The College Donor Digest
FAR Published in Chronicle of Philanthropy
December 20, 2022
The Chronicle of Philanthropy, a leading philanthropic news outlet, recently published an essay by FAR Associate Director Rebecca Richards titled “Effective Altruism and Sam Bankman-Fried Share a Fundamental Flaw—They Both Ignore Human Nature.”
Ms. Richards adds to the trending national conversation on effective altruism, a growing but tendentious philanthropy movement. Effective altruism, EA for short, asserts that donating to charities that seek to alleviate physical suffering at the lowest possible cost is the most ethical way to give.
“Here’s the problem,” Ms. Richards argues. “Giving that addresses only physical or material needs ignores the reality that people are more than a collection of atoms. At a minimum, we are also social.”
Effective altruism has been the subject of a heated debate in the philanthropy world, in part due to the fraud charges against one of its most vocal proponents, Sam Bankman-Fried. The 30-year-old founder and CEO of the now-bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange, FTX, committed to spending the FTX Foundation’s funds “to do as much good” as possible, but is accused of defrauding investors and customers in the process.
Ms. Richards writes, “Effective altruism and Sam Bankman-Fried share a flaw—they both ignore the human side of the equation. Bankman-Fried’s carelessness with decisions that affected thousands of investors shows a disregard for the people he harmed. Similarly, effective altruism, in aiming to help as many people as possible, fails to appreciate the fullness of who people are in both heart and body.”
Read the full article here.
For more on effective altruism, the Wall Street Journal published an opinion article by Daniel Henninger on November 30 in support of the movement. Philanthropy Daily released an article a few days later by Jonathan Hannah, arguing for a smaller-scale approach to philanthropy.
