My name's Alexander Berger, I'm a research analyst at a research organization at GiveWell, which does research to help a donor decide where to give money. Historically I focus on mostly global health, but I work on a lot of our research in new areas. I became interested in GiveWell while I was living in India as a junior in college. And I found that everyday on my way to work, I would walk by these kids in the street and I felt really bad about that and so I wanted to be able to do something to help them. But if you, if I gave them money that was incentive not to be in school and so I felt like that wasn't the right solution. And so I decided that when I got back to the US, I would give like $100, or something that seemed like a lot of money to me at the time to the best charity I could find. And so I started doing research to figure out what that charity would be. And I very quickly came to GiveWell, which is the best resource out there for people who are trying to ask that question. Where you know, you don't, aren't exactly sure where you want to give. You're open to giving globally, and you just want to do the most good possible. And so I found GiveWell's website and I thought like, wow this is an amazing service, at the time they had three employees, so I wasn't sure if I'd be able, ever be able to work for them. But I emailed them and said like hey I'd love to be able to help out. So when I graduated from college, I ended up coming to GiveWell to work on our research projects. So I work on a new initiative that we have, which we call GiveWell labs, which has to answer the question, if you're a bigger philanthropist who's not just interested in global health necessarily. But is trying to do the most good with their money over a really long time horizon, where should you give? And in particular, probably like, what problems should you work on. So should you work on political polarization, climate change, or specific policy issues like say, criminal justice reform? And so I've looked at a variety of different causes over the last couple of years to help people pick and decide. The main criteria that we tend to think about are thinks like how crowded is an area philanthropically, do a lot of people already work on it? How tractable is the team? Could we make progress? And how big is the problem? I think a lot about trying to both do the most good that I can, but doing so in a maintainable, sustainable fashion. So I think about, if I gave away my entire net worth, which isn't all that much money, but if I gave them away all at once, it would be hard to save for retirement. Or maybe I'd burn out, and that wouldn't be sustainable. And so, I think a lot about giving an amount that is reasonable for me so I feel like I could keep doing it, and I wouldn't have to stop because I lost interest or faith. And so, that's sort of the main thing I can thing about, is trying to give the most that I can to the best causes or the best efforts, but in a way that's going to be sustainable for me. So, I tend to think that the main gift I give is, I get paid, I give well, I get paid very reasonably, I'm happy with my salary, I don't think it's a huge sacrifice. The main thing that I do to make the world a better place is my work and I'm really happy about that. It's something I'm really passionate about, I enjoy a lot, and I feel like gives me a lot of value in addition to adding value for the people who we're trying to help. And so when I think about what's the most central gift in my life, that's the one I'm giving the most. I work a lot because I enjoy it. I feel like it is useful to people, and that's something I really value, is for people to have that experience. And so, It's not like, a sacrifice, but it is, I think like, a generous, it's a gift. And then the other, I mean, I try and give annually I don't have an easy answer to how much people should give. I try and at least tithe, cuz that seems like a reasonable amount to give if you're giving thoughtfully and trying to do the most good that you can. And I think really hard about where to give, I often end up following GiveWell's recommendations, because I know how the sausage is made, and I tend to trust them. When I was thinking in college about what I wanted to do after I graduated and where did I wanna go work, I actually thought that what I'd do for my job is the biggest resource that I give. And so thinking about deciding between sort of for-profit job opportunities or nonprofit-job opportunities. I actually don't think, I think some people think that just because something's a nonprofit it's better for the world or a better place to work. I don't think that. I think lots of for-profit jobs add tons of value. And so the question of where can you go work that's going to make the world the best place as possible I think is actually a really hard question to answer and just looking at tax status isn't going to be a very effective way to answer the question. But I do think if you're interested in trying to make the world a better place. Ways interested in trying to be helpful. Answer the question like where are you going to spend most of your waking working hours? Is probably the single most question to answer. Most important question to answer, excuse me. There's also other things. When you think about like how do you spend your free time, do you volunteer? Do you do things just like helping out in your community? How do you give money to charity? I think that's an important part of my life, an important part of my giving, is that I do try and give thoughtfully and critically. There's also, sort of surprisingly, I think some people think about giving blood or things like that philanthropically. When I was in college I decided I would donate a kidney. And, so that has been part of my philanthropic journey as well.
