Welcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: Giving Guide for Student Organisations – An ineffective outreach project, published by Karla Still on April 14, 2023 on The Effective Altruism Forum.

Executive summary

EA Helsinki created a giving guide booklet for student organisations in Finnish.

The main aim of the Giving Guide for Student Organisations was to raise awareness of EA among students by providing them with information on how to give effectively. A sub-goal was to redirect donations from student organisations, although we do not expect the expected value of redirected donations to be worth the effort of producing and marketing the guide.

We distributed printed versions of the guide to 121 organisations at 5 universities, most by approaching them at student fairs we attended in the fall of 2022. A digital version of the guide was also sent to the organisations via email a few days after the printed booklet was distributed.

The direct results or impact from the giving guide have been almost non-existent. I believe most of the impact comes later from having exposed people to the idea of effective giving, making them more receptive to EA later on.

My original reason for writing this post was to offer other EA groups an opportunity to replicate the project, but now I am not so sure that it is worth it. Instead, I would love to get feedback on the impact assessment, the project, and hear if others have tried something similar. I hope the spelled-out project implementation and analysis can help other community builders who might think about starting similar projects. I also wrote this as a report for future community builders in Finland.

Tip: Skip to the measuring the impact-section if you aren’t interested in the details about the content and implementation of the project.

Content of the giving guide

Below is the structure of the guide. (In parentheses the length of the text in A5 pages.) You can also find an auto translation on the content excluding the donation recommendations or download the Finnish guide on our website:

Title: A giving guide for student organisations. How to achieve more impact with the same amount of money.

Summary (1)

Most help per euro (1)

Donating in practice

Inspirations from other associations (1)

The association act is flexible (⅓)

How to choose a target

Comparing cause areas (1)

Using research by evaluation organisations (⅓)

Effective donation targets (summary ⅓)

Global health and development (4)

Givewell

Maximum impact fund

Preventing Malaria

Vitamin A deficiency

Vaccination coverage

Deworming

Direct cash transfers

Climate change (2)

The Founders Pledge Climate Change Fund

Clean Air Task Force

Carbon180

Animal welfare (3.5)

Animal Charity Evaluators

Animal Charity Evaluatorsin Recommended Charity Fund

The Humane League

Faunalytics

Wild Animal Initiative

Securing the future (2)

Johns Hopkins Center of Health Security

ALLFED

Nuclear Threat Initiative Biosecurity Program

Background (½)

Effective Altruism (½)

Links (1)

Put impact forward (essentially a call to action box) (1)

References (2)

Back cover (1)

Language and approach of the guide

We aimed for the giving guide to be

Encouraging. The tone is hopeful and inviting, focusing on the opportunity of changing the world for the better together.

Actionable. The guide includes simple legal advice on donating, inspiration from other student organisations on how to incorporate donations into the organisation’s activities, and recommended charities with links.

Trustworthy. We explain why effective giving matters, how we have chosen the recommended cause areas and charities, provide references for further reading, and include a one-page about EA Helsinki.

Easy to read.

Project background

The student organisation landscape and donating

In Finland, it is common for students to be members of multiple student organisations and associations. E...