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Achim Fischbach is an MBA student, a libertarian, and an effective altruist. He recently took the Giving What We Can Pledge.

Member Profile: Achim Fischbach

Achim Fischbach is currently pursuing an MBA in Munich, Germany. First, he studied computer science in the armed forces. During this time, he experienced a shift in worldview.

"A colleague of mine said to me once that I had too much free time for thinking during my studies, which is true, because I became a libertarian during this time."

Achim's growing commitment to libertarian principles eventually led him to leave the military due as a conscientious objector. After leaving the military, he worked as an IT specialist and studied philosophy. He explains, "I am curious about all kinds of philosophical, social, and political topics, and always eager to learn more."

In addition to leading him away from the military, Achim's interest in libertarianism sparked his interest in 

. He first learned about the movement at a 

 conference he organised in Germany. Achim didn't immediately join the movement, but the core ideas impressed him. Recently, Achim listened to Sam Harris' conversation with Will MacAskill, 

. The conversation persuaded him to take the 

Reflecting on the causes he's most passionate about, Achim says: "I am deeply interested in human liberty and dignity, and, to an extent, in the development of liberal institutions that work toward peace, prosperity, and a good life for people around the world." Achim does not find it particularly difficult to give. Instead, he is grateful for what he has.

"I know that I am very lucky and well-situated [...]. Because I am thankful, and because I know I did not earn my good fortune, I want to help others, too."

After finishing his MBA, Achim plans to resume his support of the Network for Constitutional Economics and Social Philosophy. He also plans to dedicate some time to writing articles, doing translations, and other activities.

" series which profiles a selection of the Giving What We Can community. The Giving What We Can is a community of people from all walks of life, with different perspectives and motivations for giving – all united by their desire to make a significant commitment to use their income to effectively helping others. Read more 

 to help inspire others to give more, and more effectively.

For more information about Giving What We Can we recommend you check out our 

Surbhi Bharadwaj

Andrew Leeke

People in the effective altruism movement often support organisations doing direct work with easily measurable outcomes. After all, effective altruists try to make evidence-based decisions whenever possible, and it's difficult to find evidence supporting interventions with very indirect, long-term, and/or abstract consequences. This has led to the misconception that people in the effective altruism movement only care about short-term, measurable change. In fact, many effective altruists care about outcomes that are harder to measure and are supportive of working towards systemic change.

Do effective altruists only value short-term, measurable outcomes?

This article is part of a series addressing 

People in the effective altruism movement often support organisations doing direct work with easily measurable outcomes. After all, effective altruists try to make evidence-based decisions whenever possible, and it's difficult to find evidence supporting interventions with very indirect, long-term, and/or abstract consequences. This has led to the misconception that people in the effective altruism movement only care about short-term, measurable change. In fact, many effective altruists care about outcomes that are harder to measure and are supportive of working towards 

 of effective altruism have pointed out that effective altruists are particularly susceptible to a bias towards measurable outcomes. Because effective altruists rely on evidence to figure out how to best help others, they are often drawn towards interventions that produce a quantifiable or measurable impact.

However, while it may be easiest to study and promote measurable change, effective altruists value other kinds of change as well. On the 80,000 Hours blog, 

 that effective altruists love systemic change.

Organisations within the effective altruism movement work across a range of cause areas and rely on a wide variety of evidence --- both quantitative and qualitative --- to make inferences about the potential impact of interventions. There are many 

 working towards systemic change. For instance:

 studies global catastrophic risks, like human-caused climate change and threats from artificial intelligence. These risks and the impact of potential interventions can't be measured through randomised controlled trials, so FHI relies on a 

 engages in legal and legislative advocacy to support climate-friendly policy change.

The Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security

 works with policymakers to prepare for threats to public health.

 works with political leaders across the world to improve global nuclear policy.

 distributes "Movement Grants" to support organisations doing more speculative or long-term work.

, in addition to developing and promoting alternatives to animal products, is working to secure fair policy and public funding for research to develop a more sustainable global food system.

You can help support systemic, long-term change by donating to one of these or many other 

 of like-minded people who are working to make the world a better place.

Common Concerns About Donating to Charity

Toni Adleberg

Meet Sonya and Carl Christensen, philanthropists and members of Giving What We Can. They have been married for 53 years.

Member Profile: Sonya and Carl Christensen

Meet Sonya and Carl Christensen, philanthropists and 

Sonya and Carl have given away at least 10% of their income for many years. It began when they were working in the Peace Corps and making more money than they needed to live comfortably. Sonya's generosity was perhaps inspired by her father, who had an enduring interest in helping others through charity. Now that Sonya and Carl's children are grown (and they have seven grandchildren!), the couple hopes to increase their giving:

"In the last few years we are trying to reach 50% as the children are grown, our house is paid for and we live simply."

Sonya is a retired librarian and Carl is a social worker in private practice. Both spend significant time volunteering. Currently, Sonya is doing taxes for low-income and older adults. After tax day, she will shift her focus to community gardening and education. With help from friends and neighbours, Sonya maintains seven gardens and created a "Pocket Park" in an overrun city block at the end of their street. Sonya and Carl also love to travel as volunteers, though travel has been on hold during the COVID-19 pandemic. In January, they hope to travel to Cuba with 

Sonya and Carl give to a variety of organisations, including 

, and more. They direct the majority of their donations towards the causes they are most passionate about: global poverty and education. They make the majority of their giving decisions each fall, taking care to allocate their giving according to their priorities and ensuring that a substantial portion goes overseas.

"I never find it difficult to give. It can be difficult to decide to which causes to give and to get information about them or ideas of what is most useful."

Sonya uses a wide range of materials to inform her giving. She learned about effective altruism and 

 from The Christian Science Monitor. She reads extensively about philanthropy and enjoyed William MacAskill's 

. She joined the Giving What We Can community to learn more about the charities supported by like-minded philanthropists.

Luke Freeman

Our April newsletter contains information about: our member motivations survey;  upcoming events (including World Malaria Day); ways you can help spread effective giving in your workplace; updates from our community; and news about our top priority cause areas.

April 2021 Newsletter

Upcoming events (including World Malaria Day)

Ways you can help spread effective giving in your workplace

What motivates you to give more, and more effectively?

We would really appreciate our members answering a few short questions about their motivations. Their responses will help us select the key messages that we will use to promote our ideas.

~ 5 minutes, requires Google Account for optional uploads

Help Spread Effective Giving In Your Workplace

 are seeking opportunities to talk about effective giving at workplaces. Using a 'lunch and learn' format, we host a one-hour talk to explain how we can assess cost effectiveness across multiple cause areas and charities. So far, we have delivered sessions at Microsoft, Bridgewater, Bain, Facebook, LinkedIn, Accenture and smaller SMEs and have raised over $85k in recurring donations.

If you think your colleagues might like to hear about the amazing opportunities of effective giving, please get in touch! Even in companies we have already contacted, there are always new teams, offices, and territories to explore --- so if you'd like to help us bring ever more people into effective giving, please 

Looking for more ways to spread effective giving? Check out our 

Come along and meet other people who are committed to effectively using their resources to improve the world:

: Celebrate progress fighting malaria and discover the path ahead
Apr 25: 20:00 UTC

: Myths & Misconceptions About Charity
May 1: 23:00 UTC

: Myths & Misconceptions About Charity
May 2: 09:30 UTC

: Ask anything, discuss donations, meet effective givers
May 19: 20:00 UTC
If you have any questions or want to discuss your donation decisions with other members or our team, we recommend registering for an Open Forum event. 

We have recently published a series of new posts on myths, misconceptions, and common question about charity, including:

Don't we need political action rather than charity?

Don't we spend too much on foreign aid already?

If I pay my taxes, why should I also give to charity?

Can foreign aid and international charity make a difference?

Does corruption in recipient governments interfere with foreign aid?

Can an individual donor really make a difference?

We will be expanding these to cover more cause areas and other common questions. If you'd like to be part of the effort please 

: "The idea resonated: if you say you care about various causes in the world, then you should put your money on it."

, a recent blockchain billionaire and Giving What We Can member, on how effective altruism has influenced his donations.

Canadian residents can now donate tax efficiently to Faunalytics, Mercy For Animals, New Incentives, Ought, and Wild Animal Initiative 

 from the EA Forum including two posts announcing joke organisations: "

, this has been launched with some initial content and is using their existing tags system.

80,000 Hours just launched a new podcast feed called "

 which is a carefully chosen selection of ten episodes of The 80,000 Hours Podcast, with various new intros and outros to guide folks through them.

the elite class mainly donate to things that provide themselves with some form of benefit

When it comes to charitable giving, people are more motivated by appeals to the good feelings they'll receive as a donor ("warm glow") --- and give 23% more in donations --- than by benefits for others ("pure altruism"), according to a 

based on an experiment of fundraising appeals in Alaska.

comparison of Donor-Advised Fund (DAF) providers

Long-Term Future Fund has room for funding, right now

GiveWell have published research on two recent Incubation Grants to 

Vital Strategies (Alcohol Control Policy)

released an update to their Charities Quiz

 to match donors to their latest recommended charities.

$3.1 billion invested in alternative proteins

 in 2020 signals growing market momentum for sustainable proteins.

potential for consumer adoption of alternative proteins

James from Animal Rebellion UK wrote about how they 

 (in expectation) with a volunteer campaign.

 to shed light on the treatment of chickens raised for meat and to call on major food companies like Dairy Queen, Wingstop, and Bob Evans to end these abuses.

A new Good Food Institute initiative highlights key 

alternative protein industry challenges and potential solutions

A French city announced it would serve meatless school lunches and 

the potential environmental benefits of cultivated meat

what proportion of global greenhouse gas emissions come from food

Kelly Wanser was on the 80,000 Hours Podcast discussing 

whether to deliberately intervene in the climate

What should coal communities do when power plants shut down?

" Vox's Lili Pike covers three big lessons from Germany's transition off of coal power.

why they are giving $250,000,000 to fight the pandemic

The Centre for Global Development published a post on "

Allocating Global Aid to Maximize Utility

Twitter founder Jack Dorsey's first ever tweet has been sold for the equivalent of $2,900,000 and he is 

planning to donate all of it to GiveDirectly

the first country in Central America to be certified malaria-free

The predicted doubling of malaria deaths in Africa due to COVID-19 

Hepatitis C prevalence in Egypt dropped from 7% to 2% since 2018

Evidence Action chronicles their efforts to 

bring back school-based deworming to Kenya during COVID-19

Long-Term Future, Existential Risks, & Emerging Technologies

governments to improve their resilience to prevent catastrophes

On future people, looking back at 21st century longtermism

a response to "The Case Against Longtermism."

disinformation and the rise of synthetic media

 with Giving What We Can and effective altruism.

Discuss effective giving and effective altruism on the 

Do you have questions about the pledge, Giving What We Can, or effective altruism in general? Check out our 

Our April newsletter contains information about: our member motivations survey; upcoming events (including World Malaria Day); ways you can help spread effective giving in your workplace; updates from our community; and news about our top priority cause areas.

MF Mika

In 2016, 30 of the largest providers of foreign aid (a group known as the Development Assistance Committee) gave a total of $142.6 billion, a sum so large that it is difficult to truly comprehend. Yet, while it’s no doubt a large number, it is only 0.32% of the combined national income of those countries — that's three dollars in aid out of every thousand. The amount that wealthy countries spend on foreign aid is generally just a tiny fraction of their budgets. 

Don’t we spend too much on foreign aid already?

In 2016, 30 of the largest providers of foreign aid (a group known as the 

, a sum so large that it is difficult to truly comprehend.

Yet, while it's no doubt a large number, it is only 0.32% of the combined national income of those countries --- that's three dollars in aid out of every thousand. The amount that wealthy countries spend on foreign aid is generally just a tiny fraction of their budgets.

Many people don't donate to international aid charities because they believe that their governments already spend too much on foreign aid. For example, when asked what percentage of the U.S. federal budget is spent on foreign aid, Americans' guesses hover 

, with a more recent poll reporting as much as 

As it turns out, U.S. foreign aid spending is only about 1% of the federal budget. That's less than 1/25 of what Americans believe, and only about 1/10 of what the same Americans 

In contrast to the 1% of its budget that the U.S. spends on foreign aid, it spends nearly 16% of its budget on national defence and about 24% on Medicare and Medicaid.

Per citizen, the U.S. government gives about $89 in foreign aid. Oxfam 

 that $89 is less than the average American spends on candy ($107), sporting goods ($209), or jewellery ($212).

Meanwhile, private Americans, foundations, and corporations gave about 

 to support international affairs in one recent year. Again, that's an astoundingly large number, but it's only about 5% of the 

 that Americans donated to charity that year.

As Bill Nye points out in the video below, the public misconception of the amount we spend on foreign aid could lead us to neglect important opportunities for helping others. For instance, there's a lot more that wealthy countries could be doing to prevent leading causes of death, like communicable diseases, birth problems, and poor nutrition:

There is a lot of work that still needs to be done in low-income countries, and those of us in wealthier countries have an opportunity to make a huge impact at little cost. You can help improve --- and even save --- lives by donating to one of many 

 working to support health and promote economic empowerment throughout the world.

Many people don't donate to international aid charities because they believe that their governments already spend too much on foreign aid.
But is that argument well-supported? Read the full post here:
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