“Saving a life” by phoebe b

I recently decided to check how much I've donated to GiveWell's Top Charity Fund over the last three years. I only got properly bought into EA in 2021/22, and only started donating on a monthly basis in Jan 2022. I also don't earn a huge amount, so haven't been donating much monthly in real terms, although 18 months ago I stepped up my donation amount. I kinda forgot about my donations, as one does, until recently I was like "oh, I've been doing this for like 3 years now, I wonder how much I've actually donated?" I couldn't easily find a way of seeing my total donations at a glance on my Giving What We Can dashboard (which might well be me not looking at the right thing) so I just got my calculator out and added up all the individual payments. I was kinda shocked to see that [...] ---Outline:(01:10) But what does that actually mean?(02:29) How it feels to (maybe) save a life(02:56) Abstract vs concrete impact(05:54) Does this make me a saint?(07:54) Finding a balance I can live with--- First published: March 24th, 2025 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/sY4SSsdDqcJMmedtu/saving-a-life --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.