Effective Altruism, W sometimes "EA", is both a philosophy and a social movement. It aims to use both reason and evidence to work out what ways will be most effective to help people in need, striving for an evidence-based approach to altruism.
A strong emphasis is placed upon measurement and research, where possible. However, it is acknowledged that not everything of value can be measured.
A three-factor framework for focus area selection considers:
- Importance: What is the scale of the problem in the area? If all problems in the area were solved, how much better would the world be?
- Tractability: How solvable is the problem in this area?
- Neglectedness: How neglected is the area?
Effectiveness for a particular intervention or charity considers various factors including the Importance-Tractability-Neglectedness framework, above. "Low administration costs" is not considered an important criterion, by itself, in part because the administration may include very important work including monitoring and reporting.)
As a movement, there is no authoritative organization, but several prominent ones are:
- GiveWell – assesses charities for effectiveness.
- 80,000 Hours – guidance on having an impact through one's career.
- Giving What We Can – promoting giving pledges and "earning to giving" as one legitimate and valuable way to have a positive impact.
See also
Sources and citations
- effectivealtruism.org "Effective Altruism: Using reason and evidence to do the most good."