Lee Davy provides you with an update on the progress of Raising for Effective Giving (REG) with a look at their Q2 numbers.
My son is 14 years of age. If he chooses to leave school early, he will be looking for a job in less than two years time. I use the word ‘job’ instead of ‘career’ because at the age of 14 he has no idea what career he would like to have.
A dirty piece of math will show that my son will spend roughly 80,000 hours working in the career he is yet to choose. That’s a long time. I suggest he thinks long and hard about his decision.
As you are reading this then the likelihood is that you are a poker player. It seems pretty cool to spend 80,000 hours playing poker. It sure beats spending 80,000 hours working in the blast furnace of a steel mill.
But what are you going to do with all the money you earn over that time? How are you going to ensure that you spend those 80,000 hours doing the most good that you can do?
Like anything in life, it’s all about taking baby steps. The enormity of those decisions will paralyze you. As a poker player, who wants to do the most good they can do, there really is only one first baby step.
Join Raising for Effective Giving (REG).
At the end of June, 152 people had done just that. Sandwiched in between that time and now, Jason Somerville joined the REG cast, and thanks to his discussions about Effective Altruism, and REG, on his podcasts, that number is closer to the 200-mark.
“I was blown away – not just for their passion for charity, which is enormous – but also for their intelligence in how they wanted to do so.” Said Somerville.
In Q2, REG members raised $158,088 for the most cost-effective charities and impactful causes ($100k through the WSOP matching challenge and $58,088 through normal donations). In addition, their relationship with Kings Casino started to bear fruit with €16k raised through a permanent donation box, and €33k through their inaugural “REG Charity Festival” event.
You can look into the granular detail of where that money went by following this link.
The needy animals and humans of this planet are not the only ones feeling the influence of REG. The poker community as a whole feels it. Poker has a light and dark element, and organizations like REG lighten up that light. Philipp Gruissem was chosen as an example of an Effective Altruist in Peter Singer’s book The Most Good You Can Do (CalvinAyre also got a mention), and fellow co-founder Liv Boeree was chosen to speak at the Effective Altruism Global Summit, in San Francisco, alongside the likes of Elon Musk.
REG are also looking to expand into other sporting/gaming genres with “REG for Daily Fantasy Sports” and “Reg for Gaming” portals being set up as I type.
So what are you waiting for.
Take that baby step.
Take it today.
