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High schoolers were given over $8,000 to donate to charity. Here's what they chose.

Giving What We Can is happy to announce that we sponsored six schools who applied to run a 

 in 2021! This post contains basic information about the program, including data from 2021 events and the perspectives of participating students and teachers.

"It has given me an opportunity to think of my impact on the world and what I can do every day to make the world a better place." — a student who participated in the 2021 NHS Charity Election.

 is a school-wide event in which high schoolers vote among three charities to decide which will receive up to $2,000 in sponsored funds. The mission of the program is to inspire young people to make a positive impact in the world, and in doing so cultivate a culture of giving and giving effectively. As a student-led program, Charity Elections are organised by student leaders, and each vote results in an additional $2 donation from Giving What We Can.

The program was implemented at six schools in 2021, with nearly 2,000 students participating and $8,762 donated to highly effective charities, including 

. The $3,348 gift to Project Healthy Children, for instance, can provide 

 with food-based micronutrient fortification for one year.

At both schools implementing a comprehensive event with ~700 students and pre/post surveys, students showed an increase in all four measured outcomes:

Making the world a better place is important to me

At three of the six schools, 100% of participating students indicated they voted for a cause they believe in. At the remaining three schools, 98%, 97%, and 95% of students indicated they voted for a cause they believe in. 28 student leaders earned Service Leadership Certificates, and students consistently indicated they “thought critically about what makes a charity effective” and “felt a sense of purpose or meaning.” Selected quotes from students participating in the 2021 Northfield High School Charity Election are listed below.

Anonymous Testimonials: Northfield High School

"It’s made me realize I can make a difference, and that the wishes I have in my head can actually lead to something that will help make the world a better place."

"The knowledge that an organization like GiveWell exists gives me optimism about the system of charity and giving in the world."

"It really makes you think about what we can do as a community. If everyone in a group had the spare money to donate even just two dollars that’s a significant amount that can go towards so many different charities that support amazing causes. When we group together we become very powerful and can do great things."

"It opened my eyes more to the struggles outside of our world and how many people struggle and we don’t see it. So being compassionate and caring goes a long way."

"It shows these worldwide issues more in depth and it makes me think more deeply about how affected people are around the globe by these issues. I am so lucky to have a great family and house and food so why wouldn’t I give to people in need."

"I get excited for the Charity Election every year at our school. It’s something that I’m always happy with in the end. A goal of mine is to give back as much as I possibly can, because I know that I had and have a good life. I have running water, proper food nutrition, and family and friends who love me. I know that not everyone has all or even any of those things. So I always told myself to make people’s lives better, and try to help out as much as I possibly can, because I know I can help out, and I know that I’m making a big impact on someone's life; that’s my goal."

"It makes me want to donate more and be more conscious of the issues around me."

"How it doesn’t have to be made into a big deal, you can easily help people from around the world."

"It has given me an opportunity to think of my impact on the world and what I can do every day to make the world a better place."

"Makes me think about the life I live and then think about the life I could be living. And that makes me wanna help."

Student Leader Perspective: Northfield High School

As students of Northfield High School, we are very grateful to have had the opportunity to participate in the organisation of a Charity Election. Our AP Government & Politics class helped to organise and promote the 2021 Charity Election in grades 9-12. We found the experience very rewarding, and are proud to have made a positive impact on the lives of those who our contributions went towards, as well as to have broadened the interest in well-researched donations to deserving organizations here at NHS.

Our work mostly surrounded promoting the election to our fellow students, via such means as social media, PA announcements, and word of mouth. After the election, we conducted interviews and collected feedback to reflect on the effectiveness of our campaign. Overall it was a great experience (conveniently coinciding with our unit on elections and campaigns), which provided us a unique insight into the Charity Election process. We would love to work on future projects with Giving What We Can.

The Charity Election process gave us advanced insight into how campaigns and funding work, while simultaneously providing us with experience helping promote highly effective charities to the general public. It taught us leadership skills, problem solving, and was a very fun class activity, especially for a government and politics class, where there was so much to take away. Overall, the experience gave us fulfillment and knowledge while providing us with reason to promote donations to outstanding causes.

Teacher Perspective: Northfield High School

As a Civics teacher for the last 38 years, I take pride in educating my students about the importance of voting. Even though many of my students are too young to vote, I hope they consider the importance of this right and responsibility as a civic duty. Voter participation is essential to any democratic republic. Franklin D. Roosevelt once said, “Nobody will ever deprive the American people the right to vote except the American people themselves – and the only way they can do that is by not voting themselves.” No truer words have been spoken.

My AP Government & Politics class and Civics classes participated in the most recent Charity Election, sponsored by Giving What We Can. While the Charity Election is not a vote for an elected official, a ballot question, or a referendum, it is an exercise in voting. It also emphasizes the importance of being an educated voter. Walking into the voting booth for the first time, I hope my students have done their homework on the candidates or issues on the ballot. During the week leading up to the Charity Election, I had my students conduct research on the three charities on the ballot using two main questions: “Is the mission of the charity impactful? Is the mission of the charity evidence-backed?” It was an exercise that any voter should consider when deciding how to maximize their choice. The small group discussions surrounding each of the charities were lively and informative.

Nearly 700 students participated in the Charity Election at our high school. We, too, faced some of the same problems that are encountered any election day, such as voter apathy, efficacy, and turnout. Lessons learned can be used in our next Charity Election: How can we better inform voters? How do we make access to the ballot easier? How can we instill the importance of casting a vote and an educated vote? These same questions should be at the forefront of any election, whether for a charity that supports a great cause or for the next President of the United States. We should all fight for our democracy on Election Day and every day.

For an overview of the program and a link to the sponsorship application, please see the 

 if you’d like more information or are interested in running an event at your school.

Grace Adams

December 2021 Newsletter

It's almost the end of the year --- we're wishing you a happy holiday and new year!

Many of us spend part of the holidays reflecting on how we can make a bigger impact in the new year. If there is one feeling we'd like you to take into 2022, it's a sense of excitement and optimism for the incredible opportunity you have to do good in the world by giving effectively.

In fact, we might be in one of the best periods in history to help others, as argued in this 

 by Julian Hazell, a team member at Giving What We Can. Julian's main claim is that pairing a sense of enthusiasm with the wealth, technology, and knowledge we have in the present can allow us to do more good than most other altruists in the past could've dreamed of doing.

We'd also like to invite you to participate in our 

. Whether you are a member already giving 10% or more, or whether you've just signed up to our mailing list, 

 has at least one thing you can do to increase your impact in 2022.

In the meantime, here are some key important updates:

. Reporting your donations really helps us understand the impact that our community is making.

 which we launched at the start of December. The holidays are a great time to 

 this holiday season to give a donation as a gift.

Join us for our annual celebration events in 

A great way to introduce people to effective giving over the holidays is through Giving Multiplier. They have provided a special link to give you and your friends a high donation matching rate 

https://givingmultiplier.org/gwwc/24BC9A00

 to include our new explainer video, Effective Giving Guide, and our research summaries for 

We hope you enjoy the rest of this newsletter, which covers our upcoming events, the latest from the effective altruism community, and news and updates about relevant cause areas.

 pledge in August 2020. It's a bit trickier when you're a freelancer and your salary fluctuates month to month, so sometimes I donate more than 10% and sometimes less, but I'm extremely proud and grateful to be able to do it. 

Thank you to member Catherine Bennett for being an advocate for Giving What We Can, and sharing

We will be celebrating those who have made pledges in 2022 as well as the milestones of our members over the years in our Meetups and Celebration Events, we would love to have you join us.


Jan 8 22:00 UTC - 5.00pm New York, 9.00am (Jan 9) Sydney


Jan 9 9:30 UTC - 9.30am London, 3.00pm Mumbai

Effective Giving Open Forum (Europe/Asia)


Jan 20 9:00 UTC - 8pm Sydney, 9am London, 2.30pm Mumbai

Book Club: Doing Good Better (5 week reading group)

 for 10:30am UTC and 7:30pm UTC
Jan 16, Jan 26, Feb 2, Feb 9, Feb 16

Giving What We Can has recently been featured on 

2021 Arthur Ashe Humanitarian Of The Year

"How to know your donations are doing the most good"

 has been launched as a way for donors to use crypto to easily make donations to EA aligned orgs and initiatives

" from The Happiness Lab podcast with Dr Laurie Santos, interviewing Prof Josh Greene of Giving Multiplier

The why and how of starting and running a workplace/professional group

GiveWell shares some of their staff members' 

personal donations for giving season 2021

"Should charities spend your money now --- or save it to help people later?"

 by Giving What We Can members By Kelsey Piper and Siobhan McDonough, Vox

Process Leading to our 2021 Recommendations

We Will Look Back on This Age of Cruelty to Animals in Horror

, Faunalytics (new recommended charity for 2021)

The "humanewashing" of America's meat and dairy, explained

, By Allison Rockey and Kenny Torrella, Vox

Reductions in Total Deworming Treatment Figures Represent Progress Toward Deworm the World's Goal: Here's Why

 2021 by looking at past distributions, future distributions, and other exciting developments

 by Julia Galef for her podcast Rationally Speaking, where they discuss existential risk

Founder's Pledge released their new report 

"Navigating the changing landscape of climate philanthropy"

Andrew Yang was interviewed on the 80,000 Hours podcast about 

our very long-term future, and other topics most politicians won't touch

Introducing a New Course on the Economics of AI

A post shared by Giving What We Can (@giving_what_we_can)

 with Giving What We Can and effective altruism.

Discuss effective giving and effective altruism on the 

Do you have questions about the pledge, Giving What We Can, or effective altruism in general? Check out our 

Julian Hazell

The tools and knowledge needed to be impactful are sitting right in front of us. But without enthusiasm, we might not use them.

Why we're in the best position to do good in history

Imagine an altruistic person from 200 years ago. How much good could they realistically do if they put their mind (and heart) to it?

For starters, they likely lived in extreme poverty like 90% of others at the time.

 And even if they were in the top 10%, two things would stop them: they probably wouldn’t know what the biggest problems were outside of their immediate surroundings, and they probably wouldn't have any way of making progress on these problems even if they did know what they were.

Yet compared to just 200 years ago, we’ve made extraordinary progress on our ability to help others, but today’s donors often don’t take full advantage this opportunity. That’s a huge problem. Luckily, we can solve it by recognising that we’re in a better position to do good than any generation before us, and then taking action.

Today's technology gives us a unique advantage

Today, most people (who have access, mind you) take advantage of modern technology without hesitation.

It goes without saying that when we see doctors, we expect them to use medical practises that are the culmination of hundreds of years of scientific progress instead of snake oil. As a result, we now live 

 on average than people from previous generations.

When we want to reach people, we call or text them instead of sending letters that could take months to receive. Our entertainment options have also widened far beyond the limits of what past people could imagine. We have instant access to a practically endless library of high-quality music created by artists from around the globe, and it costs only a few dollars per month for a subscription. I wonder how long people in the 1800s would’ve had to save up to go to the opera, if they even liked opera music in the first place?

Much like how technology has substantially improved medicine and entertainment, it has also improved our ability to help others. Despite this, most people aren’t aware of how much technology has enabled us to make an extraordinary difference. Yet precisely because of this lack of awareness, we have an unbelievable — dare I say exciting — opportunity to do good in the world that previous generations didn’t. We just need to capitalise on it.

Technological progress in manufacturing and electronics has done wonders for making things cheaper, faster, better – you name it. In 1968, a Baird 703 television 

 when accounting for inflation. Today, it would be seen as strange to buy a clunky, black-and-white TV from the 1960s for £5,700 when flatscreens are available for a fraction of the price.

Charity is no different, though at face value it can sometimes be hard to tell. Unless we pay careful attention to how effective our donations are, it isn’t necessarily clear whether we’re donating to a charity that operates like a Baird 703 or one that operates like a 70-inch 4K LED flatscreen. It can be disappointing to think that some charities might not provide much value, but I think it can be empowering to instead think about the ones that 

 is an exciting and worthwhile pursuit, especially now that technology has made it so much easier for us to fund them. I’m constantly amazed that I can use the internet to send resources (sometimes 

 to the beneficiary) around the world instantaneously and inexpensively. Thanks to the internet, I have instant access to hundreds of thousands of different charities. That is a remarkable technological achievement – imagine how envious altruists from the past would be. They would have no realistic way to send resources across the globe quickly, cheaply, and safely.

But we do. We just need to use our knowledge to take advantage of it to the fullest.

While cumulative scientific progress has taught us a lot about how to help others effectively, donors don’t always take full advantage of this knowledge. Some 

 suggests that only about 1 in 3 donors do any research before donating, and only 3% of donors give based on the relative performance of charities.

We have much better knowledge about what things work to improve peoples’ lives — or promising leads that might have huge pay-offs — than people did in the past. For example, we know that long-lasting insecticide-treated nets that prevent malaria are an effective way to save lives and improve wellbeing. Previous generations did not know this, which would’ve severely limited their ability to do much good (taking a stab in the dark, perhaps they would’ve tried medical leeches).

Of course, we know better: various charity evaluators, such as 

, exist to help us figure out which opportunities to do good are the most promising. This expert knowledge is immensely valuable, and it’s sitting out in the open for free, practically begging for us to apply it. Beyond the fact that most people 

 centuries ago, they also wouldn’t have had access to a group of professional researchers and grant-makers that meticulously comb through studies, reports, and data to find the most effective charities out there. So even if they could send money, they probably wouldn’t have any decent idea where it should go.

What’s more is that there is way more wealth around today than there was in the past. Basically everyone lived in poverty back then, so there wouldn’t have been nearly as many opportunities to improve wellbeing by donating to others.

Inequality is awful, but it gives us an opportunity

Beyond technology and knowledge, previous generations before us would be envious if they could see how prosperous our world is today. We managed to eradicate smallpox — a disease that killed 

 people in the 20th century alone — because of our improved understanding of immunology. The share of 

 in the world has skyrocketed since the industrial revolution. Median incomes have even 

 as well. Many goods that were once luxuries – think cell phones, televisions, and music players, among others – are becoming ubiquitous due to advances in computing power, manufacturing processes, and scientific knowledge. Put plainly, our world is vastly richer than it was in the past, by any measure.

Blog

High schoolers were given over $8,000 to donate to charity. Here's what they chose.

December 2021 Newsletter

Why we're in the best position to do good in history

Effective Giving Day 2021: Maximising your charitable impact

Join us for Effective Giving Day 2021

Giving to Ineffective Charities is Psychologically Tempting. Here's Why We Should Resist.

October 2021 Newsletter

Member Profile: Andrew Leeke

Geetanjali Basarkod: Talking about effective altruism and giving effectively

Effective Giving Advocacy Challenge 2021