Being right on the money

Abstract

A core question for effective altruists is how to give to charity effectively – how much to donate and which charities to support. While effective altruists tend to encourage more giving and more efficient giving, they often provide no guidance on minimum requirements in either category. This paper proposes a permissive answer to both questions, arguing that while maximising utilitarianism demands radical generosity and exclusive support for the most cost-effective charities, both answers are unrealistic and biased against giving motivated by personal connections. By contrast, theories that permit moderate giving and support for less cost-effective charities avoid these problems while better reflecting the complexity of real-world decision-making and people’s psychological motivations – AI-generated abstract.