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Christopher B's avatar

I'm sure there are people who aren't going to want to hear this but this is why people over history have used governments and religious organizations to supply public goods, not individual philanthropists. All governments, even the most totalitarian, must have at least the grudging consent of the governed providing the feedback you talked about above. Religious organizations generally have the same need or desire to build wide popular support. In the absence of a profit motive or a need to have a broad base of support to keep the lights on, what gets built are totalitarian feifs. The EAs are not proposing some new form of enlightened gifting but providing a justification for keeping in place what we can already see is largely not working for society but does work to give ultra-wealthy donors outsized influence. It probably bought a Presidential election.

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Yancey Ward's avatar

Once your charitable work tries to expand out beyond your own locality, it is far more likely to fail than to succeed. The information problem is unsolvable beyond that level. Donate to your local foodbanks/goods bank, but do it with actual food and goods, not cash. Contact your local private schools and donate to them specifically to pay the tuition of students by economic class. Do the same with your local colleges and universities. Contact your local medical facilities and offer to pay for necessary medical interventions for people without insurance. Or start your very own food banks, schools, and medical facilities that give away goods and services for free on demonstrated economic need.

Keep it simple, keep it local.

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