Effective altruism is the practice of deliberately doing as much good in the world as possible. It refers to the absolute amount of benefit that a person or group tries to create for the world. This includes both the quantity and efficiency of the altruistic actions, minus any benefit from others that they displaced and complications that they caused.

Effective altruism, or EA, uses scientific principles like evidence and reason to select the highest potential activities to be undertaken. It is defined by the expected potential of the interventions, rather than the actual results. For instance, an advocacy campaign may be the best way to benefit the world for a certain individual even if the campaign ends up failing. On the other hand, a morally dubious decision made by a politician that ends up creating a large unexpected benefit for the state is not effective altruism.

Effective altruism is a young social movement that has emerged from movements in international aid cost-effectiveness, effective giving, and rationality. While it didn’t originate in the church, it is as Christian as Sunday hymns. In the twenty-first century, living Christ’s message of loving your neighbor consists of effective altruism.

The two can co-exist. There is nothing Godless about using evidence and reason to help others. In fact, nothing could be more God-inspired than an approach to altruism that is based on rationality rather that one’s own biases and desires. Most Christians are not so in tune with the divine that their actions are always inspired by God. People’s decisions tend to be based on emotions and self-interest. Christians are no exception. Look at the ministry. If all ministers were truly guided by God, why does their theology differ so much? How could God guide someone to preach the wrong doctrine? In a similar vein, why would God guide someone towards altruist endeavors that are relatively fruitless?

The Bible is clear that the more resources one puts towards God’s work, the better a Christian he or she will be. The proportion of personal income that a Christian should put towards altruistic endeavors such as charitable donations or impact investing depends on the individual’s circumstances. For instance, it would be inappropriate for a Christian who is extremely poor to give anything (except perhaps a little to support her church). A multi-millionaire Christian should use most of her income for noble purposes, although investing to have more money for God’s work later in life is also a viable option.

CEAP recommends that people who are financially self-sufficient steward at least 10% of their net income for God’s work. That includes both religious and material giving. Tithing is recommended in the Bible and has always existed among Christians. Today, however, few Christians tithe regardless of income level. The tithe, as an act of devotion, should only be used for effective giving: an appropriate contribution to your church and charities with the highest potential for impact. Donating to pet causes, such as those that give you the warm fuzzies, is not purely altruistic, so shouldn’t count towards your tithe.

Most people give to a charity due to being solicited in a fundraiser or having an affinity with the cause or charity. High impact paid or unpaid work is also seldom pursued. This appears to be true for Christians and non-Christians alike. It is uncommon for people to even try to have the largest impact possible across all causes and interventions. As Christians, we are called by God to love and serve others, so giving effectively is an obligation.

It wouldn’t be prudent to make a blanket statement of a universal ideal split of donations between supporting one’s church and worldly altruism. The answer is different for each person. A Christian attending a well-funded church may best use all his donations for material altruism whereas one who attends an underfunded yet financially efficient church that performs important services to the community may be serving God best by giving most or all of her donations to her church.

Donation allocation should factor in what is best for the world, along with one’s personal responsibilities. How much you give to your church should be based on a number of factors, such as your level of disposable income, the church’s financial needs, and the importance of the church to your community. For instance, it may not be beneficial to donate a large amount to keep afloat a small, struggling church when there is a church of the same denomination nearby that has a small congregation for its physical size. In this scenario, merging the congregations may be the most responsible solution. On the other hand, it can be a valid option to give all of your donations to a church that has a successful, cost-effective outreach program and donates to high impact charities itself. Most Christians should probably give a fixed amount to their church and the remainder of their donations to high impact nonprofits.

There are many ways to practice effective altruism. Donating money is one that is within reach of most people because it is easy to target the activities with the highest potential for impact. However, there are other forms of effective altruism. Many people have a high irreplaceable impact in their jobs, although it can be difficult to predict what vocation or organization will allow someone to create a large social benefit. For example, a school administrator may have a high impact by bringing social emotional learning (SEL) into local schools, but she also may find when she begins her job that SEL or other high impact initiatives of the school board have already been adequately implemented. Volunteering can also be high impact, especially if you have in demand skills or excel at networking and influencing others.

Divine inspiration belongs in all aspects of life, including altruism. People should keep their hearts and minds open to the Holy Spirit and allow it to act through them. Too often, however, people mistake their emotions and cognitive biases for divine inspiration, or rationalize their personal desires as divine guidance. Religious practices, prayer, faith, contemplation, and reflection may help you to be more receptive to God’s guidance.

It is an unreasonably demanding task, yes. One would literally have to possess all the knowledge in the world along with an extremely high IQ to get it right with confidence. Taking on such a monumental task can cause a lot of stress. That is why it is useful to have a community and institutions researching effective altruism. CEAP researches priority causes and charities and provides our top recommendations on our website. We don’t believe any other charity does this type of research and presents in clearly for the public.

We believe that everyone has their own place in effective altruism. For some, it will involve a significant amount of research and brainstorming to select the most potential causes, interventions, and charities, while for others, taking advantage of CEAP recommendations will serve them best.

Praying for someone is a kind and thoughtful thing to do, one which may result in God showing more grace to the person. Due to the unpredictability of prayer, however, it cannot be considered effective altruism. It is probably ideal to provide both concrete help and prayer for someone in need, but prayer should not be used as a substitute for worldly assistance. Would it be okay with you if every time you went to a medical clinic, the only treatment you received was the doctor’s prayers? When we imagine being in the shoes of someone in need, we can see that concrete actions are necessary, and prayer, complementary.

Effective altruism takes a scientific perspective to optimize outcomes. It is therefore more similar to science than any one moral theory. EA is sometimes affiliated with utilitarianism because in that moral theory, actions are considered better if they result in better outcomes for the world in general, as opposed to only benefiting oneself. That is certainly one moral theory that upholds effective altruism, however, there are many others. Virtue ethics also upholds effective altruism, because by practicing EA, you are exercising virtues such as compassion, selflessness, and even humility. Kantian ethics states that people should act according to their moral duties, which in turn, are derived from reason. That philosophy also supports effective altruism in someone who thinks that it is a duty to help others or improve the world. Christian ethics strongly support EA because Christ preached the virtues of stewardship, caring about others and performing as much good works as possible. There are many ethical theories that are represented by effective altruists around the world.