Welcome to Cultivating Generosity,

a Rad Philanthropy Newsletter

Welcome to Cultivating Generosity, the newsletter to help you create a values-driven, joyful, and intentional giving plan. Here you'll learn about ways to give, you'll receive prompts to help you hone in on your giving philosophy, I'll keep you up to date about news and trends in giving, and we'll have a fun time while we're at it.

Hey party people! Since moving to Albuquerque this year, as I've tried to build a social life I've gotten involved with a local meetup focused on Effective Altruism and Rationality. I had some familiarity with the EA movement as it's become a larger force and movement in the philanthropic sector. One of the wonderful connections I've made through this meetup recommended this article as a way to learn about EA's key ideas, which the author refers to as radical empathy, scope sensitivity, and scout mindset. It's also worth it to familiarize yourself with the movement and its proponents, as it is influential on newsworthy topics like AI safety. Today's issue relates to different parts of this movement but I think you'll also find that these ideas stand on their own and are worth examining as you think critically about giving. Enjoy!

- Perry Radford, Founder and Principal, Rad Philanthropy.

Learn Giving Directly

You may have heard of the non-profit GiveDirectly, which is focused on providing universal basic income (UBI) to those experiencing extreme poverty. Unlike many non-profits that help people through their programs, GiveDirectly operates off the premise that giving people cash, autonomy, and respect to take care of themselves will make the biggest difference.

Part of the EA movement is using research to determine scope sensitivity to find out which philanthropic interventions will do the most good. Recent independent research has showed how the GiveDirectly model is working.

The research shows that giving directly has big and immediate impacts, while long-term results are still unclear. Here are some of the takeaways:

• Giving people the money in a lump sum worked better than breaking it up over time. More recipients started businesses or invested in other ways and were able to get more income over the term of the study. This counters the thinking that if you give people money they will spend it on frivolous things.

• Lump sums worked so well that groups in the study that received monthly sums came together to form their own saver's groups, creating rotating lump sum payouts for each other.

• When everyone in a village receives the funding, people were able to invest in businesses knowing they had seed funding AND a customer base at the ready.

In some ways, this research, which joins a large body of studies, turns philanthropy on it's head. Most of the sector is built around those with a lot of money making decisions about where and how it should be spent. Doing the opposite, and letting those in need use funds how they think is best may be a better model, and is worth continued consideration and research.

Rad Reflections The Acts of Giving: Talent

One of the best ways for people to think about how they want to give back is to start with the basics: the Acts of Giving. The Acts of Giving are the basic actions you can take to give. As you think about how you want to make an impact or influence with your giving, I encourage people to think about how each act may help them with different philanthropic goals.

Giving talent is the act of sharing your skills to make an impact. EA looks at this with something they call 80,000 hours - the amount of time you'll spend working in your career. Us do-gooders in the non-profit space are already well accustomed to the idea of our careers having a greater purpose, something that enriches the world around us while paying the bills. 80,000 hours takes it a step further in their career guide, asking people to consider their talents while finding the right problems to work on. Regardless of how you choose to approach your career, there are many ways to bring those professional skills to causes you care about and make a difference:

• Serving on the board of a non-profit is one of the biggest, most impactful ways to give. As a governing board member, you can bring talents such as strategic thinking, analysis, or consensus-building to the group. Professional skills of all stripes (think marketing, real-estate, accounting, legal, and so much more) can also add tremendous value to a board.

• Mentoring is in high demand in many fields and the related non-profit organizations that serve them and their practitioners. Experience is a great teacher, and you can provide those insights to those newer in your field. This is one of the most rewarding gifts you can give.

• Find the non-profit that needs your skills and help them soar. Think about the talents you have - I guarantee there is a non-profit out there where you can put them to special use. Finding this kind of match can bring so much meaning to what you uniquely have to offer and give to others.

   

Playtime with Perry

You may have noticed in my introduction that my local meetup is about Effective Altruism AND Rationality. I can tell you that before joining this group I had no idea about the entire Rationality movement and the many places on the internet to learn about it. It's quite overwhelming, so of course I've opted for the learning experience most suited to my existing knowledge base, Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality. This piece and many more are authored by Eliezer Yudkowsky, who you may have heard about for one reason or another, including the recent kerfuffle over at OpenAI. You could not have put "read fan-fiction about the scientific method" on my bingo card for 2023 but here we are, folks! Enjoy?

Did this newsletter leave you with any burning questions about your giving? Drop me a line at perry@radphilanthropy.com and I'll help you out.

You can also find past issues here.