1. The Science Behind Effective
Charitable Giving
ADAM CROMAN

2. ADAM CROMAN
Charitable giving is one of the greatest hallmarks of
our culture. But donating money to charities is a
less straightforward process than one might think,
and with so many issues of varying severity, and
different ways to solve each of them, it’s not clear
how a person can make the biggest impact with
their charitable giving.

3. ADAM CROMAN
EFFECTIVE ALTRUISM
a social movement dedicated to helping individuals make
informed decisions when giving to charities.
Donations are decided through scientific evaluation of an organization’s success,
and effective altruism finds which charities have the most potential for impact and
identifies the best solutions for charities to carry out

4. ADAM CROMAN
STEP 1CHOOSE ORGANIZATION
Givers must perform research
in order to select charities
based on a few criteria: the scale
of the issue at hand, how
“neglected” it is, and how likely
the issue is to be solved.

5. ADAM CROMAN
EXAMPLE: THE SCALE OF
THE ISSUE
Issues of blindness
and HIV affect
nearly identical
amounts of people,
about 36 million
each.
However, a study
conducted by the
WHO concluded
that people living
with untreated HIV
exhibit a disease
burden 1.5 times
higher than blind
individuals.
In this case, HIV is a
larger scale issue
than blindness,
despite affect similar
numbers of people,
and an effective
altruist would prefer
to donate to charities
combating HIV.

6. ADAM CROMAN
A
“NEGLECTED”
ISSUE
is one that’s scale is
measurably large, but
has less funds being
donated to it.

7. ADAM CROMAN
Solvability for an issue is
important, but once knowing that
success is achievable, the goal
should then shift to discovering
the most cost-effective solution.

8. ADAM CROMAN
While effective charitable giving
and effective altruism are more
likely sources for scientific
analysis, there is also scientific
data linked to the basic act of
giving. When a person gives, the
brain’s pleasure and reward
centers light up as if the giver
was the recipient, and the body
floods with oxytocin, a hormone
that lowers stress and makes a
person feel more connected
with others. Simply put, it feels
good to give.

9. ADAM CROMAN
IN CONCLUSION:
Giving and helping others is seemingly ingrained in the
human psyche, and effective altruism is a sign that we are
always looking for ways to better do so. Any charitable
person hopes that their contribution is important; by
researching and using the scientific techniques behind
effective charitable giving, that goal is more attainable than
ever.

10. THANK YOU!
ADAMCROMAN.COM