My charitable giving in 2022

Let me begin with a mea culpa. I’ve just made the bulk of my charitable donations for the year. I should have done so sooner. Charities get a flood of money in December. Their needs are year-round, of course.

Next year, I plan to do my giving early in the year. Partly that’s because I have the modest hope that–as someone who has paid careful attention to philanthropy since 2015 and reported on many charities–my giving might influence others.

My approach to giving hasn’t changed much over the years. I seek out evidence-based charities that can demonstrate their impact, ideally by inviting independent evaluations. Surprisingly few profits do this.

My two largest donations, representing more than half of my charitable budget, once again went to GiveWell and GiveDirectly. Both help very poor people overseas, where the needs are greatest and US dollars go further than they do here. I’ve been able as a reporter to speak with people who lead GiveWell and GiveDirectly, and I have a great deal of confidence in their integrity and commitment to making a difference, effectively. (My 2018 story about GiveDirectly’s work in Rwanda ran in The New York Times.)

GiveWell and GiveDirectly are shaped by the principles of the effective altruism movement. Thanks to the now-notorious Sam Bankman-Fried, effective altruism is a tarnished…