Never Enough Charity

Tyler Cowen, from the New York Times, brings up interesting new views on altruism that push the normal view on charity. Everyone who is prepared to make a donation expects and hopes that their earnings will be put to good use. But how can one person ever be sure if their money is going to the right place or is being utilized in the best way possible. A new group of people known as the "Effective Altruism" has been encouraging donors to have a more scientific approach to their donating. Altruism is the the belief in or practice of disinterested and selfless concern for the well-being of others and this group does their best to achieve this by sharing intellectual ways of this practice. Famous people taking charge on this practice include the GiveWell organization and William MacAskill, a philosophy professor at Oxford University. 
MacAskill's teachings on these concepts are based off of economics, like opportunity cost and the "notion of unintended consequences". He offers three pieces of advice. 1) When a natural disaster occurs do not follow your instincts and drown the needed area with money, because it is probably more than they need, and really more than they can handle. 2) Charities that include an overhead cost is not bad! They have these because usually they have back-office expenditures. 3) Now is an excellent time to donate because of the state our world is in now heath wise. We can look to the Gates Foundation as examples to follow. 
Some believe that poverty is due solely because of bad politics and philanthropy cannot be utilized to fix that. If the government is not using the donations and charity effectively then we will be placed back in the same situation we were before. 
Whether politics is the main reason or not, donations should continue to come flowing in and keep increasing. Even if it seems like money is not needed it can always be utilized in a helpful manner. For example if the money is not spent right away it can always be invested that can later help create jobs and increase productivity. 
In conclusion generosity can never hurt, it can only help, but we have now discovered that it can be more helpful if we donate in a more scientific strategy. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/16/upshot/effective-altruism-where-charity-and-rationality-meet.html?ref=economy&_r=0&abt=0002&abg=0