Introduction

“Effective altruism is the project of using evidence and reason to figure out how to best contribute to helping others, and taking action on that basis.”

— Giving What We Can

One of our primary goals as Christians, second only to loving God, is to love our neighbours as we love ourselves. (Or even better, to love our neighbours as Christ loved us: overflowing with grace, mercy, and sacrifice.)

Love can take many forms. We socialise and build new relationships. We share the gospel and give money to charities. We volunteer in soup kitchens, greet new faces at church, and stand up for our hurting or mistreated neighbours. 

What makes this challenging is not a lack of opportunities, but an abundance. If I decide I’d like to donate to a charity, Guidestar will direct me to more than eighty thousand Christian nonprofits in the United States alone. Which of them are doing good work? Are any of them doing more harm than good? How do I know which one is the best? What does “best” even mean?

As we spend time in contemplation and prayer, the questions only grow: should I donate near where I live, or abroad? Is it better to volunteer or to donate? Should I focus on problems affecting people right now, or potentially greater dangers in the near future? How do I balance my neighbours’ physical and spiritual needs?

Effective Altruism is a somewhat loosely-defined community, with a variety of answers to the above questions, but what unites us is a commitment to using evidence-based approaches to love our neighbours as well as possible with what we’ve been given. 

In later posts, we’ll start to look at how experimental and other evidence can help us think more clearly about some of these questions. We’ll see, for example, that a donation can help far more people internationally than the same amount of money would in (for example) the United States. This doesn’t mean we should never donate in our own countries, but it certainly matters. 

So welcome to Effective Altruism! We’re excited to have you alongside us.

— Written by Colin Aitken