> ...rich people were giving the most money, but also giving to causes that didn't need the money or weren't really "charitable" by most understanding.
How do you figure out which causes need the most money (have "more room for funding", in EA terms) or are "really" charitable by most understanding? You need to rank impact across possible outcomes and judge some more relevant than others, which is what GiveWell and Open Philanthropy Project do.
I'm somewhat confused at the question only becomes it comes across as a defense of GiveWell, which implies I was attacking it, which was not at all intended.
But hoping I'm misreading and engaging anyway, "room for funding" varies in the specifics across domains, but involves some combination of unmet need plus organizational capacity to meet that need. Try not to get hung up on the object-level examples because I have no idea if these are true now or were true in the past, but I think they're close to real examples from 15 years ago or so last time I cared about this. Imagine you've got 50000 people in some equatorial country living in places scurged by malaria. 5000 of them have nets. Some charity exists with the supply chains, connections to manufacturers, and local distributors such that they could easily giving 20000 additional people net, but they simply don't have the money to buy them. Conversely, imagine pancreatic cancer research is in a state whereby there may be plenty of fruitful areas of research not currently being explored, but every person on the planet qualified to conduct such research is 100% booked with whatever it is they're currently doing for at least the next five years. Then it is more effective to donate to the former than the latter, at least for the next five years, at least up to the point that there is still sufficient unmet need and capacity in the former. Again emphasizing that they're not static conditions.
As for "really" charitable, as always, it's a judgment call. I assume most people would find poverty assistance and medical aid to be charitable, but funding college sports not as much, in spite of both qualifying for tax deductions under US tax law. I can't guarantee all people will agree, but somethig like GiveWell is nonetheless premised on the assumption that some outcomes are more morally valuable than others. Curing children of parasites that might kill them or severely impede mental development is more morally valuable than the civic pride and bragging rights of Oregon alumni and the local fan base.
But at the same time, just as I say above I don't think we want a world with no art, I also don't think we want a world with no sports. I can't speak for GiveWell, but certainly I don't think the correct amount of money to donate to amateur sports or art museums is zero. In line with the origin coming from hedge funds, instead of all or nothing thinking like that, we should think in terms of portfolio allocations. Overweight high-QALY early childhood health interventions and underweight adding $10 million to Harvard's $50 billion endowment. Exactly how much? I have no idea. Each person should decide that for themselves, but I still think there's value in bringing up the topic and starting the discussion.
How do you figure out which causes need the most money (have "more room for funding", in EA terms) or are "really" charitable by most understanding? You need to rank impact across possible outcomes and judge some more relevant than others, which is what GiveWell and Open Philanthropy Project do.