How To Run An Everyday Philanthropist Event

Invite your attendees to help in making a real world donation decision. One or more donors will play the role of a philanthropist and the attendees will help the donor decide on where they will donate.

Ideally the donors will provide a dossier with what their intentions are (e.g. "most improve the lives of farmed animals") and some suggested charities to help guide the discussion. This works best if either the donor or event organising team provide good summary information on each of the charities.

This makes for a great end of year event, helps to showcase real people who make effective giving a part of their lives, and offers an opportunity for those without an income to also be involved in effective giving.

Format

• Introduction
• Ice breakers
• Explainer about effective giving, Giving What We Can, and a framework for donation decisions
• Introduce the philanthropist(s) for the event and their intentions
• Break out into small groups to start the discussions about where the money can do the most good
• Present results back to the room
• (optional) Vote on most effective charity for the evening
• (optional) Fundraiser for attendees to also pledge their own donations
• Close with calls to action, follow-up/feedback and more resources

Templates

Everyday Philanthropist Registration Form

We recommend asking the philanthropists the following questions (copy this as a Google form):

• Full Name
• Email
• Donation amount
• Goal of your donations
• What charities would you like to pick between?
• How will the decision be made?
• Do you plan to join us for the event?

Dossiers

Compile and print out (or share) the following information for attendees:

• Donor intentions
• Charity information

Here is an example of a dossier document for an event.

Event Listing

Event Name:

Help Us Give Away Over {amount of money}!

Event Details:

You're invited to celebrate the end of {year} with like-minded people who want to make the world a better place!

Help give away thousands of dollars to the deserving charities decided on by the event attendees.

Our everyday philanthropists making an end of year donation decision will be anticipating an engaging discussion about charity effectiveness and want your help deciding where their money can do the most good!

Want to be a philanthropist for the evening? ...Register your interest at {form link}

Need a primer on how to assess effectiveness? ...Read about a framework at givingwhatwecan.org/charity-evaluation

This event is one of our most popular meetups, and everyone is welcome! It's a great introduction to effective giving for newcomers.

{other details regarding food etc}