Three ways anyone can make a difference, no matter their job | The 80,000 Hours career guide (2023)

Ineffective altruism examples often cause net harm:

• Sponsored skydiving campaigns (1991–1995) raised £120,000 but incurred £150,000 in direct donation costs, leaving only £45,000 for charity.
• 163 injuries occurred among skydivers, resulting in approximately £610,000 in UK National Health Service costs.
• For every £1 raised for health-related charities via this method, the health service incurred £13 in treatment costs, negating the net benefit.
• Unmanaged volunteering can be inefficient; organizations may spend more managing untrained volunteers than the value they provide.
• Some organizations rely on volunteering schemes primarily to trigger donations, meaning cutting these schemes can inadvertently reduce funding.

Income elasticity of well-being analysis supports high-impact giving:

• Life satisfaction increases steeply at low income levels but flattens significantly above $20,000 (US) or $30,000–$50,000 (other nations).
• A US college graduate earning an average of $77,000 pre-tax (2023) can generate 68 times more utility by donating a dollar to an East African household consuming $800 annually than by spending it on themselves.
• Donating 10% of a typical US graduate's income could double the annual income of seven people in extreme poverty.
• Randomized controlled trials by GiveDirectly show cash transfers reduce hunger and stress for years among recipients.

Comparative career impact metrics highlight donation efficiency:

• Top-rated charities like the Against Malaria Foundation cost approximately $5,000 to save one life.
• A 10% income donation to the Against Malaria Foundation could save over one life per year; over a 40-year career, this totals 40 lives saved.
• A typical clinical doctor saves approximately three lives over their entire career, making the donation strategy roughly 10 times more effective per dollar spent.
• If the top 10% of global income earners donated 10% of their income, the collective sum ($5 trillion) could fund universal education, eradicate extreme poverty, and significantly increase scientific research.
• Global income distribution data indicates that earning $60,000 after-tax places an individual in the top 1% of global earners.

Political advocacy is quantified as high-value for individual effort:

• In US swing states, a single vote has a 1 in 1 million to 1 in 10 million chance of deciding a presidential election.
• A single vote could influence $187 billion in potential foreign aid spending (0.2% of GDP), equating to a value of roughly $186,000 per vote hour.
• Advocacy impact scales with the size of the budget or policy area influenced, suggesting that voting or petitioning on high-stakes global issues offers high expected value.

"Multiplier" strategies enable impact without personal financial resources:

• Enabling two others to donate 10% of their income generates more impact than an individual donating 20% of their own income.
• Referrals to high-impact roles are as effective as taking the roles oneself, particularly if the referral candidate has superior skills or fit.
• Mobilizing employees to utilize corporate donation matching schemes can exponentially increase total charitable contributions.

Specific calls to action and implementation details:

• The "Giving What We Can" pledge asks individuals to commit to donating 10% of their lifetime income to effective charities.
• As of the text's reference, over 9,000 people have collectively pledged more than $3 billion through this organization.
• Students are permitted to take a reduced pledge of 1% of income until after graduation.
• The organization recommends caution for those with significant debt, those planning career impact primarily through low-wage charitable work, or those unable to maintain long-term commitments.
• A trial pledge option allows individuals to donate as little as 1% for a limited period to test feasibility.