Donor Briefing Giving Season 2020

We appreciate you having a glance at our briefing. Giving season 2020 will cap off a profoundly disruptive year that only seemed to underscore the importance of supporting our partner charities, especially those working in long-term future risk, racial justice and global health. We continue to invest in giving infrastructure and community building, always striving to empower anyone hoping to do the most good. Thanks to all of you for joining us in that.

Project Headlines - RC looks to fundraise a total of $225,000 for 2021 operations, EA Giving Tuesday staffs their ranks in preparation for December 1st, revenue generating projects launch on both sides of the US-Canadian border, and RC Forward enjoys their best Q3 of money moved on record.

Financials Snapshot - $USD*

* = Note figures do not include the Rethink Priorities project
** = Approximate estimate that includes currency conversion

Full RC Briefing

Project Updates

Rethink Charity Overview

With COVID-19 intruding on the pace of normal operations and the planned consolidation of our projects, RC was freed up to invest in long overdue strategic pivots. Top of the list for continued infrastructural investment is a bespoke CRM system fashioned from Salesforce. The fully realized CRM would dramatically enhance systems for all projects, including RC Forward, fiscal sponsorship, and other revenue generating initiatives.

Each of the projects are currently well-positioned for the upcoming giving season, due in large part to the expansion of team bandwidth and consolidation of collective focus. Another important reason for our healthy position has been the addition of incredibly skilled volunteers who poured countless hours into the RC Forward website revamp, messaging and branding strategy, data visualization, and many other key administrative areas of program development. We say without hesitation that the inclusion of these volunteers upgraded our projects tremendously.

Funding goal - Rethink Charity and RC Forward currently have a $225,000 funding goal in order to secure 12 months of runway, which still has $131,000 remaining. You can find the full 2021 budget here.

RC Forward

• We swapped out the outdated website for a nearly aesthetically identical new website, complete with important technical upgrades. When paired with improved messaging, the usability experience for incoming donors should improve considerably.

• RC Forward received a $15,000 grant from the Infrastructure Fund of the Centre for Effective Altruism. The payout report maintains that the core reasoning for the grant remains the same as in 2019, adding that

“We think that RC Forward provides a valuable service for Canadian donors, and we would like to ensure they have sufficient budget to continue their core work... The platform has two main benefits: (1) their recommended charities receive more money from the same size of donation due to tax advantages, and (2) some donors may choose to donate when they otherwise wouldn't have, or would have donated less...This grant will top-up RC Forward’s budget; the expected use is to improve the website and develop an internal CRM system.”

Visualize the good - Pictured below is a dashboard of donation analytics displaying money moved by the RC Forward platform in 2019, created by a data visualization volunteer.

EA Giving Tuesday

• The EA Giving Tuesday team has begun preparation to help EAs get their donations matched on Giving Tuesday, December 1st, 2020.

• Early work has begun on strategic planning, content preparation, nonprofit outreach, and promoting the opportunity to the effective altruism community.

• If you're interested in getting your donations matched or staying up to date, sign-up at www.eagivingtuesday.org. Read our FAQ, ask in our Facebook group, or e-mail us at [email protected].

Revenue Generation Projects

• Rethink Charity publicly unveiled fiscal sponsorship services now available to eligible projects. Those interested can get an overview of fiscal sponsorship, learn more about our model, view pricing, and explore case studies.

• RC Forward is currently in the process of facilitating cross-border grants for Canadians to support US charities that are not on our list of effective partner charities. Our current outreach is focused on US charities likely to have Canadian supporters. View the webpage here.

What’s Next

The vast majority of our time will be occupied by fundraising on behalf of our partner charities and our own operations. Our current operations funding gap is $131,000 in order to cover all of 2021. We hope that you’ll consider donating to Rethink Charity so that we can continue powering effective projects!

Donor Briefing 05/2020

Thanks for checking out our briefing. Wherever you happen to be sheltering-in-place, we hope you and yours are staying safe. We have spoken to many in the charitable sector that have been forced to be resilient to varying degrees due to COVID. The RC team continues to draw inspiration from charitable initiatives and donors focused on alleviating suffering and looking out for the future of humanity in the midst of these very challenging times.

Project Headlines - RC collaborates with the EA Giving Tuesday team in raising >$1.5M for effective charities, RC Forward publishes their 2019 year-in-review, Rethink Priorities graduates from RC, and the EA Hub consolidates resources for local groups.

Financials Snapshot* - $USD

*= Note figures do not include the Rethink Priorities project

** = Approximate estimate that includes currency conversion

Note: in the previous briefing, typos indicated that our staffing numbers and runway were unchanged from February. This briefing’s information is accurate.

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Full RC Briefing

Project Updates

Rethink Charity Overview

You may have noticed our project offering has become more focused. Since the turn of the year, RC has been principally working toward winding down certain projects, buttressing the sustainability of the Rethink Charity regranting model, and spinning off Rethink Priorities. Our staff did engage in a seasonal push with the EA Giving Tuesday team that facilitated $1,094,039 in donations to effective charities with over 50% of those funds matched. 

We’ve pivoted the bulk of our efforts toward the promotion and streamlining of RC Forward, while also seeking to generate revenue for operations by acting as fiscal sponsors for impactful foreign and domestic projects. Though still in the exploration phase, we’re encouraged by the level of demand for promising projects that want to offer tax advantages for funders. Please email Tee at [email protected] if you are aware of any projects that could be a good fit!

Rethink Priorities graduation - RP released a post late last year outlining the process of spinning off from Rethink Charity to form its own public charity in the US. Both organizations will continue collaboration efforts, including the EA Survey and cost-effectiveness analyses for RC Forward. We are excited to see RP scale new heights in producing valuable research for the world. 

Rethink Priorities (RP)

• RP co-ED Peter Hurford lists possible research ideas with regard to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Daniela reviews how COVID-19 is affecting nonhumans. Researcher Derek Foster shares a way to accelerate vaccine development with market shaping.

• RP researcher Jason Schukraft reviews the possibility of achieving political change via the ballot initiative process, following a talk on the same subject at EAG SF 2019 by Co-ED Peter Hurford. He also released the first post in his series about how to compare welfare across different animals.

• RP researcher Daniela R. Waldhorn reviews the use of snails by humans. Researcher Saulius Simcikas compares the numbers of all vertebrates used by humans to get a sense of scale, and RP intern Jacob Schmeiss reviews whether vegetarianism is a partisan issue.

RC Forward

• RC Forward released their 2019 year-in-review and opened up additional routes for Canadians to give to organizations that are leading COVID-19 research and relief efforts.  

• RC Forward began allocating 4% of all donations made through our platform to our operations, with several notable exceptions that include COVID relief efforts. 

• Excluding the single largest donor of 2018, the platform has experienced year-on-year quarterly growth.

EA Survey

• The EA Survey released 2019 survey analysis on EA community cause prioritization preferences, careers and skills, geographic distribution of EAs, and donation data.  

EA Hub

• The EA Hub is now hosted by Rethink Charity and supported by the Centre for Effective Altruism. Catherine Low managed the Effective Altruism Resource Hub during 2019 while working for Rethink Charity, and is now a contractor for the Centre for Effective Altruism.

• The most recent update on the EA Hub outlines key improvements to the Effective Altruism Resource Hub, including the event category spreadsheet, and the Virtual Events guide.  

• The EA Hub Resources page is now the main collection of resources for local group organisers where you can find resources for running events, editable graphics, and an updated “pitch” guide. There is also content of interest to all EAs, including reading lists, links for donors, a compendium of EA Facebook groups, and much more. 

What’s Next

Despite these troubling times, we can cite examples abound of generous folks who have stepped up levels of support for initiatives doing good work. Thank you to everyone who continues to support us and other worthwhile initiatives as the pandemic continues. 

Rethink Charity and COVID-19

Since our launch in 2017, Rethink Charity has always been a remote team, but now this feels critical to our safety and well-being. While closely monitoring our own mental health and emotional responses in this troubling time, we are thankful to be able to continue our work moving money to high-impact (and relevant) charities, providing important and neglected research to the community, and supporting promising initiatives with our fiscal services.

Now more than ever, it’s crucial to foster communities that are empathically dedicating their time and efforts towards doing the most good. We’re excited about supporting these efforts in a number of ways:

Supporting the fight against COVID-19

RC Forward provides COVID-19 giving opportunities for Canadians

While continuing to support our current partner charities, we have also opened up routes for Canadians to give to organizations that are leading research and relief efforts for COVID-19 and the prevention of future pandemics. These include organizations like the Center for Health Security (CHS) at Johns Hopkins University and the Combating COVID-19 Fund at the Gates Foundation. Additionally, we’re supporting our partner charities like GiveDirectly and Development Media International in their COVID-19 initiatives, as well as our other global health partners whose programs continue to promote the health of vulnerable communities.

Rethink Priorities consolidates and summarizes relevant ongoing research

Our research team has begun devoting significant resources towards projects relevant to the ongoing crisis. There’s a lot of information circulating and not all of it is relevant, current and reliable, which is why we have been taking time to filter the most important information into semi-regular Consolidated Briefs. Read the most recent here.

Additionally, there is information important specifically for nonprofits who may be facing difficult times ahead financially. Governments are aiding nonprofits and charities, but it can be difficult to figure out how to take full advantage of that aid. RP has written an instructional post for US nonprofits.

Finally, the team is currently working on a summary of the effects of COVID-19 on nonhuman animals, to be released in the coming month.

Rethink Charity offers to fiscally sponsor relevant initiatives

We have recently been exploring ways to support up-and-coming initiatives through fiscal services that we already have the infrastructure to support. This could include creating tax-advantaged funding routes through which Americans and Canadians can support promising and underfunded COVID-19 projects. If you’re interested in learning more or suggesting a project, please email [email protected]. 

Supporting our team

We may be in a more fortunate position than many, but no one is immune to the effects that this pandemic is having on our communities. Our staff are no exception to this. We are therefore implementing and continuing a number of measures to promote staff well-being, including:

• Encouraging mental, physical, and emotional health:  We’re encouraging our team to take the time and space they need to maintain health and a sustainable work-life balance. This has been standard practice at Rethink Charity since before the pandemic, but has been emphasized in recent weeks.

• Flexibility of working hours and time off: Another staple of RC’s workplace culture, flexibility is moving front and center. As our staff adjusts to recent events, we will continue to encourage them to work when they’re at their best and take breaks when needed. 

• Frequent video check-ins: Recent stay-at-home orders have left many of us feeling isolated. That’s why we’re continuing to meet virtually to help our team feel more connected and meet everyone’s needs as much as we can.

From all of us at Rethink Charity, we hope you’re staying safe, and we’re looking forward to a healthier future ahead.