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Chris Carpenter

We recently spoke with member Chris Carpenter from Toronto, Canada. He shared with us why he pledged 10% of the profits from his business to the world's most effective charities.

Tell us about yourself, what keeps you busy, what makes you tick. What’s your story?

Work keeps me very busy. I’m passionate about what I do and I put my whole heart into it. As far as my story goes, I would never say I’ve had a difficult life. I feel very lucky to be born into the life I have. That being said, I have struggled to take advantage of the gifts I’ve been given. My younger life was filled with loss and battles with mental health issues and addiction.

Three and half years ago, I had alienated everyone and everything I loved, I had nowhere to live, no job and no life. I had thrown away all the gifts I’d been given: a loving family, a beautiful supportive woman, an amazing healthy daughter, and more opportunities for success than many people in the world could only dream of.

September 18th 2018 (with a ton of support from those people I alienated and some amazing therapists and counselors) I turned my life around and got sober. As I traveled further in my journey of sobriety I began to realize all those gifts I had been blind to. Along with seeing my gifts, I began to realize how many people not only don’t have access to the things I’ve taken for granted, but also live through unimaginable suffering. That has inspired me to dedicate part of my life to giving back for all the good things that I only have because of the sheer luck of the life I was born into.

Tell us a bit about your company: what do you do?

My company is a renovation company. We specialize in finish carpentry and interior/exterior renovations. We maintain a high level of craftsmanship and make every attempt to make renovations a pleasant experience for our clients. I want my company to have a positive impact on the world and the construction industry. We recycle and minimize waste as much as possible, we aim to build to a high environmental standard, and I foster an inclusive and supportive work environment.

Tell us about your effective giving journey. What introduced you to effective giving? Where have you gone on this journey since then?

I was introduced to effective giving by Sam Harris’s podcast Making Sense. Will MacAskill’s episode about effective altruism made something click in my head. It all made so much logical sense to me — it made me feel shocked that I hadn’t seen it that way before. Then as I dug deeper into the work of Peter Singer and The Life You Can Save, it was so clear that I morally had no choice but to help those in need. It reminds me of those colourful pictures that, after you stare at it long enough, you see a 3D image within the abstract. Once you’ve seen it, you can’t unsee it.

Why did you choose for your company to take the Giving What We Can Pledge?

I chose to give through the company so I could maximize the amount of money I can give. As long as my company grows (I will never stop working to grow my company), I will continue to be able to help more people every year. That, and lately I have been advertising my giving more than when I first made the pledge, through social media and through my clients. I believe that the idea of giving in silence is mistaken. I think the more you share your giving, the more others are likely to do the same. Lately I have been giving Peter Singer’s book The Life You Can Save to my clients with their invoice so they can understand what we’re about.

What are the issues in the world that you care most deeply about?

I care most deeply about world poverty and the suffering of children. There is so much wealth In the world that the fact that so many people have nothing is just shameful for our modern society. And children are innocent, they deserve every opportunity to become the best people they can be and the more we support them the more likely they are to be able to have a positive impact in the world.

Which organizations do you give to (and why)?

I give to GiveWell, The Life You Can Save, Eva's Place, and The Gord Downie & Chanie Wenjack Fund.

What effective giving tips would you like to share?

It’s so easy and fulfilling. As I said, I truly feel we are all morally obligated to help those that can’t help themselves. Open your circle of compassion to include all the people of the world. These children are exactly the same as your children, these people are the same as the people you love the most and would do anything to make happy. They feel love, they suffer, they have dreams and the desire to live a happy life just like everyone you know. I understand it’s natural to want to help those closest to you, but that basic instinct fails under scrutiny when you consider how much better the lives are of the people around you compared to those who suffer through no fault of their own.

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

I suggest you make a plan for giving that makes it easy. Make it automatic, like auto withdrawals or scheduled giving. Personally I assess my profits every quarter and give my 10% donation based on that. I think next year I’m going to adjust that to a yearly assessment. I’ll assess at the end of the year and set automatic monthly donations to each charity I support for the next year. Whatever you do, talk about it. Don’t give in silence. The more people see their peers giving, the more likely they are to give themselves.

What are your visions for the future? (These could be your own goals or what you’d like to see in the world)

I’d love to give more every single year until I’m no longer around. I don’t plan on retiring or stopping work until I can’t work anymore. I want to save as many lives as I possibly can during the course of my life. I’d like to have a positive impact on the world and the community around me. I’d like to be known as much for my giving as for the beautiful work we do as a renovation company.

Have you found anything to be helpful in talking to people about effective giving?

This is something I’ve had some difficulty with, but I’m working on it. Some people don’t know how to respond when I talk about charity. I feel like some people think I’m boasting or acting superior, I do not feel superior to anyone. Many people think it’s great, but I hope to inspire more people to give and I’m working on the best way to do that.

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

It has helped me feel part of a community of like minded people that are committed to helping make the world a little better in their own ways.

Chris Carpenter is the owner of a renovation company called Carpenter & Co, and has pledged 10% of his company's profits to highly effective charities. In this member profile, Chris discusses his previous battles with addiction and how his journey to sobriety allowed him to realise how much good he could do by giving to highly effective charities.

Company Pledge Profile: Carpenter & Co

Greg Gianopoulos

Maggie Muth

Lucia Willkomm

Kevin Dahle

Giving What We Can is happy to announce that we sponsored six schools who applied to run a 

 in 2021! This post contains basic information about the program, including data from 2021 events and the perspectives of participating students and teachers.

"It has given me an opportunity to think of my impact on the world and what I can do every day to make the world a better place." — a student who participated in the 2021 NHS Charity Election.

 is a school-wide event in which high schoolers vote among three charities to decide which will receive up to $2,000 in sponsored funds. The mission of the program is to inspire young people to make a positive impact in the world, and in doing so cultivate a culture of giving and giving effectively. As a student-led program, Charity Elections are organised by student leaders, and each vote results in an additional $2 donation from Giving What We Can.

The program was implemented at six schools in 2021, with nearly 2,000 students participating and $8,762 donated to highly effective charities, including 

. The $3,348 gift to Project Healthy Children, for instance, can provide 

 with food-based micronutrient fortification for one year.

At both schools implementing a comprehensive event with ~700 students and pre/post surveys, students showed an increase in all four measured outcomes:

Making the world a better place is important to me

At three of the six schools, 100% of participating students indicated they voted for a cause they believe in. At the remaining three schools, 98%, 97%, and 95% of students indicated they voted for a cause they believe in. 28 student leaders earned Service Leadership Certificates, and students consistently indicated they “thought critically about what makes a charity effective” and “felt a sense of purpose or meaning.” Selected quotes from students participating in the 2021 Northfield High School Charity Election are listed below.

Anonymous Testimonials: Northfield High School

"It’s made me realize I can make a difference, and that the wishes I have in my head can actually lead to something that will help make the world a better place."

"The knowledge that an organization like GiveWell exists gives me optimism about the system of charity and giving in the world."

"It really makes you think about what we can do as a community. If everyone in a group had the spare money to donate even just two dollars that’s a significant amount that can go towards so many different charities that support amazing causes. When we group together we become very powerful and can do great things."

"It opened my eyes more to the struggles outside of our world and how many people struggle and we don’t see it. So being compassionate and caring goes a long way."

"It shows these worldwide issues more in depth and it makes me think more deeply about how affected people are around the globe by these issues. I am so lucky to have a great family and house and food so why wouldn’t I give to people in need."

"I get excited for the Charity Election every year at our school. It’s something that I’m always happy with in the end. A goal of mine is to give back as much as I possibly can, because I know that I had and have a good life. I have running water, proper food nutrition, and family and friends who love me. I know that not everyone has all or even any of those things. So I always told myself to make people’s lives better, and try to help out as much as I possibly can, because I know I can help out, and I know that I’m making a big impact on someone's life; that’s my goal."

"It makes me want to donate more and be more conscious of the issues around me."

"How it doesn’t have to be made into a big deal, you can easily help people from around the world."

"It has given me an opportunity to think of my impact on the world and what I can do every day to make the world a better place."

"Makes me think about the life I live and then think about the life I could be living. And that makes me wanna help."

Student Leader Perspective: Northfield High School

As students of Northfield High School, we are very grateful to have had the opportunity to participate in the organisation of a Charity Election. Our AP Government & Politics class helped to organise and promote the 2021 Charity Election in grades 9-12. We found the experience very rewarding, and are proud to have made a positive impact on the lives of those who our contributions went towards, as well as to have broadened the interest in well-researched donations to deserving organizations here at NHS.

Our work mostly surrounded promoting the election to our fellow students, via such means as social media, PA announcements, and word of mouth. After the election, we conducted interviews and collected feedback to reflect on the effectiveness of our campaign. Overall it was a great experience (conveniently coinciding with our unit on elections and campaigns), which provided us a unique insight into the Charity Election process. We would love to work on future projects with Giving What We Can.

The Charity Election process gave us advanced insight into how campaigns and funding work, while simultaneously providing us with experience helping promote highly effective charities to the general public. It taught us leadership skills, problem solving, and was a very fun class activity, especially for a government and politics class, where there was so much to take away. Overall, the experience gave us fulfillment and knowledge while providing us with reason to promote donations to outstanding causes.

Teacher Perspective: Northfield High School

As a Civics teacher for the last 38 years, I take pride in educating my students about the importance of voting. Even though many of my students are too young to vote, I hope they consider the importance of this right and responsibility as a civic duty. Voter participation is essential to any democratic republic. Franklin D. Roosevelt once said, “Nobody will ever deprive the American people the right to vote except the American people themselves – and the only way they can do that is by not voting themselves.” No truer words have been spoken.

My AP Government & Politics class and Civics classes participated in the most recent Charity Election, sponsored by Giving What We Can. While the Charity Election is not a vote for an elected official, a ballot question, or a referendum, it is an exercise in voting. It also emphasizes the importance of being an educated voter. Walking into the voting booth for the first time, I hope my students have done their homework on the candidates or issues on the ballot. During the week leading up to the Charity Election, I had my students conduct research on the three charities on the ballot using two main questions: “Is the mission of the charity impactful? Is the mission of the charity evidence-backed?” It was an exercise that any voter should consider when deciding how to maximize their choice. The small group discussions surrounding each of the charities were lively and informative.

Nearly 700 students participated in the Charity Election at our high school. We, too, faced some of the same problems that are encountered any election day, such as voter apathy, efficacy, and turnout. Lessons learned can be used in our next Charity Election: How can we better inform voters? How do we make access to the ballot easier? How can we instill the importance of casting a vote and an educated vote? These same questions should be at the forefront of any election, whether for a charity that supports a great cause or for the next President of the United States. We should all fight for our democracy on Election Day and every day.

For an overview of the program and a link to the sponsorship application, please see the 

 if you’d like more information or are interested in running an event at your school.

High schoolers were given over $8,000 to donate to charity. Here's what they chose.

Grace Adams

It's almost the end of the year --- we're wishing you a happy holiday and new year!

Many of us spend part of the holidays reflecting on how we can make a bigger impact in the new year. If there is one feeling we'd like you to take into 2022, it's a sense of excitement and optimism for the incredible opportunity you have to do good in the world by giving effectively.

In fact, we might be in one of the best periods in history to help others, as argued in this 

 by Julian Hazell, a team member at Giving What We Can. Julian's main claim is that pairing a sense of enthusiasm with the wealth, technology, and knowledge we have in the present can allow us to do more good than most other altruists in the past could've dreamed of doing.

We'd also like to invite you to participate in our 

. Whether you are a member already giving 10% or more, or whether you've just signed up to our mailing list, 

 has at least one thing you can do to increase your impact in 2022.

In the meantime, here are some key important updates:

. Reporting your donations really helps us understand the impact that our community is making.

 which we launched at the start of December. The holidays are a great time to 

 this holiday season to give a donation as a gift.

Join us for our annual celebration events in 

A great way to introduce people to effective giving over the holidays is through Giving Multiplier. They have provided a special link to give you and your friends a high donation matching rate 

https://givingmultiplier.org/gwwc/24BC9A00

 to include our new explainer video, Effective Giving Guide, and our research summaries for 

We hope you enjoy the rest of this newsletter, which covers our upcoming events, the latest from the effective altruism community, and news and updates about relevant cause areas.

 pledge in August 2020. It's a bit trickier when you're a freelancer and your salary fluctuates month to month, so sometimes I donate more than 10% and sometimes less, but I'm extremely proud and grateful to be able to do it. 

Thank you to member Catherine Bennett for being an advocate for Giving What We Can, and sharing

We will be celebrating those who have made pledges in 2022 as well as the milestones of our members over the years in our Meetups and Celebration Events, we would love to have you join us.


Jan 8 22:00 UTC - 5.00pm New York, 9.00am (Jan 9) Sydney


Jan 9 9:30 UTC - 9.30am London, 3.00pm Mumbai

Effective Giving Open Forum (Europe/Asia)


Jan 20 9:00 UTC - 8pm Sydney, 9am London, 2.30pm Mumbai

Book Club: Doing Good Better (5 week reading group)

 for 10:30am UTC and 7:30pm UTC
Jan 16, Jan 26, Feb 2, Feb 9, Feb 16

Giving What We Can has recently been featured on 

2021 Arthur Ashe Humanitarian Of The Year

"How to know your donations are doing the most good"

 has been launched as a way for donors to use crypto to easily make donations to EA aligned orgs and initiatives

" from The Happiness Lab podcast with Dr Laurie Santos, interviewing Prof Josh Greene of Giving Multiplier

The why and how of starting and running a workplace/professional group

, by Anneke Pogarell and Jona Glade, EA Forum

GiveWell shares some of their staff members' 

personal donations for giving season 2021

"Should charities spend your money now --- or save it to help people later?"

 by Giving What We Can members By Kelsey Piper and Siobhan McDonough, Vox

Process Leading to our 2021 Recommendations

We Will Look Back on This Age of Cruelty to Animals in Horror

, Faunalytics (new recommended charity for 2021)

The "humanewashing" of America's meat and dairy, explained

, By Allison Rockey and Kenny Torrella, Vox

Reductions in Total Deworming Treatment Figures Represent Progress Toward Deworm the World's Goal: Here's Why

 2021 by looking at past distributions, future distributions, and other exciting developments

 by Julia Galef for her podcast Rationally Speaking, where they discuss existential risk

Founder's Pledge released their new report 

"Navigating the changing landscape of climate philanthropy"

Andrew Yang was interviewed on the 80,000 Hours podcast about 

our very long-term future, and other topics most politicians won't touch

Introducing a New Course on the Economics of AI

A post shared by Giving What We Can (@giving_what_we_can)

 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 

December 2021 Newsletter

Julian Hazell

Imagine an altruistic person from 200 years ago. How much good could they realistically do if they put their mind (and heart) to it?

For starters, they likely lived in extreme poverty like 90% of others at the time.

 And even if they were in the top 10%, two things would stop them: they probably wouldn’t know what the biggest problems were outside of their immediate surroundings, and they probably wouldn't have any way of making progress on these problems even if they did know what they were.

Yet compared to just 200 years ago, we’ve made extraordinary progress on our ability to help others, but today’s donors often don’t take full advantage this opportunity. That’s a huge problem. Luckily, we can solve it by recognising that we’re in a better position to do good than any generation before us, and then taking action.

Today's technology gives us a unique advantage

The tools and knowledge needed to be impactful are sitting right in front of us. But without enthusiasm, we might not use them.

Blog

Company Pledge Profile: Carpenter & Co

High schoolers were given over $8,000 to donate to charity. Here's what they chose.

December 2021 Newsletter

Why we're in the best position to do good in history

Effective Giving Day 2021: Maximising your charitable impact

Join us for Effective Giving Day 2021

Giving to Ineffective Charities is Psychologically Tempting. Here's Why We Should Resist.

October 2021 Newsletter

Member Profile: Andrew Leeke

Geetanjali Basarkod: Talking about effective altruism and giving effectively