I'm doing 12 things
This month I found GiveWell, which evaluates charities and recommends a few for donations. It’s a necessary service: in normal market transactions, the purchaser consumes the service purchased. In charity, the purchaser never sees the service purchased. Insofar as I really am trying to make a difference and not just purchasing some small peace of mind, it makes sense to give to charities that are actually using their money wisely.
From KR3 I had heard of KIPP, and they seemed really interesting. Later I saw a TED talk where Bill Gates mentions KIPP. Finding that KIPP is one of the four charities, out of one hundred thirty-eight evaluated that GiveWell highly recommends, the deal was sealed. I gave to the North Texas KIPP area. In retrospect, I think I perhaps should have trusted KIPP to allocate its money as it sees fit, but the novelty of being able to choose where my money goes at such granularity sold me at that moment.
Interestingly enough, my motivation for donating to KIPP is perhaps more about the adults than the children. I’m annoyed by a school system that provides tenure to teachers who don’t significantly improve their teaching abilities after year three. I’m irked that talented individuals (like me!) not entering the field of teaching because of the lack of ability to make a real difference in most schools, and because the pay is lousy. I’m tired of a school system that encourages teachers to treat students like test-score generating cogs (like me!) instead of adventurous, creative humans. I’m giving to KIPP of course to close the achievement gap, but also because I want more good teachers in the world—regardless of whom their students are.
