This was originally posted here. It's written for an audience that's not deep in the weeds of EA giving theory/culture, but a few people suggested I post here as there's much that's additive to or divergent from some common EA practices. Feedback / disagreements welcome! Also my first time posting here. Hi!
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Most people who intend to give large amounts of money away never actually do.
The money sits. In donor-advised funds, in "someday" plans, in good intentions. This is the default pathway - not an edge case - and if you don't design against it, it will happen to you too.
I've watched this from every angle. As CEO of Change.org we processed 5M+ donations. I now run GiveDirectly; 160 thousand people have donated, dozens regularly give 1 million dollars+, and some give 50 million dollars-100 million dollars+ at a time. I've advised two of the biggest philanthropic institutions in the world (Coefficient Giving and GiveWell) on donor engagement and growth, and sat on half a dozen nonprofit boards. I've also been giving away 10-20% of my annual income for 17 years; I grew up low-income, so this started as a very modest amount but has added [...]
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Outline:
(01:59) 1. The default pathway is to delay. Fight this.
(04:51) 2. Pick a few causes and write them down.
(07:33) 3. Build a portfolio across causes and risk/return.
(09:48) 4. Use the index funds of giving.
(11:55) 5. For the love of god, dont over-staff.
(13:58) 6. Make giving a recurring event, not a to-do.
(15:36) A few final hot takes
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First published:
April 30th, 2026
Source:
https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/fRLt59FNXxmCaAkYF/how-to-actually-give-money-away
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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.
