Hi, I'm looking to donate with this main goal: Help animals currently suffering from human exploitation as effectively as possible & move the world a step closer to a humane world where humans no longer eat & kill animals
Options I am thinking about:
a) Donate to a major fund like ACE Recommended Charity fund or EA Animal Welfare fund
- Advantage: Organizations are externally vetted, spreading the money out increases the chance money goes to truly effective orgas.
- Disadvantage (to me): Many of the included orgas in these funds seem to focus on stopping specific practices, not abolishing animal exploitation altogether. (Certainly more realistic but doesn't sit quite right with me)
b) Donate to a specific organiszation out of those recommended by the two funds mentioned above
- Advantage: I can pick whichever organization's approach I like best
- Disadvantage: Risk I pick one that is less effective than the others included / miss the most effective one
c) Donate to Veganuary
- Advantage: In polls on why people go Vegan it is often among the leading causes, so seems to me like to organization that is most effective at getting people to go Vegan / Getting us closer to a vegan world (Which I feel more comfortable with than for example helping finance shrimp stunning machines)
- Disadvantage: Not listed by ACE or in the Animal Welfare fund, very hard to evaluate how many people truly are Vegan long term because of them.
d) Donate to a "long shot" idea like the Good Food Institute
- Advantage: I feel like cultivated meat has the highest overall chance of significantly reducing the total amount of animals killed by humans in my lifetime, as long as it doesn't get banned. That's where I'm thinking of donating to a pro Cultivated Meat Organization like GFI.
- Disadvantage: Very risky, I feel like there is a decent chance it will still get banned, or will be shunned by consumers, or will never be cheap enough to compete with "conventional" meat, in which case the donation would be a waste.
So yeah, that's where I'm at. The "easy option" would be splitting my donation between all of them, but that feels like just not making a decision. Ideally I would want to donate to one of these Ideas with some confidence of it being most effective, but I'm not sure I'll reach that point. Any thoughts/advice welcome. If you know of any other funds or organizations you feel or have data for being the most effective, please share.
Thanks!
Also posted in the EA subreddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/EffectiveAltruism/comments/1x7mqdz/what_would_you_all_say_is_the_most_effecitve_way/
These are all great options, IMO - good for you for donating for farm animal welfare!
In case of use to you, here are some of my reflections on two of your concerns w/r/t alt proteins:
Thanks!