I truly believe that every person, no matter their income, can and should do good to help others. It starts from your overall mindset and small deeds like smiling, being empathetic, donating blood, until actual volunteering, mentoring and donating to impactful charities.

I have been caring for the society and other people as long as I can remember. I started as regular blood donor, organizing charity events, mentoring young entrepreneurs, participating world cleanup days and donating to local charities.

I have co-founded multiple community driven organizations:

Everybody can do good

Depending of your age, income or location, here are few ideas to start with:
  • Donate blood regularly
  • Ask what help your local (or global) charities need and volunteer part time
  • Buy less things and donate 5-10% of your income each month to effective charities
  • Choose a career to work for global most effective charities or organizations with big impact
  • Startup founders - join Founders Pledge, learn about impact and donate wealth during lifetime
  • Become ambassador of effective altruism or other impactful charities
  • Donate your kidney to save a life :)

Effective Altruism

Currently I am learning about Effective Altruism in order to create maximum impact with my time and monetary donations. Majority of people are donating based on their emotions. Donations are generally very good, but the awareness about effective donating is still small.

Effective altruists believe that every life is equally important (local or abroad). As our resources are always limited (both time and money) then we should maximize our potential impact.

Try to support charities that solve important problems efficiently:
  • Great in scale (it affects many people’s lives, by a great amount)
  • Highly neglected (few other people are working on addressing the problem), and
  • Highly solvable (scientifically proven, plus additional resources will do a great deal to address it)
  • Transparent about impact (overhead costs vs results delivered).
So I try to raise awareness about effective giving in Estonia and more widely among entrepreneurial communities around Europe.


Resources - how to increase your impact

Organizations
  • Good Deed Foundation - leading venture philanthropy organization in Estonia, including
    • NULA - accelerator of initiatives solving important problems in society (apply by 1/April)
  • EffectiveAltruism.org - global organization: mindset, research, podcast, newsletter, resources.
  • 80000hours.org - average career is 80,000 hours: find a fulfilling career to do good. For young and older people, learn about opportunities, listen podcast and check job-board.
  • GiveWell.org - most efficient global charities based on impact per dollar
  • Founders Pledge - startup founders pledge percentage of their future income to fund solutions to the world’s most pressing problems via most effective charities. Includes public research about most pressing problems and recommended charities.
Books
More resources from Effective Altruism website - principles, books, podcasts, research etc.