January 2024 Newsletter

Hello and welcome to our January newsletter!

As we settle into the new year, we are thrilled to share the release of a new book from Chris Anderson, Head of TED, called Infectious Generosity, which has a whole chapter that encourages readers to take the Giving What We Can Pledge!

This inspiring book is a guide to making Infectious Generosity become a global movement to build a hopeful future. Chris offers a playbook for how to embark on our own generous acts and to use the Internet to give them self-replicating, potentially world-changing, impact.

Here’s a quick excerpt from the book:

“The more I’ve thought about generosity, the impact it can have, and the joy it can bring, the more determined I’ve become that it be an absolute core part of my identity.

Jacqueline’s work as a pioneering social entrepreneur has definitely inspired me, and together we’re now ready to sign that combination pledge, effectively committing to giving the higher of 10% of our income or 2.5% of our net worth in any given year for the rest of our lives.”

We are really excited about this opportunity to share the Giving What We Can Pledge with many more people and hope that this book will be successful so we can make our message even more infectious!If you’d like to purchase a copy for yourself or a friend, you can find relevant links here.

I also wanted to call out that there is one week left to double your donation by supporting the donation match for our operations and we’re still $73k short of our current goal! You can read more about why we think you should consider donating to us, how we’ll use the funding, and details of the match in our blog post. Our team is working hard on bringing the power of effective giving to many more people around the world – so collectively we can have an even bigger impact, this year and in the years to come.

With gratitude,
– Grace Adams & the Giving What We Can team

PS: You can apply for several roles with us and double your donation to our operations until the end of January – read more about all of this below!

Lars shared some of his donation data on Twitter from our new stats page that is available for pledgers.

Motivations for Pledging

Here are some of our favourite responses from people who took a pledge last month:

What motivated you to take a pledge with Giving What We Can?

• Doing so publicly provides support to a philosophy I believe in and strengthens my resolve to do the most good I can throughout my life.
• I'm in a position of great privilege relative to most others in the world, and feel an obligation to take the pledge, as well as donate in a way that does the most good possible.
• I've long thought about and have written about it. It's an important tool to shift giving from impulse to strategic, and an additional motivator to give when times feel tougher or I'm distracted.
• Because I have been given much, I too must give. We're all in this together and we're all better off when we remember that. I want to actively contribute to making a better world, so here I am.

Upcoming Events

All the events that we list are open to anyone interested in effective giving!

San Francisco (and online) – TED's Chris Anderson: Infectious Generosity

Monday, February 5th at 5 pm PST
The Commonwealth Club of California, 110 The Embarcadero, CA 94105

Bestselling author, media pioneer and TED curator Chris Anderson returns to Commonwealth Club World Affairs to explore one of humankind’s defining but overlooked impulses, and how we can super-charge its potential to build a hopeful future. All in-person tickets include a complimentary copy of Infectious Generosity.

Get a ticket here.

GWWC Berlin – Social Meetup
Thursday, February 1st at 18:30
Altes Europa Gipsstraße 11, 10119 Berlin

This will be a wonderful opportunity to meet others who are passionate about effective giving. Our aim is to foster a sense of in-person community among GWWC members here in Berlin, and this event is the perfect place to start! We are looking forward to having a relaxed after-work drink together and engaging in some good conversations. No matter if you are very experienced or a newcomer in the field of effective giving, you are very welcome to join us. :)

Please RSVP here!

GWWC London – Earning to Give and Going Beyond 10%
Saturday, February 3rd at 2.15 – 5 pm
Newspeak House, Bethnal Green Road, E2 7DG London

Join us for our February Giving What We Can London event. The theme is Earning to Give and Going Beyond 10%. We will have a brief talk by Alex Gordon-Brown who recently wrote 10 Years of Earning to Give.

We will open doors from 2.15 pm. At 3 pm we will have the 10 minute talk with Q&A and a little poll. Free form discussion from 3.30 pm. Show up whenever suits you best!

Please RSVP here.

GWWC Freiburg – Kick-Off Event
Tuesday, February 20th at 5.30 pm
Hermann Freiburg

This kick-off event is for all the GWWC community members and pledgers in the Freiburg area. We will meet on 20 February at 5.30 pm CET in the Hermann Freiburg for a casual get-together.

The Restaurant Hermann offers a variety of (vegetarian and vegan) dishes and drinks and provides a good environment for a cozy exchange. This event is a chance to meet people from the local GWWC community and discuss ideas and activities for our new local Freiburg group.

Please RSVP here.

News & Updates

Giving What We Can

Join our Board

• GWWC is seeking dedicated individuals to join our governance and advisory boards across our current projects, as well as leadership roles in multiple newly formed or soon-to-be-formed entities in different countries.

Double your donation to help keep us running

• GWWC is running a donation match for our operations - for every dollar donated to our operations, funders will match it up to $200,000. Supporting us now to fill the match will help us get close to filling the gap for our baseline operations in 2024. Read more about the match and donate.

We're hiring

• GWWC is hiring for several roles including an executive assistant and country directors for the US, UK and Canada. We are also seeking dedicated individuals to join our governance and advisory boards across our current projects, as well as multiple newly formed or soon-to-be-formed entities in different countries. Apply here.

A new way to look at your impact

• We released a new stats page for pledgers that lets them look at their donations over time with some nice graphs! You can even download your donation data as a .csv file. Make sure you check it out!

An easier way to donate

• Good news – we have a new payment integration! Donors from the US will now have a straightforward 3-click process when making DAF donations on the GWWC platform.

Community

Not the End of the World – How to be the First Generation to Build a Sustainable Planet

• A new book by GWWC pledger Hannah Ritchie from Our World in Data was released this month and talks about seven of our biggest environmental problems and how to solve them. Hannah also includes an endorsement of taking our Pledge! GWWC’s Executive Director Luke has finished reading already and highly recommends this book!

Effective Hedonism

• Charlie Bresler shared a fresh take on effective giving in an essay for TIME magazine, calling it aspirational to be an ‘effective hedonist’. The Life You Can Save’s co-founder points out that "living a pleasurable life and making the world a better place doesn’t have to be mutually exclusive."

Preventing lead poisoning for $1.66 per child

• 80,000 Hours interviewed Dr Lucia Coulter, Co-Executive Director of the Lead Exposure Elimination Project, discussing how they are able to prevent lead poisoning for $1.66 per child. You can hear more about how preventing lead poisoning can avert millions of deaths and trillions of dollars in lost income by listening to the podcast!

EA wins from 2023

• The EA Forum shared some wins from 2023 such as a new animal welfare law being upheld by the US Supreme Court, thanks in part to campaigning by organisations such as The Humane League, AI safety going mainstream after years of work in this area, positive results from GiveDirectly’s study on universal basic income, and a potentially dangerous virus-hunting programme being shut down.

Giving What I Can

• Nadine Spychala shared this post with her reflections on our relationships with money and our values, after making her first yearly donation after taking a pledge in March 2023.

Cause Areas

Animal Welfare

• Faunalytics released their 2023 Year In Review, which showcases the research, projects, and other accomplishments the organization achieved this past year. The organization has also announced its plans and priorities for 2024. Faunalytics is accepting applications for a new Projects Manager role. Applications are due January 31st.

Global Health and Wellbeing

• The World Health Organization recommended its second-ever malaria vaccine in 2023. The drug trial ​​was co-funded by Open Philanthropy. Thanks to advocacy, the vaccine was quickly prequalified the vaccine, laying the groundwork for an expedited deployment, potentially saving hundreds of thousands of children’s lives. SoGive published a post on the EA Forum looking into how these vaccines compare to bednets and exploring remaining doubts about malaria vaccines.
• Against Malaria Foundation Korea was successfully designated a tax-deductible charity by the ROK government on 31 December, becoming the first of the effective charities recommended by the likes of GiveWell, GWWC and The Life You Can Save to be eligible for tax efficient donations in South Korea.
• TaRL Africa hosted a webinar for over 120 participants in December 2023, featuring key partners to discuss the Language Learning from Familiar to Formal (L2F2) methodology — an innovation helping to build children's local language and English skills. TaRL Africa is currently preparing to support the Ministries of Education in Angola and Somaliland to launch TaRL pilots in 65 schools in each country. They are also hiring, with new roles focused on innovations, scale & sustainability, and research.

Global Catastrophic Risk Reduction

• The Long-Term Future Fund has given out 196 grants totaling $6.6M in 2023. They are also in the process of hiring a new full-time fund chair.

Evaluators, Grantmakers and Incubators

• Charity Entrepreneurship is accepting applications for the 2nd edition of the Research Training Program which is designed to equip participants with the tools and skills needed to identify, compare, and recommend the most effective interventions and organizations. It is a full-time, fully cost-covered program that will run remotely between April 15 and July 5, 2024. The deadline for applications is January 28, 2024. The team is also hiring a Director of Outreach.
• The EA Infrastructure Fund made 121 grants totalling $3.5M in 2023. They have a new tentative plan to focus on Principles-First EA going forwards. The Fund is also fundraising! Donations before Feb 1st will be matched 2:1 by Open Philanthropy.
• GiveWell published GiveWell from A to Z, highlighting some key information about the organisation to celebrate the end of 2023.
• Founders Pledge Climate released its methodology update (also presented at EAGx) and end-of-year updates (short blog, FP Climate Fund Impact Report). Johannes also joined BBC's What in the World podcast to talk about the question of whether climate concern should affect whether one has children (spoiler: no).

Some wonderful words from our members:

To make the world a better place, you don't necessarily have to work for a non-profit organization. Donations are incredibly valuable, too. – Felix Werdermann

Donating to effective charities working on important issues is, perhaps uniquely in my life, something I feel unambiguously good about, and something I feel certain is the right thing to do. – John Michael Bridge

We are surrounded by others who sacrificially love and give, and that’s why we were empowered to do it too. – Harry Luk

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Have any feedback on our newsletter or communications? Share your thoughts here.

Thank you!

Thanks again for taking the time to read our newsletter! As always, here are some useful links to help you maximise your charitable impact:

• Read about where the GWWC team donated in 2023.
• Review our giving recommendations.
• Report your donations with your pledge dashboard.
• Share our ideas to help grow our community and multiply your impact.
• Start conversations with our community in our online community space.
• Find more ways to get involved with Giving What We Can and effective giving.

You can follow us on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, or TikTok to hear more from us throughout the month!

Do you have questions about the pledge, Giving What We Can, or effective giving in general? Check out our FAQ page, or contact us directly.

Until next time, keep on doing good!