I’m Luke Freeman, and I currently serve as the executive director of Giving What We Can (GWWC). You’re welcome to ask me anything! I’ll start answering questions on Thursday June 15th.
Logistics/practical instructions:
- Please post your questions as comments on this post. The earlier you share your questions, the easier it will be for me to get to them.
- Please upvote questions you'd most like answered.
- I’ll start answering questions on June 15th. Questions posted after that are less likely to get answers.
- I’m excited about this, but can’t commit to answering all the questions. If you want to share many questions, consider sharing and/or upvoting which ones you’re particularly interested in.
- (This is an “AMA” — you can explore others here.)
Some context:
- I’ve been leading the team at Giving What We Can since 2020.
- I’ve been giving based on EA principles myself since about 2011 (pledger at both GWWC and Founders Pledge) and actively engaged with the EA community since 2016.
- GWWC is a community of effective givers who are on a mission to create a culture where giving effectively and significantly is a norm.
- GWWC hosts several giving pledges (best known for The Pledge to give 10% of lifetime earnings to effective charities), hosts a multi-country cause-diverse donation platform, provides advice on effective giving, and hosts popular tools and resources such as the How Rich Am I calculator, Giving Games and Charity Elections.
- GWWC does work to help support the broader effective giving community (e.g. information sharing, coordination and incubation of projects, research projects like evaluating the evaluators).
- GWWC helped to found the EA community and what is now called Effective Ventures Foundation (formerly Centre for Effective Altruism). I can speak about my experience running a project housed within EV.
- Read more about GWWC’s direction and strategy
- I’ve advocated for “big tent” effective altruism.
- I feel that EA could learn a lot from other sectors and could benefit from engaging more deeply with them.
- I feel strongly that effective giving should be a key part of effective altruism and likely has a broader appeal and accessibility.
- Prior to GWWC I worked predominantly in tech entrepreneurship and marketing (across private and public sectors) with a focus on growth.
- Outside of Giving What We Can I’ve been in leadership positions in Effective Altruism Australia, EAGxAustralia (organised two conferences) Good Ancestors Project & Good Ancestors Policy, Global Shapers Community (Sydney chapter), EA Sydney, Heart for the Homeless, Australian Skeptics, advised or volunteered with various other social-impact focused projects, and once ran for parliament.
- My academic background is in media and communications (did my thesis on political communication focusing on deliberative democracy and voting reform).
- Other than these things I’d be happy to talk about:
- Managing or working in a remote international team (based outside of EA hub cities) based in Australia.
- My experience going from employee #1 to larger teams (multiple times in different contexts).
- My experience volunteering and/or managing volunteers
- My experience in for-purpose entrepreneurship.
- Challenges and strategies for mental/physical health and wellbeing (e.g. recovering from and mitigating burnout, managing EA/non-EA life, starting a family etc).
- My experiences coming from a non-typical academic background for EA leadership (e.g. not a major in philosophy, economics, or science).
- My views on EA topics/cruxes.
- Dropping out of school at age 15 and pursuing non-traditional career paths
- Anything else that takes your fancy based on GWWC’s work, my post history, my LinkedIn or personal website.
This post is part of EA Strategy Fortnight. You can see other Strategy Fortnight posts here.
When are you gonna go on the 80,000 Hours podcast, Luke? :)
Thanks Julian! But that's a question for 80,000 Hours 😀 If I get an invite, I'll let you know!
Does most of GWWC's impact come from a very few wealthy or high-income members?
Thanks Imma, great question!
It's true that our donation distribution at Giving What We Can (GWWC) follows a 'heavy-tailed' pattern. According to our most recent impact evaluation, less than 1% of our donors contribute about 50% of our recorded donations.
Yet, I would stress that this doesn't paint the complete picture of our impact. Although this less-than-1% represents a small-to-medium group of larger donors, the other half of our donations, spread among tens of thousands of other donors, is no less crucial.
Here's some reasons why:
- Direct impact of these donations: Each of us has an opportunity to save and improve lives using our donations. That's a really important and valuable thing for people to do. It doesn't matter if someone else is able to give more, your donations still have a direct impact and together you're sharing in an even bigger collective impact.
- Reliability and diversity of funding: Donations from a broader base tend to be more consistent year to year. For instance, we experienced a surge in donations from larger donors in 2021, but then witnessed a significant drop-off in 2022-2023. Throughout these fluctuations, the regular donations from our wider community provi
... (read more)What's one area you disagree with most other leaders of core EA (or meta) organizations? Which parts of their views are you most sympathetic to (or, for your own views, uncertain about)?
Thanks Vaidehi. That's a tough one as it's often a matter of who and to what degree but generally speaking (it's probably unsurprising and I'm a bit biassed) I've most often disagreed quite strongly with the degree to which effective giving has been deprioritised or dismissed within other core-EA meta organisations.
I'm very sympathetic (downright agree with) to these parts though:
However, I do think that at time's it has got to a pretty extreme level of aversion to talking about giving as a path to impact. That being said I'm seeing many people change their tune over the last 6 months as the funding constraints (experienced by many others) have started to hit them more personally.
The other one that comes to mind is the importance of things like governance and being leligibly good and seen as “safe” from from the outside. Views on this seem to be evolving more recently too.
As someone who occupies a 'leadership' position in EA, what is your mentality and approach to fostering a new generating of EA leaders, and making sure that we have a bigger, stronger and more diverse group of 'leaders' within the community?
*I don't necessarily love the use of the words leader and leadership, but think it is a helpful and simple shorthand in this instance.
Thanks Akhil! Fostering a new generation of leaders in the EA community is something I think about often, and it's something I feel is critical for the continued growth and impact of EA principles.
Firstly, I wholeheartedly agree that we need a more diverse and broad group of people in leadership positions within the community.
Here are some ways I try:
- Promoting a wide array of voices: At GWWC, we regularly highlight various members of our community through our member stories and ambassador program. This helps spotlight the work and ideas of individuals who might not otherwise have a platform, while also broadening the range of voices and perspectives being heard.
- Hiring diversely and inclusively: We hire from anywhere that has an internet connection and give weight towards candidates who can bring fresh and unique perspectives to our work. We also prioritise providing employee benefits that help retain and nurture talent.
- Facilitating opportunity and growth: When I become aware of opportunities such as job openings, speaking events, or grant possibilities, I proactively refer individuals who I believe are suitable. I aim to open doors for those who might otherwise be overlooked,
... (read more)What is the best reason to think that GWWC isn't good for the world, in your view?
Currently I see that GWWC is registered in the US, UK and the Netherlands, and there exist country-specific regranting organisations in 11 other countries where one can also avail of some sort of local tax deduction. Do you plan on (if you are able to) expanding the number of countries whose donors can avail of tax deductions, either by getting GWWC registered in those countries or by helping to set up, or link to GWWC, regranting organisations in more countries?
Did you ever feel like the EA community wasn't a place for you? What changed?
Good question Vaidehi 😀
There've been times when I've felt somewhat out of place within the EA community, particularly in spaces (physical or virtual) heavily dominated by top-tier university graduates (with economics, philosophy, or science PhDs) who are from/based in UK/US hub cities. Similarly, when I've been in spaces where people have doubled down hard on a particularly narrow worldview or set of conclusions that I think reasonable people would disagree with them on.
However, I've found that the EA community is wonderfully diverse in the corners where I've spent most of my time, filled with people from all sorts of backgrounds and experiences who have a variety of worldviews. Although I fit into many of the stereotypical demographics myself – male, white, in my thirties, university-educated – it's these moments of discomfort that remind me of the importance of striving for a more inclusive community.
In fact, these feelings of being out of place are often a wake-up call. They remind me that others might be feeling the same way or even more so, and that helps fuel my commitment to making our community as inclusive as possible. After all, our collective impact will only be m... (read more)
Who is your favourite GWWC team member? :)
(This can include current and former team members)
Annie 🐈⬛
Are there any lessons that GWWC has learnt that you think would be useful for EA community builders to know and remember?
How worth you think it is community builders emphasizing GWWC as a milestone/next step? I’m also curious about how your view on this evolved over time (my sense is that it was a more emphasized milestone in the past)
What are GWWC's plans for funding itself over the next five years ? E.g. How much do you aim to diversify from OP (how much comes from them currently), and what challenges have you found in trying to fundraise for internal ops (if any)?
What do you think of the national GWWC-like organizations, such as Effektiv Spenden in Germany or Doneer Effectief in the Netherlands? They are currently really similar to GWWC and recommend basically the same charities as GWWC or GiveWell. Should they maybe take a slightly different approach to researching charities or should they just be the national version of GWWC to get more people on board without doing their own research? Finally, do you think that there could be very effective charities operating outside the UK/US that GWWC is currently missing? Does GWWC research charities in continental Europe? If so, what are some examples; if not, what barriers exist (besides the obvious language one)?
As one of the people thinking most about how to communicate EA ideas, what have you learned / can you share with us as wisdom?
(First up: You've done a great job on podcasts and presentations too! Would love for you to share what you've learned below. Would also any other comments/perspectives from other readers.)
Thanks Johannes for the question (especially because I'm keen on helping people to advocate and communicate more)!
While it is true that I think about it a lot, I've gotta say that we have definitely not not figured this out, and that really keeps me up at night. I think we (me personally, GWWC specifically, and EA in general) are a long way from being exceptional at communicating EA ideas.
For example, a tension often exists between sparking initial interest, where intriguing, counterintuitive concepts like earning to give tend to shine, and cultivating deep understanding, which is often best achieved via a Socratic style of discourse — engaging individuals on their terms and building upon shared values. There's a similar tension between conveying depth nuance verses simple repeatable ideas.
I worked with Geetanjali Basarkod and Matti Wilks (with more help from others) on this guide to talking about effective altruism and effective giving which goes into great detail and also leverages research.
Off ... (read more)
Do you think that most of GWWC's impact will come from money moved, or from introducing people to EA who then change their career paths, or something else? (I can't tell immediately tell from your strategy, which mentions both.)
What are some effective giving orgs you'd like to see get started? Any nearby gaps that you don't expect GWWC to fill?
Does GWWC currently have a funding gap?
How much would you need to fund the activities you’d ideally like to do over the next two years?
Thanks for asking! We need to raise roughly ~£2.4m between now and December to reach our target runway through to March 2025 with our current budget. There are plenty of things we're not doing (e.g. hiring more research capacity, fundraisers, or a country manager in key locations like the UK) due to funding constraints.
Programs we house like the Charity Elections program are fundraised for separately too and have struggled to get funding through the limited number of sources for this kind of work.
Additionally, we'd love to be in a position to do more active grantmaking in setting up or scaling up new effective giving organisations (e.g. launching in new markets).
I also wrote some more details in my response to Vaidehi's question 😀
--
If anyone would like to support our work, you can do so here and I'd be more than happy to chat on a call or respond to questions here on by email (luke at givingwhatwecan.org).
What is your view on frugality? Is it helpful is people are more frugal to donate (a bit) more?
Are replacement pledge pins available for purchase? (didn't lose mine yet but I would feel better knowing I have that option if I do, my pledge pin is my most expensive possession I own xd so am a bit hesitant taking it outside)
We’ll send a replacement if you lose it! 😀 We'd much rather you wear it and risk losing it than keep it in a sock drawer for fear of losing it!
If that happens just shoot us an email :)
What are some semi-plausible, but unlikely-to-happen projects you could imagine GWWC pursuing in 5 years time?
Where do you donate to and why?
I started mostly in global health and then included some animal welfare. The vast majority of my donation in the past ~6 years has been EA/EG meta. Especially boring stuff that no one else wants to pay for (e.g. paying for accounting, audit and legal fees for an effective giving or community building organisation) but I find the multiplier mindset satisfying. That's mostly been EA Australia and Giving What We Can. I've also sponsored a lot of giving games and charity elections.
Other than that I have a mix of more direct organisations I support (e.g. GFI, AMF) on a regular(ish) basis. These also make it much easier for me to have entry level discussions about effective giving with people as a donor myself.
As another form of advocacy I quite like giving donations as gifts, thank yous, or follow ups (donating to something on someone's behalf after having a conversation with them about it).
Finally I'll often backstop or seed things with personal funds when I have high context (e.g. EAGxAustralia conferences, donor matching campaigns, early stage projects) so that they happen regardless but I hope another donor will step in or a grant will come through.
If I was less high context specifi... (read more)
Do you have an opinion on various proposals to use GWWC pledge status ( + at least self-reported fulfillment of the pledge) as a proxy for membership in the EA community, for purposes of various governance reform proposals? (Examples include electing some or all EVF trustees, a democratic allocation of some donor funds, etc.)
The specific intent of this question is to ask about the advantages/disadvantages of pledge status as a proxy for community membership, any potential positive or negative effects of such a proxy on GWWC, etc. rather than the merits of any proposed governance reform -- although of course your thoughts on the latter would be welcome as well.
How important is it for (small-ish) donors to be knowledgeable about effective giving? They can just defer to charity evaluators.
If GWWC goes very well over the next five years (say 90th percentile), what would that look like?
What's the most challenging part about your current role?
Among the members who have explained their reasons for taking The Pledge, which quote did inspire you the most?
Hi Luke, I'm curious to hear how would you define success for GWWC in five years' time? E.g. do you have a target number of pledgers?
Do you think "effective giving" is a good name for the giving side of EA? What other names have you considered (if any)?
Why does GWWC handle bank transfers in the way it does? I (and some others I've talked to) are much more used to bank transfers being handled how GiveWell does them, where you enter your bank information and the recipient initiates the ACH transfer. But GWWC does it by providing their bank information and requiring that the donor initiate the ACH transfer. Is there a particular reason for doing it this way?
Did you see this post about an Earn to Learn pledge? (ie. aimed at early career folk who might be better working a normal professional job before moving into direct work)
What did you think about it?
https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/qnYm5MtBJcKyvYvfo/an-earn-to-learn-pledge
I want to donate as much as I can, but how much is too much/ ultimately counterproductive?
For example
What is your view on funders circles? Ie. Mental health, Nonlinear Network, Farmed Animal Funders, ect.
(PS. These are just examples, my question is about funders circles in general, not these specific ones)
To what extent can GWWC or similar communities help solve the problem that philanthropy is undemocratic (very wealthy people can have a lot of influence on society, but people have not elected them).
Hi Luke, what's your favourite Taylor Swift song? Thanks <3333
How much do GWWC volunteers do (not sure if this is easy to quantify), and how do you pick projects for them to work on?
Do you ever hand off projects from team members to volunteers or vice versa (and when)?
How much does GWWC prioritize getting people to commit to the GWWC pledge specifically, as opposed to spreading earnest commitment to the twin ideas of:
1. Higher than normal levels of charitable giving?
2. Selecting recipients of charitable giving based on (secular) impact?
For example, if the result of GWWC's advocacy was convincing a profoundly religious person to donate more to their church's missionary activities, believing that this is the most effective way to save souls, would GWWC consider that a success?
Should the idea of 'effective giving' be discoupled from 'effective altruism'? To what extent?
E.g. should I be able to be a highly engaged effective giver (let's say, further pledge) without having to touch 'effective altruism' at all?
Do you see different attitudes to donating in different countries or cultures? How do you accommodate to as many of them as possible?
We can imagine many ways of specifying a pledge that is substantial and targeted at effective charities.
One example might be a pledge for which the fraction of income to be donated is itself a function of income (perhaps a 0% donation is called for if you make < $10,000/year, and a max of 50% is called for if you make > $100 million/year, with the % of income scaling in between these bounds). But that of course is much more than "10% of income."
How do you think on a meta-level about the tension between the need for simplicity and the risk of oversimplification in GWWC's messaging?
Part of GWWC's mission is to create a culture of giving, but as you note in comments, a huge proportion of your donations come from the wealthy. How helpful do you think it would be if we thought about creating cultures of giving, with a focus on the intersectional - considering the ways that income, race and ethnicity, religion, nationality, and so on intersect with habits of charitable giving?
What role(s) do you see GWWC playing in onboarding new people into EA? Are people finding GWWC's website as their first point of contact with EA, perhaps discovered via Google? Are they reading books like What We Owe The Future and finding it that way? Are they discovering GWWC after onboarding into EA some other way?
It seems to me like there are two somewhat common critical interpretations of the 10% GWWC pledge.
Do you think that the 10% GWWC pledge is, in fact, often interpreted that way? If so, do you think there is any value in modifying the pledge ... (read more)
What things can people in 'normal' jobs do for the world, besides donating? What things are well worth their time?
Hi Luke, are you open to getting an Executive Assistant from Africa? Specifically Ghana?
What do regular donors need to stay committed to donating over the course of their lives?