Chapter 2DIRT: Who Gives and Why?
Why do people give money to nonprofits? This may not be one of the eternal mysteries that preoccupy mankind, but ask a roomful of fundraisers and you'll get a roomful of answers: to cadge a seat on the board of directors; to be recognized; to feel good about themselves; to outsource their ideological goals; to score a plaque; because their spouse told them to; because the CEO is kinda foxy; just because.
The philanthropic establishment, which we believe to be dense, obdurate, and wrong‐headed, is obsessed with this question. Moreover, it vexes and perplexes them. They believe that people give for the wrong reasons. Their donations are not effective or strategic. They don't do enough research. They don't do their homework. They don't use the large corporate evaluators such as Charity Navigator and GuideStar. They are, when you get right down to the heart of the matter, stupid!
Their giving is inefficient; they're not getting the proper return on investment, or ROI, in philanthro‐acronym‐speak. They are not effective altruists.
Effective Altruism strikes the ears as an oxymoron, rather like Practical Love or Scientific Affection. Its advocates extol it as a social movement that incorporates “data and reason” into philanthropic decision making. Its prime concern is scale—the bigger the better.
An Effective Altruist asks, “Will progress on the cause drastically improve a large number of lives?”1 If the answer is no, then the giving is ineffective, ...
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