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Rickey shares why she took The Giving What We Can Pledge in 2019, what she'd say to people on the fence, and why she gives now instead of later.

Welcome to our June Newsletter which covers Giving What We Can news and updates, upcoming online events, the latest from the effective altruism community, and news and updates about relevant cause areas.

Everyone knows the adage “money can’t buy happiness,” although few of us seem to believe it. The best-known theory on this topic is that money actually can buy happiness, but only up to a point. This comes from a study by two Nobel Laureates, Daniel Kahneman and Angus Deaton (2010), which found that emotional wellbeing rises with income. However, it rises logarithmically. That is, as an individual’s income increases, their wellbeing increases at a slower and slower rate. And after income surpasses about $75,000 per year, Kahneman and Deaton’s data suggests, wellbeing stops increasing altogether. However, new research from Matthew Killingsworth challenges this finding.

Imagine you're buying canned tomatoes. Side by side are two different brands. You inspect the labels and notice that they are virtually identical — the only real difference between them is the cost. One brand costs $2 and the other costs a whopping $20.

A widespread critique of international charity and foreign aid is that it undermines state institutions and nonprofits in the recipient country, creating a long-term dependency on "handouts.'' The history of foreign aid is fraught and marked by missteps. Yet such a sweeping narrative does not tell the whole story. By supporting effective aid organisations that prioritise evidence-based interventions and empower local communities in recipient countries, we can reduce the misallocation of aid, spur growth, and reduce low-income countries’ reliance on foreign aid in the long term.

Effective animal advocates also care about other groups of animals, including the dogs, cats, and other animals we keep as pets, and those that live in shelters or in our streets. However, advocates are likely to prioritise intervening in factory farms and the wild first, because the scale of those problems is enormous, and the causes are relatively tractable and quite underfunded.

The social norm of giving anonymously is impeding social progress. We would be better off as a society if we moved past this norm and instead gave publicly. Giving publicly, after all, is one way to inspire more people to give. And even if people give for partially selfish reasons (e.g., “virtue signalling” or bragging rights), their donations will still improve the world.

Something I've found to be shockingly common is that uncertainty around how much we should give to charity can often prevent people from giving anything at all.

We're thrilled to announce that we've just passed 6,000 members of The Pledge! We're growing faster than ever, with 1,000 new members in only eight months.

Birthdays happen every year, but this year it was different. I turned 30 and decided to do something unconventional. Instead of gifts, I asked my friends and family to contribute to the fight against malaria. It turned out to be the most satisfying birthday, so far.