“How to actually give money away” by NickAllardice

“How to actually give money away” by NickAllardice

From EA Forum Podcast (All audio) by EA Forum Team

May 1, 2026 · 20 min

About this episode

NickAllardice discusses practical strategies for effective charitable giving and overcoming common barriers to donation.

This was originally posted here. It's written for an audience that's not deep in the weeds of EA giving theory/culture, but a few people suggested I post here as there's much that's additive to or divergent from some common EA practices. Feedback / disagreements welcome! Also my first time posting here. Hi! -- Most people who intend to give large amounts of money away never actually do. The money sits. In donor-advised funds, in "someday" plans, in good intentions. This is the default pathway - not an edge case - and if you don't design against it, it will happen to you too. I've watched this from every angle. As CEO of Change.org we processed 5M+ donations. I now run GiveDirectly; 160 thousand people have donated, dozens regularly give 1 million dollars+, and some give 50 million dollars-100 million dollars+ at a time. I've advised two of the biggest philanthropic institutions in the world (Coefficient Giving and GiveWell) on donor engagement and growth, and sat on half a dozen nonprofit boards. I've also been giving away 10-20% of my annual income for 17 years; I grew up low-income, so this started as a very modest amount but has added [...] --- Outline: (01:59) 1. The default…

People in this episode

Guest: NickAllardice

Topics covered

  • philanthropy
  • effective altruism
  • donation strategies
  • charitable giving
  • nonprofit management

Keywords

  • donation
  • philanthropy
  • effective altruism
  • charitable giving
  • nonprofit
  • donor engagement
  • giving strategies

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Change.org, GiveDirectly, Coefficient Giving, GiveWell

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