I agree with Mr Mind that there are a number of questionable hidden assumptions here. I would suggest that if you truly care about improving the world, you should seek to invest, not to give to charity. Ideally, this would be an area in which you already have some expertise, so you can pick wise investments. Most problems that charities work on are also business opportunities for entrepreneurs to solve; by being part of that, your money will do far more good in the long run. Market feedback makes sure that for-profit businesses really are solving the problem, whereas charities generally just drift.
For example, I am far more excited by Endaga (see e.g. here, here) providing cheap technology for mobile networks for rural areas in the third world, than I am about sponsoring a bike ride across Zambia to raise awareness of poverty. Only one of these activities has the chance to do anything about African poverty, and we all know it ain't the charity.
I would suggest that if you truly care about improving the world, you should seek to invest, not to give to charity. Ideally, this would be an area in which you already have some expertise, so you can pick wise investments. Most problems that charities work on are also business opportunities for entrepreneurs to solve; by being part of that, your money will do far more good in the long run. Market feedback makes sure that for-profit businesses really are solving the problem, whereas charities generally just drift.
...There are lots of people w
I'd like to hear from people about a process they use to decide how much to give to charity. Personally, I have very high income, and while we donate significant money in absolute terms, in relative terms the amount is <1% of our post-tax income. It seems to me that it's too little, but I have no moral intuition as to what the right amount is.
I have a good intuition on how to allocate the money, so that's not a problem.
Background: I have a wife and two kids, one with significant health issues (i.e. medical bills - possibly for life), most money we spend goes to private school tuition x 2, the above mentioned medical bills, mortgage, and miscellaneous life expenses. And we max out retirement savings.
If you have some sort of quantitative system where you figure out how much to spend on charity, please share. If you just use vague feelings, and you think there can be no reasonable quantitative system, please tell me that as well.
Update: as suggested in the comments, I'll make it more explicit: please also share how you determine how much to give.