Efficient Charity: Do Unto Others...

An early, foundational effective-altruism essay (originally the Nov 2010 efficient-charity contest). The governing analogy is an Arctic expedition on a limited budget: charity, like survival gear, demands hard-headed attention to opportunity cost, so 'I want to help people' implies maximizing benefit per dollar. Illustrations: 11,000 Britons gave 550,000 pounds to keep the 'Blue Rigi' painting in a UK museum — money that could have saved ~1,200 lives; GiveWell's bed-nets vs. antimalarials vs. antidiarrheals comparisons (there is 'only one best charity'); the overhead-ratio myth (a high-overhead net charity saving a life per 500 dollars beats a zero-overhead drug charity saving one per 5,000); and earning-to-give (the 1,000-dollar/hour lawyer who picks up beach litter has erred even by his own values; better to bill the hour and fund 100 cleaners — or not quit for a nonprofit unless it's 'one HELL of a nonprofit'). Closes on Cato's being-good vs. seeming-good (the 'warm glow' as seeming good to oneself), pointing readers to GiveWell.

Quality 78 · Excellent. Excellent (low). A clear, persuasive, and genuinely influential early statement of EA's core logic — opportunity cost, cost-effectiveness, the overhead myth, and especially earning-to-give — that helped shape the movement's popular self-understanding. Held at 78 because the substance (Singer-style effectiveness, GiveWell's analyses) is articulated rather than originated. 78.

Claude’s paradigm shift 52 · Moderate. Moderate. Crystallizes the emerging 2010 EA consensus vividly; the earning-to-give framing was relatively fresh, but the essay popularizes nascent EA thinking rather than introducing a new frame. 52.

Real-world impact 4 · Moderate. An early, foundational Effective Altruism essay (opportunity cost, cost-effectiveness, the overhead myth, earning-to-give) that helped shape the movement's popular self-understanding. Real significance as a feeder text for a materially-consequential movement, though it articulates Singer/GiveWell substance rather than originating it — mid RWI.