I highly recommend donating some amount of your time, expertise, or money to good causes, regardless of your financial situation. Even the smallest amounts compound to amazing results—especially over long stretches over time.

When I was a student I made (very!) modest contributions to clean water projects, microfinance organizations, and the reports I now read as a mature adult are so gratifying.

I also try to keep a "charity" type project in my queue - volunteering my tech skills to help fix/build things for NGOs so fun to look back on.

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flexagoon 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

I'd also like to point people towards the Giving What We Can pledge to donate some percentage of their income to charity.

While this is of course closely related to EA, which many people here are (both deservedly and undeservedly) not big fans of, it doesn't require you to choose some specific charities or agree with their moral framework. Consistently donating money to whatever cause you personally value would make the world a much better place compared to not donating anything.

I really recommend people consider doing it regardless of their views on EA or the charities they recommend. I'm not a big fan of the modern EA community myself, but I agree that the money that barely make a difference in my life could be life changing for others.

https://www.givingwhatwecan.org/

On a somewhat unrelated note, also consider signing up for blood and stem cell donation!

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ScoobleDoodle 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

What is “EA” in this context?

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hollerith 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Effective altruism.

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caaqil an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

It's a very small, tech-literate and philosophically straightforward death cult.

	▲	flexagoon an hour ago \| parent [-]
		Eh, it's more like a small international aid community which got taken over by a very vocal death cult of SF software engineers.

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2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

[deleted]

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VoidWhisperer 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Where do you find NGOs/projects that you can volunteer your tech skills to help? This sort of thing is something I've been interested in for a while but haven't been able to find a good place to start looking considering I havent previously done tech oriented charity work

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flexagoon 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

https://www.highimpactprofessionals.org/

https://rendered.one/

Those two sites help with job matching for nonprofits. The first has both volunteering and paid positions, the second only paid AFAIK.

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herrherrmann an hour ago | parent [-]

These are great links, thanks a lot.

	▲	rrrx3 6 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		Second that.

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noeltock 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Ukraine volunteer here: - Find local charities where you can meet people face to face, and do your own due diligence, this is because: - The best/most tech-starved charities are the ones where they're continously in the trenches of the charities activities (so they won't even be on tech skill matching charity job boards) — and are generally poorly represented online

	▲	jacquesm 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Seconded.

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antilimit 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

since i didn't see it mentioned anywhere here yet (and i know it's been around forever i've been using it for about 10 years) kiva.org is a really good one for micro loans/lending.

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NooneAtAll3 an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

what does "microfinance organizations" even mean? loan sharks?

	▲	codeforafrica 7 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		The opposite actually. They provide small loans with generous conditions, and often also with guidance and education on how to start a business.

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Geof25 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

I highly recommend not to. The potential for whole operation being a scam because you have no way to verify anything is pretty high. Now add there reality of generative AI and very easy way to make deep fakes and essentially every charity is certified scam.

You may see it as cynical or unfair but that's unfortunate reality of time we currently live in.

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elestor 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

I highly recommend to diversify. Donate a smaller amount to a bunch of different charities.

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cyberclimb 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

hot take :/ Would you really have trouble trusting the OP?

Maybe you just don't want to donate resources in general, because otherwise surely there exists some channel you could witness with your own eyes and donate to with confidence.

	▲	tredre3 27 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		I think there are good trustworthy places to donate and the person you replied to was a bit too cynical. OP might be a good place to donate! However: > hot take :/ Would you really have trouble trusting the OP? Yes? Your first instinct when someone tells you a sob story or an epic western savior spiel is to do your due diligence. Recent HN account, the website is a year old, they don't list the 501 EIN and searching for "Tanzania Education Project" on https://apps.irs.gov/app/eos/ yields nothing. OP doesn't list his name on the website (but it is on gofundme). OP seems genuine, but there are many red flags.

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idiotsecant 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Yes, best to live in a cave and never take any risks or have any contact with dangerous, suspicious, filthy humans.

It's fine. There is plenty of good in the world. Touch some grass and take a deep breath.