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Martin Skadal

We recently spoke with Martin Skadal from Norway. He shared with us his effective giving story, including what motivates him to give, what issues he cares about the most, and his vision for the future.

Tell us about yourself. What keeps you busy? What makes you tick?

I'm on a journey to figure out how I possibly can do the most good. Right now I do that by running World Saving Hustle and Altruism for Youth, two NGOs working to make our world a better place.

Tell us about your effective giving journey.

My journey started with volunteering for over organizations. Then, I found some missing/neglected focus areas and started my own NGO. On that journey, I found Effective Altruism as a concept and right after that I discovered EA Norway. I've heard a lot about GiveWell and the Giving What We Can Pledge, but hesitated to join as I don't have much to give, as a result of my very minimalistic lifestyle. I then found out how I could join as a student (based on my spending and not income). I knew that even with my lifestyle, I could do it.

Why do you give? (What motivated you to give originally. What keeps you motivated now.)

I always strive to do the most good I can, but given the polluted information ecology, I find it hard to know for sure that I’m having a positive impact. Through Giving What We Can, I know that no matter how hard I try in my own way to figure out how I can do the most good, the money donated through The Pledge will most likely have a positive impact.

Why did you take the Giving What We Can pledge?

I took the pledge because I feel it's the most secure way right now to make sure that money donate is actually having a good impact. I also took the pledge because I feel it's a good idea to have a consistent habit of doing good. Furthermore, I took the pledge because I no longer have to hear "GiveWell or Giving What We Can" on 80 000 Hours podcast or other episodes mentioning it, knowing that I not yet have taken The Pledge! What are the issues in the world that you care most deeply about? I think the polluted information ecology and collective decision making are important issues. Under that, I feel topics such as animal rights (how we treat billions of animals in factory farms), human rights, and environmentalism are also particularly important.

Which organizations do you give to (and why)?

I primarily give to GiveWell and Animal Charity Evaluators based on my knowledge about them right now and the strong impact they have.

Do you try to effect change in any other way?

Yes! I have started two NGOs (which now have government funding), plus I am helping many other NGOs for free with consulting. I also try using social media (@skadal) to teach others about effective altruism.

What effective giving tips would you like to share?

, and when Rob (and others from the EA community) visit other podcasts. I would also highly recommend getting involved in other altruistic NGOs to see if you have skills that you think they would be able to make use of.

What suggestions do you have for other people considering the pledge?

If you're a student, then just start ASAP. It's so easy and does not harm your (possible) low budget. If you're working, remind yourself why you would like to give, and keep consistent with consuming content from the EA community to keep updated with what you're helping out with.

I'd like to see collective decision making be a lot better, and that we figure out how to better optimize the ways of bringing attention and information together to increase compassion for each other. Personally, I hope to achieve that through expanding the NGOs I now run to have a global impact with an EA mindset.

Have any books or documentaries or articles or studies significantly changed the way you see giving?

Rob Wiblin on self-improvement and research ethics

 on the 80,000 Hours podcast. It didn't really say much about giving even, I think, but I think they discussed something that just clicked with me.

Are there any other concrete ways that Giving What We Can has helped you?

It has bettered my mental health by a notch.

" 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 

Martin, a social entrepreneur from Norway, shares why he took The Giving What We Can Pledge alongside what causes he's passionate about, and what his vision for the future is.

Member Profile: Martin Skadal

Grace Adams

Hello and welcome to our March Newsletter!

We've recently released an update on our strategy as an organisation. Make sure to read it if you'd like to hear more about our current plans, our vision for the future, and how you can help us achieve our goal of creating a world where giving effectively and significantly is a cultural norm.

In the strategy update, you'll also see we're hiring: we are currently looking for a 

If you're in the UK, don't forget that the end of the fiscal year is just around the corner, ending on April 5th. Now is a great time to finalise any tax deductible donations through 

Donate to highly effectives charities and funds

We're also still on the lookout for members who will be available in Oxford April 11-14 or London 15-18 for EA Global and would like to be in a promotional video about effective giving and the pledge. 

Fill out this form to let us know if you're interested

We are really excited about how Giving What We Can and our community can make the world a better place for all its inhabitants, for generations to come, and hope you are too.

Like much of the world, we are devastated to see Ukraine attacked by Russia. Many of us are thinking about how to use our resources to best help those affected by the war at this time. This thoughtful article from member and journalist at Vox, Kelsey Piper, titled 

, makes some recommendations on where you can donate, and also discusses some of the difficulties in donating during these crisis situations. We continue to encourage regular thoughtful giving and support our 

, in service of our vision of a world where a safe, happy and healthy life is lived by all.

Read on below to learn more about Giving What We Can co-founder William MacAskill's new book, What We Owe The Future, which is now available for pre-order.

-Grace Adams & the rest of the Giving What We Can team.

William MacAskill, co-founder of Giving What We Can and associate professor of philosophy at the University of Oxford, has a new book coming out on August 16th that is available now for pre-order.

Early pre-orders are very important in the world of publishing, so if you plan on buying the book at any point, we strongly encourage you to pre-order it now!

If you pre-order before April 30th and fill out 

, you'll have a chance to have one of 8 one-on-one calls that Will is having with readers to discuss the book.

 in the UK (it should also be on Amazon in most other countries).

William is one of the co-founders of the effective altruism movement, which guides much of our guidance on where to donate. His new book, What We Owe The Future, makes the case for longtermism, the view that positively influencing the longterm future is a key moral priority of our time. We just released a video on the ideas behind longtermism, which you can watch 

If you have any questions about ordering the book, feel free to email 

Peter is a new member who took the full pledge after trying giving out, this is a great strategy to see if the pledge is right for you!

Reviewing our work: please contact our researcher Michael Townsend if you are interested in this.

Joining our team (we're hiring!): we are currently hiring a 

 (New York: Sat 5:00 pm, Sydney: Sun 7:00 am)

 (London: Sun 9:30 am, Mumbai: Sun 2:00 pm, Singapore: Sun 4:30 pm)

Our open forum is an event where you can come along with questions about effective giving or just come along to meet others interested in effective giving. Alternates between Americas/Oceania and Europe/Asia.

 (London: 10:00 am, Mumbai: 2:30 pm, Sydney: 7:00 pm)

Thursday 14th April 5.30pm BST, exact location TBC

Monday 18th Apr at 12pm BST, exact location TBC

One of the world's most popular podcasts, Stuff You Should Know released an episode called

80000 Hours has launched a new podcast called 

 featuring a wider range of content than the original podcast typically covers.

It's perfectly okay to be an imperfect effective altruist

Effective Altruism: Young Canadians taking charity to the extreme

What psychological traits predict interest in effective altruism?

, Lucius Caviola, David Althaus, Stefan Schubert, and Joshua Lewis, EA Forum.

Lessons and results from workplace giving talks

The FTX Foundation's Future Fund has been announced

New grantmaking program: supporting the effective altruism community around Global Health and Wellbeing

Open Philanthropy is hiring for various roles, including:

 on the Longtermist Effective Altruism Movement-Building Team: 

Program Officer, Effective Altruism Community Building (Global Health & Wellbeing)

GiveWell is also still looking for excellent candidates for its open

GiveWell has published the following new research materials:

 to Malaria Consortium to monitor and evaluate work in Nigeria and a $120,000 

 to Oxford University to support research into spillover effects of GiveDirectly's cash transfer program.

 with David Dowdy of Johns Hopkins University plus notes on why it's deprioritizing research into 

GFI U.S. welcomes new president Ilya Sheyman, as CEO Bruce Friedrich goes global

Debating Peter Singer on Wild Animal Suffering

Most animal cruelty is legal on the farm. A judge is questioning that.

Sam Bankman-Fried and Peter Singer sit down to discuss

 animal rights, climate change, effective giving, and other topics of interest.

Karen Levy on fads and misaligned incentives in global development, and scaling deworming to reach hundreds of millions

, Rob Wiblin and Karen Levy, 80,000 Hours Podcast.

AMF agrees to fund 6.8 million nets for distribution in Chad in Q1 2023

, Rob Mather, Against Malaria Foundation.

New IPCC report underscores importance of rapid emissions reductions

CATF welcomes Alex Breckel as Director of Clean Energy Infrastructure Deployment

The Future is Vast: Longtermism's perspective on humanity's past, present, and future

Experimental longtermism: theory needs data

Important, actionable research questions for the most important century

The biggest funder of anti-nuclear war programs is taking its money away

Why the expected numbers of farmed animals in the far future might be huge

You can now support Giving What We Can's operations using EA Funds

This funding helps us to inspire donations to high impact charities

 with Giving What We Can and effective altruism.

Discuss effective giving and effective altruism on the 

March 2022 Newsletter

Luke Freeman

Giving What We Can

After a few quiet years, Giving What We Can (GWWC) has been significantly ramping up its activities and has a lot planned moving forward, starting with a partial merger with EA Funds and a significant marketing push.

A lot has changed since we launched in 2009, but we still wholeheartedly believe in creating a culture where giving effectively and significantly is the norm.

We have ambitious plans to achieve this, and you can help.

Cast your mind back to 2009. Barack Obama is sworn in as US president amid a global financial crisis, mRNA vaccines haven't yet had a clinical trial, and Jeopardy! and Go world champions are still human. Though the term 'effective altruism' would not be invented until 2011, the movement had just begun.

That was the year Giving What We Can was founded as the first international community of effective givers, and it 

. At that time, Giving What We Can was almost exclusively focused on global poverty, and funding was scarce for both the movement and the organisations it supported. The idea that a single billionaire (or even a few multimillionaires) would join seemed like a far-off ambition.

Pictured: Our cofounder, Toby Ord, personally sending letters to people who signed The Pledge.

Fast forward to 2022: over 7,000 people from 94 countries have signed 

 significantly influenced their careers, and the community has 

 (primarily due to a small number of wealthy donors).

Another significant change is cause prioritisation. In 2009, Giving What We Can and the nascent effective altruism (EA) movement were almost exclusively 

. Today, we now also emphasise causes that 

These changes bring challenges. In a movement that values impartiality and a commitment to doing the most good, it can be difficult to coordinate among people with different worldviews, and potentially wildly different ideas of what "doing the most good" means in practice. As the movement has grown, so have problems with donor coordination (for example, of fungibility, timing of philanthropy, etc.), and the increase in funding from large donors changes the relative value of an individual's time versus their money.

But these changes also bring significant opportunities. Increased funding, movement growth, and worldview diversity allow us to be 

 in our efforts to be a force for good. This is exciting!

For us at Giving What We Can, it means we might just have a shot of achieving our mission to make giving effectively and significantly a cultural norm. We've gone from once being the biggest part of the Centre for Effective Altruism to being a smaller project with no full-time staff. But we're now reignited: we're back to publishing 

, we're conducting our first ambitious marketing campaigns, and we're directly processing donations

Blog

Member Profile: Martin Skadal

March 2022 Newsletter

Announcing our 2022 strategy and how you can help (and we're hiring!)

It's perfectly okay to be an imperfect effective altruist

Donating like a startup investor: Hits-based giving, explained

The value of small donations from a longtermist perspective

Why your charitable giving should be sustainable

Why you should mention the Pledge in your LinkedIn summary

Member Profile: Henry Howard

Member Profile: Adriana Saso-Graves