Giving Compass' Take:

• Effective Altruism is not a new and innovative movement but is gaining traction from the younger, wealthy, scientific population. However, we have to ask ourselves about the limitations of effective altruism and if this movement is really pushing the dialogue forward around giving and philanthropy. 

• Is there any room for collaboration within the effective altruism movement with other philanthropists? 

• Read about other reasons of why effective altruism has some potential flaws. 

Some ideas always seem to keep coming back, like the proverbial bad penny. Ideas in philanthropy and charity are no exception.

For instance, in the world of philanthropy, we have for many years been subjected to experts who would like to tell others how to be more effective with their donations. Not how nonprofits can be effective with the money they receive, mind you, but how the philanthropist or donor can be more effective with their charity.

Recently, in the Economist, an article explores the potential of “effective altruism,” asking if it can “maximise the bang for each charitable buck.” The term “effective altruism” may sound like a new idea being surfaced but, in essence, it is not despite the article’s contention that it is a “nascent movement.” If it is nascent, it has been so for decades, and maybe we don’t need to throw it another shower.

In essence, the article is pointing out that a growing—always “growing” and never grown—number of “empirically minded do-gooders” would like to make charitable donations based on metrics and analyses of return on investment (ROI), similar to those an investor would use when choosing to put money into a business.

The point is that donors who use the effective altruism model want to use metrics of success to guide their giving. It is giving from the head, not the heart. Effective altruists are apparently aware that their movement may have limited appeal. It seems most readily adopted by the young, wealthy, scientifically minded people of Silicon Valley than by anyone else.

Read the full article about effective altruism by Rob Meiksins at Nonprofit Quarterly