{"id":61,"date":"2022-08-15T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-08-15T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/building-philanthropic-plan-how-to-give-back\/"},"modified":"2025-09-05T16:44:15","modified_gmt":"2025-09-05T16:44:15","slug":"building-philanthropic-plan-how-to-give-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/building-philanthropic-plan-how-to-give-back\/","title":{"rendered":"3 Steps for Building Your Personal Philanthropic Plan"},"content":{"rendered":"
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One of the charitable giving techniques mentioned in this piece\u2014the utilitarian \u201ceffective altruism\u201d\u2014became associated with fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried a few months after this piece was originally published because, as it turns out, his trillionaire aspirations were a house of cards (built with cards that belonged to customers). Go figure. Regardless, to my knowledge, the movement itself (that says one should try to maximize good in the world through their charitable giving; not exactly scandalous stuff) is still a viable perspective through which to view giving. Here\u2019s <\/em>more<\/em><\/a> from a writer who breaks down EA\u2019s relationship to Scam Bankrun-Fraud.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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As doom and gloom as things can feel sometimes when we have access to the entirety of the world\u2019s atrocities at our fingertips, the reality is that circumstances have gotten objectively better over time. After all, the number of people living below the World Bank poverty line has more than halved since 1990<\/a>. That\u2019s a statistic worth celebrating, right?! <\/p>\n

Simultaneously, being constantly aware of the number of problems that still need addressing can be overwhelming. The \u201canalysis paralysis\u201d of realizing there are endless worthy causes that could benefit from your money (animal cruelty! Starving children! The homeless!) can make it difficult to know where (and how much) to give to have an impact. But part of the fun of being a #RichGirl is being able to positively impact the world around you with the one thing that\u2014frankly\u2014solves a lot of problems: Money. <\/p>\n

My original thesis for this post was that you should choose the one thing that makes you feel<\/em> really moved; for me, it\u2019s animal cruelty. We\u2019ve adopted a dozen cats from shelters or the streets over the years who were abused, which makes it a particularly salient issue for me, as I stand with the #kitties. <\/p>\n

Or maybe you watched the show Maid on Netflix and felt moved to find your local women\u2019s shelter after seeing how grueling the system can be for someone who\u2019s been emotionally, physically, and financially abused (just me?).<\/p>\n

But there\u2019s an obvious shortcoming with this approach: You won\u2019t necessarily choose a cause where your dollars will have the most efficient impact, and majority of the time, the causes that are poignant to you<\/em> are likely poignant to others, and therefore receive more attention (and may need<\/em> your help less).<\/p>\n

The reality of effective giving may be more rational and efficient: <\/p>\n

It sounds silly, but sometimes I think about it this way: There\u2019s undoubtedly enough money (and resources) in the world for everyone to have a roof over their head and food to eat. Some people have way more than they know what to do with, and others don\u2019t have enough\u2014it\u2019s more of an allocation problem<\/strong> than an \u201cinsufficiency<\/strong>\u201d problem. <\/p>\n

While reading about the most effective ways to give, one site called Effective Altruism<\/span><\/a> noted that it\u2019s easy to give to causes you feel passionately about (usually because you\u2019ve had personal experience with it), but that means you may be overlooking some of the most important issues of our time that are also worth considering where your hard-earned #dollhairs may go a lot further. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Step 1.<\/strong> Determining the cause.<\/h2>\n

So the first key decision is this: Do I want to give based on my #feels about an issue (giving feels good and can encourage us to continue doing so!) and donate to causes that are meaningful to me, or do I want to take a more data-driven approach that\u2019s more about \u201cimpact?\u201d <\/p>\n

Neither one is more \u201cright\u201d than the other, and if you land on the former, you can identify the cause that means a lot to you. Done! But if you don\u2019t <\/em>have a cause that you feel super passionately about (or you\u2019re just obsessed with efficiency), giving based on a rational determination of impact can be an excellent choice. <\/p>\n

Effective Altruism highlights a few things to look for in \u201chigh-impact\u201d charities: <\/p>\n