Tell LessWrong about your charitable donations

I'm curious why you're still going with PSI rather than one more highly rated by GiveWell? I respect Peter Singer, but charity research is not what he does best (and his website recommends GiveWell's picks). This is a field that changes pretty quickly, and I don't think anyone should go indefinitely based on what Singer published in 2009.

I'll be making this year's donation ($5K) to Against Malaria Foundation. This is my post on that choice.

I won't post amounts, but I have relatively recently donated money to:

Directly life-saving charities:

• Schistosomiasis Control Initiative
• Against Malaria Foundation

Research organizations:

• Methuselah Foundation
• Singularity Institute (during the HPMoR drive, I'll admit!)

Political / legal advocacy:

• Software Freedom Law Center

I buy my utilons from SIAI. $4531, about 10% of my net in 2011. I give for the main reasons you always hear: massive payoff, impending doom, trust in the management.

I buy my fuzzies from the following sources, around 1% of my 2011 net:

• Wikipedia annual drive. I use WP all the time; it's an awesome idea with a pretty great execution.
• EFF recurring monthly donation. Reading about violations of civil liberties in the tech world really riles me up.
• Whenever someone asks for something -- a friend raising money for a marathon, a homeless guy, free software asking for a donation -- I give well. This costs a couple hundred dollars annually, i.e. not enough to even worry about.

I primarily donate to SI (~80%), but I also donate to whatever Givewell's top charity is at the time. Over the last year this has resulted in $150 to VillageReach and $300 to AMF and $1800 to SI.

Why SI? Primarily because I like the people who work there, and wish to signal to them that I am part of their community and that I believe in their mission, so they will like me in return. :)

But that reason is not likely to convince you if you've never met them -- instead, consider that the work they are doing is incredibly important, and they're probably the best-equipped and best-positioned team to execute on any plan like theirs.

I donate $1000 per month to SI, and I donated more than $30,000 to them over the last few years. I'm trying to push it up to about 20% of my gross income per year, on a salary smaller than Eliezer's. I outlined my reasons for choosing them in this post.

We have similar situations! When I was a grad student I decided I'd donate 10% of my gross income to charity once I got a job after graduation. I was also convinced by Peter Singer's work.

At the beginning of this financial year I donated $6,000 to Against Malaria Foundation. I'd allocated about 50 hours for research to find the best charity, but once I found GiveWell I only spent a few more hours looking further.

My initial plan was to donate to GiveWell directly, but I emailed and asked about their tax status. I told them that if they weren't tax deductible in Australia, I'd give them 30% less than I could give to their top-rated charity that was deductible (since that's what I'd get back from the deduction). They told me to donate directly to AMF, as they were adequately funded.

Later AMF emailed me back and apologised, saying they actually aren't tax deductible for individuals at the moment. I told them they then needed to give me back $1,800, or they could give it all back and I'd wait until they sorted the problem out. They chose the latter; I guess they expect it won't take long.

So currently I still haven't made a donation. If it gets to June and I still haven't heard from them, I'm not sure what I'll do. I might have to find the best tax-deductible charity and decide whether it's <30% less efficient than AMF.

This year, I donated $10 to GiveWell, $5 to Wikipedia, and $5 to President Obama's campaign. While I am a college student, I intend to increase my donations very soon as I get a better hold of my income and where I think my donations can be most effective.

$500 to Oxfam.

$50 to Ron Paul. (Libertarianism is not important to me, but it is important to the quality of life of someone I care about.)

$50 to Planned Parenthood.

~$5k for life so far to Singularity Institute (and much more given back in time).

$10 to Seasteading Institute

$20 to Schistosomiasis Control Initiative

$50 to Village Reach

I gave around $2000 to SI near the end of 2011.

I give $40 per month to World Vision (have been for over 2 years now) and $30 per month to Modest Needs. Both are automatic deductions from my bank account, and right now nearly 10% of my monthly income. I will increase my amount of automatic deductions when I'm reliably working full-time (right now I work full time in summer, with my income far exceeding rent and other expenses, and then go back to part-time during the school year and often either barely break even or have to draw on my savings. Ideally I would like to give 10% of my income, which on a starting nurse's salary would be over $5000/year.

I am also thinking of ending my donation to World Vision and moving to Village Reach or another charity that is rated highly on GiveWell.

I have a £10/month standing order to the Open Rights Group, the main UK digital rights activism group. This is, admittedly, because they are in my direct interest.

This post directly caused me to have a conversation about if I can afford to donate, wich might hopefully cause me to be allowed to start donating. Upvoted for making a difference.

I'm still in college so right now all my money is going towards school. When I finish I plan on donating everything I can. The charity I think is best right now is Schistosomiasis Control Initiative.

I intend to continue to primarily direct my charitable giving towards PSI

Why primarily? If it's best to send some of your donations there, wouldn't it be best to send all of them?

http://lesswrong.com/lw/7az/public_donation_list_or_putting_peer_pressure_to/

Be wary