Hi there,

While some people are excited that a concrete path to helping others is so easily available through effective giving, others worry that donating could take away from their own quality of life.

This is a natural reaction, and not something to be ashamed of. We all want to be happy, and we may worry that increasing other people’s happiness could diminish our own.

But the research on this may surprise you.

It turns out that donating increases happiness all around! 

Perhaps that’s why so many people who have taken the 🔸10% Pledge or set up recurring high-impact donations have reported a noticeable increase in their overall life satisfaction: many have reached out to say that they view effective giving as an expression of living life according to their deepest values.

So this week, we’re sharing our video summarising the research on money and happiness, answering questions like: Does money make you happy? Under what circumstances? Are there diminishing returns? And what does this tell us about charity?

We hope you find the research on this as interesting as we did! (And by the way, a new study has come out since we made this video that resolves a key difference in the papers we discuss. We summarise it here.)

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Where can I find a list of the best charities?

Our research team recommends the best opportunities for donors looking to maximise the impact of their next dollar.