What if you could walk in to a burning building and save a life, right now?
Well, you can.
Here’s the smartest way to start saving lives with donations — After researching a variety of charitable organizations, I took the following action. This is a simple move that anyone can make as their first step in creating an ongoing strategy for giving.
I created a monthly donation of $300 ($3,600 per year) to GiveWell’s Maximum Impact Fund for the following reasons:
• Based on modeling as of August 2019, $3,600 is the average cost to avert a death with the work that Against Malaria Foundation is doing. For AMF’s upcoming project specifically in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, it will cost roughly $2,000 to avert a death.
• GiveWell has expertise on assessing the effectiveness and financial needs of charities. I do not have that expertise and likely never will beat it on my own.
• GiveWell’s discretionary fund changes their allocations of funds based on ongoing analysis of cost-effectiveness and timely opportunities. (AMF currently receives the majority of discretionary grants as it has been found to be the top charity for 7 years) This is why I went with GiveWell rather than The Life You Can Save, which distributes funds evenly across their 22 top charities — not dynamically based on opportunity.
• Donating to multiple charities via a single fund is more more efficient (re: transaction fees).
• Recurring donations (e.g. monthly) help organizations plan their budgets and are therefore better than one-time donations.
So, rather than buying an extra pair of shoes, jewelry, or holiday gifts, think about saving some lives instead.
Learn more:
🎧 Vox Conversations (Ezra Klein): Peter Singer on the lives you can save
🎧 Making Sense (Sam Harris): Ep. #228, Doing Good, w/William MacAskill
📖 Peter Singer — The Life You Can Save
📖 Sam Harris — The Moral Landscape
🌐 The Life You Can Save: List of Best Charities
If you have stock that has appreciated, you can donate that instead of cash to save yourself the capital gains hit:
https://www.givewell.org/about/donate/securities
Update (Feb, 2022):
Based on 2020 funding to GiveWell’s four life-saving charities, the estimated cost to save a life increased to $4,500. My monthly donation is $400 ($4,800 per year).
