Donations guide for student organizations

Donating to charity is a popular part of student organisations' activities and a sustainable way to reward members and stakeholders. If your organization is in the habit of donating a small annual amount to a good cause, or if you have considered starting such a tradition, this guide can help you increase the impact of your donation.

Donating, in one way or another, is already an important part of the daily life of many organizations today.

In practice, we have compiled proven donation methods from student organisations that can be used as a model for your own activities. The chapter has also briefly discussed the perspective of the Associations Act on donating as an organisation.

This guide helps organisations donate to causes that are particularly effective according to expert assessments. By donating to them, every euro will be spent as efficiently as possible to further its purpose. The selection criteria for the donations are explained in more detail in the chapter How to choose a donation target?

We have divided the donations we recommend into four areas based on the topic. Health and poverty targets aim to save lives and improve the quality of life around the world. Animal welfare targets are reducing animal suffering in effective ways now and in the future. Climate change targets are solving one of the most pressing problems of this time, and those focused on securing the future are addressing the major challenges facing humanity and the planet's future. The donations we recommend, including their presentations, are listed in the chapter Effective donation targets.

This donation guide has been prepared by Effective Altruism Helsinki and Aalto Effective Altruism student organisations, which are part of the global community of effective altruism.

We hope that the guide will be a joy for all kinds of organizations in Finnish higher education institutions when planning charity projects. If you would like to participate in the discussion about effective donation, you are warmly welcome to our Telegram discussion group:

https://t.me/lahjoitusopas

Regards

Karla Still, Sara Mansnerus, Salla Salokanto, Ada-Maaria Hyvärinen, Santeri Tani and other members of Effective Altruism Helsinki and Aalto Effective Altruism

There are countless organizations in the world whose activities are good for the world, but in the light of researched knowledge, the differences in effectiveness between charities vary greatly.

As an example, we will look at various ways of increasing school attendance in poor countries. We have $100 at our disposal. How can we use this limited amount to increase the number of school years as much as possible? Let's look at estimates of the impact of the $100 donation in the following four projects:

a) Direct money transfer for schoolchildren (Mexico): 0.01 additional years of education

(b) Rewarding girls' school performance with scholarships (Kenya): 0.15 additional years of education

c) Donation of school uniforms (Kenya): 0.68 extra years of education

(d) Deworming, i.e. financing antiparasitic treatments (Africa): 13.9 additional years of training

Already between the first two options there is about a 15-fold difference in effectiveness.

However, between the best and worst options, the difference in effectiveness is huge, more than a thousandfold.

When your organisation makes a purchase decision between two purchases at the same price, it is self-evident that a higher-quality option will be chosen. In philanthropy, the benefits and cost-effectiveness of the money are not as tangible for the donor, but it makes a big difference to the recipients of the donation whether the donations can increase the school years by a few days or several years.

It would be very difficult to significantly increase the amount of donations collected by the student organization.

In addition, few student organizations have the time and resources to carefully research and compare potential donation targets. However, the purpose of a donation is always to benefit others.

With this guide, anyone who wants to can multiply the impact of their donation on the world and ensure that the money donated is used to do as much good as possible

Student organizations are already donating in many creative ways. Below is some inspiration on how donating to proven effective causes can be made a natural and fun part of your activities.

Regular annual donations

For several years now, the student association Vuoro difficulty - environmental economists ry has been donating money to various charitable causes. The annual donation target is usually decided by the members, and the amount of the grant varies between 100 and 200 euros.

Own team in a charity competition

For several years, the student association TKO-äly ry has participated in a kilometre race in which members accumulate cycling kilometres. For every kilometer, money is donated to charity as part of the Chain Reaction campaign. In 2021, the board of the organization wanted to choose a proven charity project. That's why they chose to donate a euro for every 25 kilometers to the destination voted on GiveWell's recommendations.

Association greetings

The Student Union of the University of Helsinki (HYY) already traditionally asks for donations to be donated to pre-selected sites in connection with greetings for its annual celebrations.

The amount to be chosen is up to the donor, but the donation target and payment details requested by the organizer are already stated in the invitation to the celebration. The practice is well suited for organizations of all sizes.

The recipient of the gift can be informed about the donation with a card or diploma.

Part of the income from the sale of overalls or other sales

Many organizations tend to do e.g. campaign overall badges, the proceeds of which are donated to a selected charity. Many brand buyers are happy to pay a euro or two extra for a brand if they know that the extra money will end up in a good donation target. Other sales items popular with student organizations include wall calendars and stickers and, of course, songbooks and overalls.

Awards

The Faculty Association of Theology Students TYT has donated money as prizes. For example, the teacher of the year awarded by the subject association was able to choose to which charity the student organization donated 50 euros. The recipient of the gift appreciated the award, and the custom remained alive for the organization.

A benevolent event

The Association of Environmental Economists organized the Viikki Snowman 2021 competition, in which 10 euros were paid to charity for each participating subject organisation. Inspired by the competition, other subject organizations encouraged their members to build snowmen with similar charity incentives. The habit also remained alive and as an idea for future events.

According to section 23 of the Associations Act, the transfer of property that is significant for the association's operations must be decided at the meeting of the association. The notability of the donation is assessed in relation to the association's entire assets. The exact percentage limit or other criterion is not specified in the law. For this reason, it is safest to decide on the donation of more significant sums at the meeting of the association. The board's decision is sufficient for donations made for the association's usual purposes, which are smaller in quantity. Unlike the activities of foundations, the gift given by the association is not tied to the purpose of the association. Under section 8 of the Associations Act, it is also not necessary to record donations in the association's rules. However, section 8 of the Associations Act does not preclude such a statutory provision, and from the point of view of transparency of operations, recording may be recommended.

Comparison of target areas

There are huge challenges in the world, but the resources to solve them are limited.

When comparing target areas, we look at the world in general: what kind of problems exist in the world and which of them can be effectively influenced by donating? Although the problems of the world are very different from each other, nevertheless, their characteristics can be compared.

One perspective for comparing problems is to examine whether they are both extensive, neglected, and solvable.

On the basis of these criteria, global poverty and health, animal welfare and the problems of intensive production, as well as securing the future, have currently been identified as the most significant target areas. That's why the donation guide focuses specifically on these issues. Climate change has been separated from the previous ones into a separate chapter.

Utilising the research of evaluation organisations

As an individual or a small organisation, it is almost impossible to make an accurate comparison of thousands of different charities, but through the work carried out by appraisal organisations, it is possible to obtain information on the quality of their charity work.

In the guide, therefore, in addition to the donated targets, we present evaluation organisations whose studies have led to the selection of the grant targets.

N.B. This section is a summary of the contents of the actual donation guide. If you want to learn more, read the full Donation Guide e.g. by downloading a PDF.

The effective allocation of donated funds improves the world in two ways. First, the impact and benefit of donations (expected impact) is greater. Secondly, the focus on effective donations encourages aid organisations to operate in an optimal manner and to report more transparently to donors, which contributes to increasing the effectiveness of organisations and donors' trust in their activities and reducing the possibility of abuse.

This guide has been written in the light of the best current knowledge, and the organizations we recommend update their own pages with up-to-date information as the world is constantly changing. If you have any questions about the guide or donation, or if you find any mistake or omission, please feel free to contact us (email: eafinland@altruismi.fi). We are happy to answer any queries regarding effective altruism and effective donation

The guide has been compiled by members of Effective Altruism Helsinki (EAHY) and Aalto Effective Altruism (Aalto EA). Effective Altruism Helsinki is a student organisation under HYY and Aalto Effective Altruism AYY.

Both organisations are part of Effective Altruism Finland and the global movement for effective altruism, which focuses on finding the best ways to make the world a better place. The purpose of our activities is to help our members identify and implement the most effective ways of doing good in their own lives. We organize discussion evenings, courses and workshops on topics related to effective altruism, such as career planning, decision-making and prioritization between different target areas.

Effective altruism is a global trend in philosophy and a civic movement that applies evidence-based knowledge to find and implement the most effective ways to make the world a better place. In the context of donating money, the projects that do the most good are those that can have the greatest positive impact for every euro donated. We have compiled this guide to provide information on proven effective projects. We believe that student organizations donating money hope that their donations will be used in an optimal way. The information contained in the guide can be freely shared, as we believe that information about effective donation methods belongs to everyone.

If you are interested in effective altruism, you are warmly welcome to participate in our activities!

Information about donations and why we believe they are the most impactful can be found in the pdf version of the donation guide.
Donation links can be found below