Through their website, you can donate money to proven effective initiatives in global health, climate, and animal welfare.
Top Recommended Organizations for Effective Giving
Global Health & Poverty
Every year, ten million people in less affluent countries succumb to diseases like malaria, HIV, tuberculosis, and diarrhea — illnesses that are inexpensive to prevent or treat. In these regions, healthcare spending is starkly low, with just around $100 per capita annually, a sharp contrast to the $4,500 in the EU, and nearly $11,000 in the US.
This disparity highlights a significant opportunity to expand access to treatments that can prevent or cure these common health conditions effectively and affordably. GiveWell leverages this potential by recommending organizations that utilize proven, cost-effective methods to improve health and reduce poverty, aiming to transform the dire health and economic conditions faced by over 700 million people living in extreme poverty.
Against Malaria Foundation
Distributing impregnated mosquito nets in areas with malaria. A net costs SEK 45 and can protect two people from malaria for up to six years.
Helen Keller International
Distributes vitamin A supplements to prevent deficiency diseases. For SEK 20-30 you can protect a child from malnutrition for a year.
Give Directly
Make cash transfers to low-income people in Kenya and Uganda. It gives poor households the opportunity to buy what they need most.
Reduce existential risks, improve the future & support the EA movement
Securing in a better future by reducing global catastrophic risks
Few people focused on improving the world consider risks that threaten humanity’s existence and long-term prosperity.
Many associate such thoughts with science fiction and find them hard to imagine. But this probably says more about our psychology than reality. In fact, we are exposed to existential risks to an extent that is too significant to ignore. In the book The Precipice, Oxford researcher Toby Ord presents his best estimate of the risk of an existential catastrophe occurring in the next hundred years. It’s a whole one-sixth – like rolling a die. Even events with lower probabilities than this are worth caring about because the consequences, if they were to occur, would be devastating.
Research has increasingly convinced us that one of the most important challenges our generation faces is reducing the risk of global disasters and enhancing the prospects for a positive future. Addressing these interconnected threats, from extreme climate change to emerging technologies, is crucial to safeguard our future and prevent scenarios that could irreversibly damage human society and the planet. Many effective altruists focus on these issues, and support for such work can be provided through Effective Altruism Funds. An expert in each area selects projects that appear promising – this could involve funding research or organizations working to mitigate global catastrophic risks.
Do Even More – Take A Donor Pledge
Founders Pledge is a global nonprofit empowering entrepreneurs to do the most good possible with their charitable giving.
Giving What We Can
Giving What We Can is a community of effective givers. The organisation helps people to maximise their charitable impact so that their donations can do the most good.