Aaron Gertler donations made

This is an online portal with information on donations that were announced publicly (or have been shared with permission) that were of interest to Vipul Naik. The git repository with the code for this portal, as well as all the underlying data, is available on GitHub. All payment amounts are in current United States dollars (USD). The repository of donations is being seeded with an initial collation by Issa Rice as well as continued contributions from him (see his commits and the contract work page listing all financially compensated contributions to the site) but all responsibility for errors and inaccuracies belongs to Vipul Naik. Current data is preliminary and has not been completely vetted and normalized; if sharing a link to this site or any page on this site, please include the caveat that the data is preliminary (if you want to share without including caveats, please check with Vipul Naik). We expect to have completed the first round of development by the end of July 2024. See the about page for more details. Also of interest: pageview data on analytics.vipulnaik.com, tutorial in README, request for feedback to EA Forum.

Table of contents

Basic donor information

ItemValue
Country United States
Best overview URLhttps://aarongertler.net/donations/
Facebook username aaron.gertler
LinkedIn username aarongertler
Websitehttps://aarongertler.net/
Donations URLhttps://aarongertler.net/donations/
Twitter usernameaarongertler
LessWrong usernameaarongertler
Effective Altruism Forum usernameaarongertler
Effective Altruism Hub usernameaaron-gertler
GitHub usernameaarongertler
Regularity with which donor updates donations datacontinuous updates
Regularity with which Donations List Website updates donations data (after donor update)continuous updates
Lag with which donor updates donations datadays
Lag with which Donations List Website updates donations data (after donor update)months
Data entry method on Donations List WebsiteManual (no scripts used)
Org Watch pagehttps://orgwatch.issarice.com/?person=Aaron+Gertler

Brief history: Aaron Gertler aims to donate 10% of his pre-tax income, at a roughly annual cadence, consistent with the Giving What We Can pledge, which he took in 2014. His shared reasons for giving, as noted at https://aarongertler.net/donations/ include: "I give because I want to share the results of my luck with the less fortunate." and "I already have a good, satisfying life, so I don’t need to buy more happiness. Instead, I can use money to help a lot of other people live happier lives."

Brief notes on broad donor philosophy and major focus areas: Aaron Gertler is interested primarily in charities that, loosely speaking, "help humans now". This is consistent with his alignment with Giving What We Can. Thus, he gives primarily to charities working in the global health and development space, and mostly to those recommended by GiveWell. He also donates directly to GiveWell and to the Centre for Effective Altruism (which manages the Giving What We Can pledge)

Miscellaneous notes: Aaron Gertler comments quite a bit on the Effective Altruism Forum, so it is instructive to read his comments at https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/users/aarongertler and get more of an idea of his perspective on different things

Donor donation statistics

Cause areaCountMedianMeanMinimum10th percentile 20th percentile 30th percentile 40th percentile 50th percentile 60th percentile 70th percentile 80th percentile 90th percentile Maximum
Overall 59 152 357 15 25 50 100 100 152 400 500 500 900 2,000
Effective altruism 8 500 455 15 15 75 300 500 500 500 500 750 1,000 1,000
Digital preservation 2 20 23 20 20 20 20 20 20 25 25 25 25 25
Charity evaluator 20 150 329 20 38 50 100 100 150 152 400 495 750 2,000
Global health 8 500 584 20 20 150 500 500 500 500 600 1,000 1,400 1,400
14 115 352 20 30 50 100 100 115 350 400 500 900 1,515
Cash transfers 3 250 300 50 50 50 50 250 250 250 600 600 600 600
Rationalty improvement 1 50 50 50 50 50 50 50 50 50 50 50 50 50
Criminal justice reform 1 50 50 50 50 50 50 50 50 50 50 50 50 50
AI safety 1 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100
Epistemic institutions 1 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100

Donation amounts by cause area and year

If you hover over a cell for a given cause area and year, you will get a tooltip with the number of donees and the number of donations.

Note: Cause area classification used here may not match that used by donor for all cases.

Cause area Number of donations Number of donees Total 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2012
Charity evaluator (filter this donor) 20 2 6,575.00 2,000.00 750.00 750.00 2,040.00 1,035.00 0.00
(filter this donor) 14 12 4,930.00 0.00 0.00 2,900.00 1,715.00 200.00 115.00
Global health (filter this donor) 8 3 4,670.00 500.00 1,150.00 3,000.00 20.00 0.00 0.00
Effective altruism (filter this donor) 8 4 3,640.00 1,500.00 1,000.00 750.00 90.00 300.00 0.00
Cash transfers (filter this donor) 3 1 900.00 50.00 250.00 600.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
AI safety (filter this donor) 1 1 100.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 100.00 0.00
Epistemic institutions (filter this donor) 1 1 100.00 0.00 0.00 100.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
Criminal justice reform (filter this donor) 1 1 50.00 50.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
Rationalty improvement (filter this donor) 1 1 50.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 50.00 0.00
Digital preservation (filter this donor) 2 1 45.00 25.00 0.00 0.00 20.00 0.00 0.00
Total 59 24 21,060.00 4,125.00 3,150.00 8,100.00 3,885.00 1,685.00 115.00

Graph of spending by cause area and year (incremental, not cumulative)

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Graph of spending by cause area and year (cumulative)

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Donation amounts by subcause area and year

If you hover over a cell for a given subcause area and year, you will get a tooltip with the number of donees and the number of donations.

For the meaning of “classified” and “unclassified”, see the page clarifying this.

Subcause area Number of donations Number of donees Total 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014
Charity evaluator 20 2 6,575.00 2,000.00 750.00 750.00 2,040.00 1,035.00
Global health/malaria 7 2 4,170.00 0.00 1,150.00 3,000.00 20.00 0.00
Effective altruism/movement growth 7 3 3,140.00 1,000.00 1,000.00 750.00 90.00 300.00
Cash transfers 3 1 900.00 50.00 250.00 600.00 0.00 0.00
Effective altruism/fundraising 1 1 500.00 500.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
Global health/nutrition/iodine 1 1 500.00 500.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
AI safety 1 1 100.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 100.00
Epistemic institutions 1 1 100.00 0.00 0.00 100.00 0.00 0.00
Criminal justice reform/bail reform 1 1 50.00 50.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
Rationalty improvement 1 1 50.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 50.00
Digital preservation 2 1 45.00 25.00 0.00 0.00 20.00 0.00
Classified total 45 13 16,130.00 4,125.00 3,150.00 5,200.00 2,170.00 1,485.00
Unclassified total 14 12 4,930.00 0.00 0.00 2,900.00 1,715.00 200.00
Total 59 24 21,060.00 4,125.00 3,150.00 8,100.00 3,885.00 1,685.00

Graph of spending by subcause area and year (incremental, not cumulative)

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Graph of spending by subcause area and year (cumulative)

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Donation amounts by donee and year

Donee Cause area Metadata Total 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2012
GiveWell (filter this donor) Charity evaluation/global health/poverty FB Tw WP Site TW 7,070.00 2,000.00 750.00 1,650.00 1,635.00 1,035.00 0.00
Against Malaria Foundation (filter this donor) Global health/malaria FB Tw WP Site GW CN GS TW 3,170.00 0.00 150.00 3,000.00 20.00 0.00 0.00
Effective Altruism Funds: Effective Altruism Infrastructure Fund (filter this donor) 2,000.00 1,000.00 1,000.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
Centre for Effective Altruism (filter this donor) Effective altruism/movement growth FB Site 1,840.00 0.00 1,000.00 750.00 90.00 0.00 0.00
Evidence Action,GiveDirectly,Against Malaria Foundation (filter this donor) 1,515.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 1,515.00 0.00 0.00
GiveDirectly (filter this donor) Cash transfers FB Tw WP Site GW 900.00 50.00 250.00 600.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
Rethink Charity (filter this donor) Effective altruism/Community project coordination FB Site 900.00 0.00 0.00 900.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
The Life You Can Save (filter this donor) Effective altruism/movement growth/fundraising FB Tw Site 500.00 500.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
Iodine Global Network (filter this donor) 500.00 500.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
Donor lottery (filter this donor) 500.00 0.00 0.00 500.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
Global Priorities Project (filter this donor) 405.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 405.00 0.00 0.00
Against Malaria Foundation,Innovations for Poverty Action,Environmental Defense Fund (filter this donor) 350.00 0.00 0.00 350.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
Yale Effective Altruists (filter this donor) 300.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 300.00 0.00
Parsemus Foundation (filter this donor) WP 250.00 0.00 0.00 250.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
Evidence Action (filter this donor) 200.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 200.00 0.00
Center for Applied Rationality (filter this donor) Rationality FB Tw WP Site TW 150.00 0.00 0.00 100.00 0.00 50.00 0.00
Vittana (filter this donor) 115.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 115.00
Charity Science (filter this donor) Effective altruism/movement growth FB Tw Site 100.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 100.00 0.00 0.00
Machine Intelligence Research Institute (filter this donor) AI safety FB Tw WP Site CN GS TW 100.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 100.00 0.00
Massachusetts Bail Fund (filter this donor) 50.00 50.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
Seva,Possible (filter this donor) 50.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 50.00 0.00 0.00
Internet Archive (filter this donor) WP Site 45.00 25.00 0.00 0.00 20.00 0.00 0.00
Seva (filter this donor) 30.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 30.00 0.00 0.00
Oxfam (filter this donor) 20.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 20.00 0.00 0.00
Total -- -- 21,060.00 4,125.00 3,150.00 8,100.00 3,885.00 1,685.00 115.00

Graph of spending by donee and year (incremental, not cumulative)

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Graph of spending by donee and year (cumulative)

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Donation amounts by influencer and year

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Donation amounts by disclosures and year

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Donation amounts by country and year

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Full list of documents in reverse chronological order (2 documents)

Title (URL linked)Publication dateAuthorPublisherAffected donorsAffected doneesAffected influencersDocument scopeCause areaNotes
Donor lotteries: demonstration and FAQ (GW, IR)2016-12-07Carl Shulman Effective Altruism ForumTimothy Telleen-Lawton Gregory Lewis Ajeya Cotra Rohin Shah Helen Toner Nicole Ross Howie Lempel Rebecca Raible Pablo Stafforini Aaron Gertler Brayden McLean Benjamin Hoffman Catherine Olsson Eric Herboso Ian David Moss Glenn Willen Jacob Steinhardt Brandon Reinhart Donor lottery Donee donation caseCarl Shulman announces a donor lottery coordinated/sponsored by Paul Christiano, and provides a FAQ discussing questions people might have for participating in the lottery
Review: CFAR Workshop2014-05-09Aaron Gertler Center for Applied Rationality Evaluator review of doneeEpistemic institutionsReview of CFAR workshop attended

Full list of donations in reverse chronological order (59 donations)

Graph of top 10 donees (for donations with known year of donation) by amount, showing the timeframe of donations

Graph of donations and their timeframes
DoneeAmount (current USD)Amount rank (out of 59)Donation dateCause areaURLInfluencerNotes
GiveDirectly50.00452018-11-28Cash transfershttps://aarongertler.net/donations-all-years/-- Gift for a friend. Percentage of total donor spend in the corresponding batch of donations: 50.00%.
Massachusetts Bail Fund50.00452018-11-28Criminal justice reform/bail reformhttps://aarongertler.net/donations-all-years/-- Gift for a friend. Percentage of total donor spend in the corresponding batch of donations: 50.00%.
Iodine Global Network500.00122018-11-27Global health/nutrition/iodinehttps://aarongertler.net/donations-all-years/-- Timed to coincide with matching funds from Facebook's Giving Tuesday event. The match was successful, so Facebook matched the full $500. Percentage of total donor spend in the corresponding batch of donations: 12.50%.
Effective Altruism Funds: Effective Altruism Infrastructure Fund1,000.0042018-11-27Effective altruism/movement growthhttps://aarongertler.net/donations-all-years/-- Timed to coincide with matching funds from Facebook's Giving Tuesday event. The match was successful, so Facebook matched the full $1000. Percentage of total donor spend in the corresponding batch of donations: 25.00%.
GiveWell2,000.0012018-11-27Charity evaluatorhttps://aarongertler.net/donations-all-years/-- Timed to coincide with matching funds from Facebook's Giving Tuesday event. The match was successful, so Facebook matched the full $2000. Percentage of total donor spend in the corresponding batch of donations: 50.00%.
The Life You Can Save500.00122018-11-27Effective altruism/fundraisinghttps://aarongertler.net/donations-all-years/-- Timed to coincide with matching funds from Facebook's Giving Tuesday event. The match was successful, so Facebook matched the full $500. Percentage of total donor spend in the corresponding batch of donations: 12.50%.
Internet Archive25.00542018-11-26Digital preservationhttps://aarongertler.net/donations-all-years/-- Warm-and-fuzzy.
Centre for Effective Altruism1,000.0042017-11-28Global health/malariahttps://aarongertler.net/donations-all-years/-- 60% of donations made by Facebook on Giving Tuesday to qualify for matching by Facebook and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Percentage of total donor spend in the corresponding batch of donations: 57.14%.
GiveWell750.0072017-11-28Charity evaluatorhttps://aarongertler.net/donations-all-years/-- 40% of donations made by Facebook on Giving Tuesday to qualify for matching by Facebook and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Percentage of total donor spend in the corresponding batch of donations: 42.86%.
Effective Altruism Funds: Effective Altruism Infrastructure Fund500.00122017-10-28Effective altruism/movement growthhttps://aarongertler.net/donations-all-years/-- Money to the EA Community Fund managed by Nick Beckstead.
Effective Altruism Funds: Effective Altruism Infrastructure Fund500.00122017-09-27Effective altruism/movement growthhttps://aarongertler.net/donations-all-years/-- Money to the EA Community Fund managed by Nick Beckstead.
GiveDirectly250.00272017-08-15Cash transfershttps://aarongertler.net/donations-all-years/-- Money to support the basic income experiment.
Against Malaria Foundation150.00312017-04-14Global health/malariahttps://aarongertler.net/donations-all-years/--
Donor lottery500.00122016-12-15--https://aarongertler.net/donations-all-years/-- See http://effective-altruism.com/ea/14d/donor_lotteries_a_stepbystep_guide_for_mall/ for more details. Percentage of total donor spend in the corresponding batch of donations: 40.00%.
Centre for Effective Altruism750.0072016-12-15Effective altruism/movement growthhttps://aarongertler.net/donations-all-years/-- End-of-year donation. $750 went to CEA, which runs a number of useful EA projects. Percentage of total donor spend in the corresponding batch of donations: 60.00%.
Against Malaria Foundation,Innovations for Poverty Action,Environmental Defense Fund350.00252016-12-06--https://aarongertler.net/donations-all-years/-- Share of donations from a Giving Game co-sponsored by The Life You Can Save.
GiveWell750.0072016-09-10Charity evaluatorhttps://aarongertler.net/donations-all-years/-- Operational funding.
Against Malaria Foundation500.00122016-07-12Global health/malariahttps://aarongertler.net/donations-all-years/-- In support of a friend’s campaign.
Against Malaria Foundation600.00102016-06-26Global health/malariahttps://aarongertler.net/donations-all-years/-- 60% of the donations that day; the other 40% went to .impact. Percentage of total donor spend in the corresponding batch of donations: 60.00%.
Rethink Charity400.00232016-06-26--https://aarongertler.net/donations-all-years/-- The donation was to .impact, which is now Rethink Charity. 40% of the donations that day; the other 60% went to Against Malaria Foundation. Percentage of total donor spend in the corresponding batch of donations: 40.00%.
Against Malaria Foundation1,400.0032016-04-17Global health/malariahttps://aarongertler.net/donations-all-years/-- 70% of the donations that day; the other 30% went to GiveDirectly. Percentage of total donor spend in the corresponding batch of donations: 70.00%.
GiveDirectly600.00102016-04-17Cash transfershttps://aarongertler.net/donations-all-years/-- The donation resulted from their basic income announcement, though I gave unrestricted funding. Percentage of total donor spend in the corresponding batch of donations: 30.00%.
GiveWell900.0062016-02-01--https://aarongertler.net/donations-all-years/-- Operational funding. 90% of the donations that day, the other 10% went to CFAR. Percentage of total donor spend in the corresponding batch of donations: 90.00%.
Center for Applied Rationality100.00362016-02-01Epistemic institutionshttps://aarongertler.net/donations-all-years/-- 10% of the donations that day, the other 90% went to GiveWell. Percentage of total donor spend in the corresponding batch of donations: 10.00%.
Rethink Charity500.00122016-01-15--https://aarongertler.net/donations-all-years/-- The donation was to .impact, which is now Rethink Charity. 40% of donations made that day. Percentage of total donor spend in the corresponding batch of donations: 40.00%.
Parsemus Foundation250.00272016-01-15--https://aarongertler.net/donations-all-years/-- Gift to David Benatar. 20% of donations made that day. Percentage of total donor spend in the corresponding batch of donations: 20.00%.
Against Malaria Foundation500.00122016-01-15Global health/malariahttps://aarongertler.net/donations-all-years/-- Matched a fundraiser from EA Adelaide. 40% of donations made that day. Percentage of total donor spend in the corresponding batch of donations: 40.00%.
Evidence Action,GiveDirectly,Against Malaria Foundation1,515.0022015-11-23--https://aarongertler.net/donations-all-years/-- Two-thirds of this was matching funds for winter fundraisers by student EA groups. The other third went to sponsor a Giving Game.
Global Priorities Project405.00222015-10-16Charity evaluatorhttps://aarongertler.net/donations-all-years/-- Monthly donation. 45% of total monthly donation. Percentage of total donor spend in the corresponding batch of donations: 45.00%.
GiveWell495.00212015-10-16Charity evaluatorhttps://aarongertler.net/donations-all-years/-- Monthly donation. 55% of total monthly donation. Percentage of total donor spend in the corresponding batch of donations: 55.00%.
GiveWell500.00122015-09-17Charity evaluatorhttps://aarongertler.net/donations-all-years/-- Monthly donation. Support for GiveWell operations. Percentage of total donor spend in the corresponding batch of donations: 100.00%.
GiveWell400.00232015-08-09Charity evaluatorhttps://aarongertler.net/donations-all-years/-- Monthly donation. Percentage of total donor spend in the corresponding batch of donations: 100.00%.
GiveWell100.00362015-07-25Charity evaluatorhttps://aarongertler.net/donations-all-years/-- Monthly donation. Percentage of total donor spend in the corresponding batch of donations: 100.00%.
Internet Archive20.00552015-07-25Digital preservationhttps://aarongertler.net/donations-all-years/-- Warm-and-fuzzy.
Centre for Effective Altruism75.00442015-06-11Effective altruism/movement growthhttps://aarongertler.net/donations-all-years/-- Donation to Giving What We Can, which is now under the Centre for Effective Altruism.
GiveWell50.00452015-05-23Charity evaluatorhttps://aarongertler.net/donations-all-years/-- Monthly donation. Percentage of total donor spend in the corresponding batch of donations: 100.00%.
Seva,Possible50.00452015-05-12--https://aarongertler.net/donations-all-years/--
Against Malaria Foundation20.00552015-05-04Global health/malariahttps://aarongertler.net/donations-all-years/-- Gift for a friend birthday.
Seva30.00532015-03-12--https://aarongertler.net/donations-all-years/-- Yale Effective Altruists giving game.
Oxfam20.00552015-03-12--https://aarongertler.net/donations-all-years/-- Yale Effective Altruists giving game.
Charity Science100.00362015-02-20--https://aarongertler.net/donations-all-years/-- Annual matching fundraiser.
GiveWell40.00512015-01-31Charity evaluatorhttps://aarongertler.net/donations-all-years/-- In memory of a friend.
GiveWell50.00452015-01-27Charity evaluatorhttps://aarongertler.net/donations-all-years/-- In memory of a friend.
Centre for Effective Altruism15.00592015-01-21Effective altruism/movement growthhttps://aarongertler.net/donations-all-years/-- Annual matching fundraiser.
Center for Applied Rationality50.00452014-12-27Rationalty improvementhttps://aarongertler.net/donations-all-years/-- Annual matching fundraiser.
Evidence Action100.00362014-12-25--https://aarongertler.net/donations-all-years/-- Yale Effective Altruists winter fundraiser.
Evidence Action100.00362014-12-23--https://aarongertler.net/donations-all-years/-- Yale Effective Altruists winter fundraiser.
GiveWell100.00362014-12-02Charity evaluatorhttps://aarongertler.net/donations-all-years/-- Monthly donation. Percentage of total donor spend in the corresponding batch of donations: 100.00%.
GiveWell100.00362014-11-02Charity evaluatorhttps://aarongertler.net/donations-all-years/-- Monthly donation. Percentage of total donor spend in the corresponding batch of donations: 100.00%.
Yale Effective Altruists300.00262014-10-22Effective altruism/movement growthhttps://aarongertler.net/donations-all-years/-- Initial funds for a nonprofit founded by him. Spent on operating costs and advocacy work.
GiveWell125.00342014-09-30Charity evaluatorhttps://aarongertler.net/donations-all-years/-- Monthly donation. Percentage of total donor spend in the corresponding batch of donations: 100.00%.
GiveWell38.00522014-09-07Charity evaluatorhttps://aarongertler.net/donations-all-years/-- Monthly donation. Percentage of total donor spend in the corresponding batch of donations: 100.00%.
Machine Intelligence Research Institute100.00362014-08-01AI safetyhttps://aarongertler.net/donations-all-years/-- Monthly donation.
GiveWell152.00302014-07-23Charity evaluatorhttps://aarongertler.net/donations-all-years/-- Monthly donation. Percentage of total donor spend in the corresponding batch of donations: 100.00%.
GiveWell150.00312014-07-03Charity evaluatorhttps://aarongertler.net/donations-all-years/-- Monthly donation. Percentage of total donor spend in the corresponding batch of donations: 100.00%.
GiveWell20.00552014-06-05Charity evaluatorhttps://aarongertler.net/donations-all-years/-- Gift for a friend.
GiveWell200.00292014-05-29Charity evaluatorhttps://aarongertler.net/donations-all-years/-- Birthday donation.
GiveWell150.00312014-03-07Charity evaluatorhttps://aarongertler.net/donations-all-years/-- First donation after becoming an effective altruist.
Vittana115.00352012-12-24--https://aarongertler.net/donations-all-years/-- Christmas gifts for family.

Similarity to other donors

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