Giving GameCenter for Ethics and Human Values, 10/18/16

Dr. Gleb Tsipursky (GlebTsipursky.com)Tenure-Track Professor, The Ohio State University

Co-Founder and President, Intentional InsightsAuthor, Speaker, Consultant, Coach, Intentional Ventures

Overview

• Part 1: Presentation about effective giving followed by Q&A about effective giving

• Part 2: Giving Game exercise comparing four charities– Against Malaria Foundation (Africa)– SOIL (Haiti)– Pratham's Read India program– GiveDirectly (Kenya and Uganda)

Doing Good: Decrease Global Suffering & Increase Global Flourishing

The Power of Stories: Fulfill a Dying Child’s Wish!

• Would you grant one wish of every child diagnosed with a life-threatening medical condition?

• Albay wished to be a pirate treasure hunter– Child– Dying– Wish fulfillment– Great story

Or Save 3 Children from Death:Fulfill a Lifetime of Wishes!

• Make-A-Wish Foundation spends about $10K on one wish

• Against Malaria Foundation saves a life for under $3K– Children– Dying– Wish fulfillment– No grand story

Or Fulfill the Wishes of Dozens of Children: Lift Them From Poverty

• GiveDirectly - cash to families living on less than $.65/day

• $1K transfer lifts a family out of poverty

• $50K lifts a whole village out of poverty– Many children– Wish fulfillment– No grand story

Most People Fall For Stories (the narrative fallacy)

• Don’t be a sucker for stories!

• What are you buying with stories? – Only good feelings

• But what about impact?– Buy both!

Use the Scientific Method!

• Only 3% research effectiveness of charities and compare them before donating

• To avoid falling for narrative fallacy– Apply the scientific

method to charity!

Quantifying Impact(also known as nerding out on doing good!)

• Quality-Adjusted Life Years (QALYs)– One QALY is one year

in good health– Considers both quality

and quantity

QALY Example

Quantifying Costs(even more nerding out on doing good!)

• We have limited resources

• Need to consider costs, not only impact

Avoid The Overhead Myth!

• Don’t use overhead to evaluate charities!

• Focus on impact per dollar

Cost-Effectiveness Is The Key

• Choose most cost-effective interventions

• Divide QALYs by cost to get most cost-effective intervention

• Focus on most QALYs per dollar

What About My Favorite Charity X? It’s the Best Cause Ever!

• When I first found out about effective giving, I had a defensive response

• I argued that my favorite charity – my Unitarian Universalist church – was the best cause and it optimized for saving lives

Oh Really?

• It would be awfully convenient if the cause I already liked happened to be optimized for saving lives

• I fell into Confirmation bias – the thinking error of interpreting new evidence as confirming old beliefs

Match Your Own Values (Without Fooling Yourself)

• What do you care about?

• Three broad categories of beneficiaries– Current People– Current animals– Future humans and

animals

Each Category Is Subdivided:People As An Example

• “Your” people or all people?– Geography– Race/Ethnicity– Gender/Sex– Socioeconomic status– Etc.

Let’s Dig Deeper: The Geography of Giving

• Your $ goes about 7 times farther in Africa than the US

• So you can make 7 times the impact in Africa as in US

Example: Giving to Poor• You can save 7 times as

many lives in Africa as in US per dollar

• GiveDirectly allows you to give to poor Africans directly via cell phones

• Do you value Africans 7 times less than Americans? – It’s your call!

Consumer Reports for Charities: Current Human Beings

• GiveWell.org– In-depth reports and

rankings of global poverty

• The Life You Can Save– Impact calculator for

global poverty

Consumer Reports for Charities:Current Non-Human Beings

• Animal Charity Evaluators– In-depth reports,

ranking, and advocacy for animal charities

Future Beings and Existential Risk

• Future of Humanity Institute– Research on various

existential risks• Machine Intelligence

Research Institute– Research on Artificial

Intelligence risk

Spreading Effective Giving

• Giving What We Can– Community of people devoted

to giving 10% or more of their money to effective charities

• 80K hours– Recommends high-impact

careers• Intentional Insights

– Spreads effective giving ideas to broad audience

Effective Altruism

• Movement devoted to applying the scientific method to charity– EffectiveAltruism.org

Promise of Better Tomorrow

• Applying scientific method to doing good = maximize global flourishing and reducing global suffering

So Now You Know:What Will You Do?

One Great Approach: Spread Effective Giving Ideas!

• Convincing one other person who would do as much good as you in a lifetime = doing all the good yourself

Interested in Effective Altruism Club?

• Sign up on sheet being passed around if you are!

• Make sure to sign your name to have money donated on your behalf

• You don’t need to leave email, but I’ll contact all people who leave emails to confirm donation in their name and check in about their interest in Effective Altruism club

• You can choose to sign up for newsletter, volunteering, or donating as well

• Come chat to me afterward to find out more as well

Thank You and Part 1 Q&A• PowerPoint of this presentation: slideshare.net/intentionalinsights• Check out my website: GlebTsipursky.com • Free book, Find Your Purpose Using Science: tinyurl.com/fypus2015 • Get in touch with me at gleb@intentionalinsights.org • Intentional Insights

– Website intentionalinsights.org– Facebook facebook.com/intentionalinsights – Twitter twitter.com/intentinsights – Youtube tinyurl.com/inin-youtube – Pinterest pinterest.com/intentinsights– Tumbler http://intentionalinsights.tumblr.com/ – Instagram https://www.instagram.com/intentional_insights/

Part 2: Giving GameFour Charities to Compare

• Against Malaria Foundation (Africa)• SOIL (Haiti)• Pratham's Read India program• GiveDirectly (Kenya and Uganda)

Against Malaria Foundation• Top-rated by The Life You

Can Save and GiveWell• Protects against deadly

malaria mosquitoes by providing mosquito nets

• Saves life for just under $3K

• If you value saving lives, this is best choice

Soil Haiti• Transforms wastes into organic compost

in Haiti through the use of ecological sanitation

• Rehabilitates soil and creates business opportunities

• Research shows reduces unmanaged human waste by 3.5X where implemented

• Not top rated by GiveWell or The Life You Can Save

• Good choice if you care more about environment than saving lives

• Don’t fool yourself into thinking it saves lives – top experts evaluated charities that saved lives and rated them

Pratham’s Read India Program• Develop low-cost solutions to

improve the quality of learning in India

• Work with governments to take them to scale

• Helped improve education of 5.7 million children in 2015

• Not top rated by GiveWell or The Life You Can Save - not optimized for saving lives

• Good choice if you care more about education than saving lives

• Don’t fool yourself into thinking it saves lives – top experts evaluated charities that saved lives and rated them

GiveDirectly• Top-rated by The Life You Can

Save and GiveWell• Transfers cash directly to poor

families living on less than $.65/day

• Transforms the fate of a single family via $1K transfer

• Transforms fate of a village via $15K transfer

• Saves life for about $15K• If you value saving lives and also

care about empowerment and autonomy, this is best choice

Q&A about Charities

Discuss in Groups

• I’ll be going around, flag me down if you have any questions

• Use smartphones as needed

Voting for Charities

• Against Malaria Foundation (Africa):

• SOIL (Haiti): • Pratham's Read India

program: • GiveDirectly (Kenya

and Uganda):

Part 2 Q&A• PowerPoint of this presentation: slideshare.net/intentionalinsights• Check out my website: GlebTsipursky.com • Free book, Find Your Purpose Using Science: tinyurl.com/fypus2015 • Get in touch with me at gleb@intentionalinsights.org • Intentional Insights

– Website intentionalinsights.org– Facebook facebook.com/intentionalinsights – Twitter twitter.com/intentinsights – Youtube tinyurl.com/inin-youtube – Pinterest pinterest.com/intentinsights– Tumbler http://intentionalinsights.tumblr.com/ – Instagram https://www.instagram.com/intentional_insights/