“Why I donate: some selfish reasons” by Kestrel🔸

<p> This year, I have given money to a range of EA cause areas. Most of it has either been towards global health and development, or EA infrastructure I believe does or could lead to effective fundraising for global health and development.</p><p> The following are a list of very selfish personal reasons why I like to do this. I feel the selfless reasons have been adequately covered elsewhere, so I'm intentionally leaving them off.</p><p><strong> I get to ignore ineffective charity adverts.</strong></p><p> In order to genuinely convince myself that I am helping, I want to see things like well-regarded cost-effectiveness metrics. I do not like heartstring-tugging advertising or vague statements of "should", particularly to do with orphanages. They make me feel a bit ill. So I am glad that donating effectively gives me a very good justification to ignore them.</p><p><strong> It is a marker of my politics.</strong></p><p> I don't believe that poor people I don't know in rich countries are 100× more worthy of my help [i.e. worthy of help that's 100× less cost-efficient] than poor people in poor countries. This is because I don't believe anyone is 100× more worthy than anyone. Choosing to donate based on the cost-effectiveness of [...]</p> <p>---</p><p><strong>Outline:</strong></p><p>(00:36) I get to ignore ineffective charity adverts.</p><p>(01:02) It is a marker of my politics.</p><p>(01:36) Giving expresses abundance.</p><p>(02:32) Ive stopped valuing things by how expensive they are.</p><p>(03:17) People have stopped (openly) judging me about some of my life choices.</p><p>(03:56) I get to hang out with cool people and be in the cool kids club.</p><p>(04:16) It helps me genuinely care about helping people.</p><p>(04:37) It motivates me at my job.</p><p>(05:01) By giving effectively, I can do great things.</p> <p>---</p> <p><b>First published:</b><br/> December 12th, 2025 </p> <p><b>Source:</b><br/> <a href="https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/84PYRzFCeqZGfgv3N/why-i-donate-some-selfish-reasons?utm_source=TYPE_III_AUDIO&utm_medium=Podcast&utm_content=Source+URL+in+episode+description&utm_campaign=ai_narration" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/84PYRzFCeqZGfgv3N/why-i-donate-some-selfish-reasons</a> </p> <p>---</p> <p>Narrated by <a href="https://type3.audio/?utm_source=TYPE_III_AUDIO&utm_medium=Podcast&utm_content=Narrated+by+TYPE+III+AUDIO&utm_term=ea_forum&utm_campaign=ai_narration" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">TYPE III AUDIO</a>.</p>