Why we do what we do

Every day, thousands of children die from the preventable effects of extreme poverty. Climate change continues almost unabated, and more than 70 billion animals live and die each year in often horrific conditions. At the same time, humanity faces a number of existential threats.

This is not the world we want to live in. The good news is, it’s not the world we have to live in either. We can do something about it.

We are part of the most prosperous generation in human history. The world has never had more knowledge and resources. This gives us a historic opportunity to eradicate extreme poverty with all its terrible consequences once and for all, to limit climate change, to end factory farming in its current form, and to address other future threats to humanity.

Is it possible to do all this at once? Yes, it is possible. Because the resources are theoretically already available. It is up to us to use them more efficiently and in the right places.

But it is not just a question of whether we will eventually win the battle. It is about winning it as soon as possible. Because every day that we stand idly by or do less than we could, every day that we don’t do what we do as effectively as we could, creates new and unnecessary suffering.

That is why it is so important to us at Effektiv Spenden to support the most effective approaches and the best aid organizations in the world. Because with every euro they can do many times more than the average charity – often 10 or even 100 times or more.

Our Partners

Our recommendations are based on internationally recognized analyses by evaluators such as GiveWell, Founders Pledge, and Animal Charity Evaluators.

These are independent organizations that have been conducting detailed evaluations for many years and publish them in full online. Their goal, like ours, is to determine as accurately as possible how much good a charity does for every euro invested. 

How we are funded

We process donations free of charge, i.e. we do not keep any part of donations for ourselves. (Some bank charges still apply). But of course we also need to be funded. Our funding comes from three main sources:

• We receive large donations from individual donors who want to help us inspire many more donors to give effectively. 
• We offer donors the option to add a voluntary contribution to Effektiv Spenden on top of their support of the most promising charities. 
• We have received project-specific funding from larger foundations, such as the Center for Effective Altruism for our co-working space and Open Philanthropy for a book project, and will continue to apply for funding from individual foundations.

For those who want to know the details

Effektiv Spenden is a project of UES – gemeinnützige GmbH für effektives Spenden in Germany, registered in Berlin (HRB 204815 B) and represented by the managing directors Sebastian Schwiecker and Anne Schulze.

Further documents: (in German)

• Articles of Association / Shareholders‘ Agreement UES
• Notice of tax exemption 2021
• Extract from the commercial register
• Annual financial statements:
  • 2021
  • 2020
  • 2019

In Switzerland, we are registered in Basel as non-profit association Effektiv Spenden Schweiz. The board currently consists of 5 members: Sebastian Schwiecker (Co-President), Anne Schulze (Co-President), David Marti (Managing Director), Thomas Moispointner (Treasurer), Dr. Stefan Shaw (Associate).

Further documents: (in German)

• Tax exemption
• Statutes
• Auditor’s Report 2021