It's not an end-all, be-all solution. But dismissing it out of hand, as you've done several times...
/shrug
But do whatever makes you feel warm and fuzzy.
dismissing something out of hand is to refuse it completely without thinking about it or discussing it. I hardly think: clicking it to check it out, playing around with additional figures beyond my own to understand it better, providing a few critiques, and rating it as "interesting" in my two posts equates to dismissing out of hand, simply because I concluded in the end it wasn't for me.
But if you prefer to be dismissive of a criticism rather than engage regarding a tool's merits and flaws?
/shrug
I find the posts on this forum related to charitable giving to be very interesting. It's why I've posted to recent threads on my rationale for
supporting my college, initiated discussions on
whether charitable giving changes as folks become mustachian, argued that
volunteering shouldn't be limited to just when FI but a way of life, and discussed how
much to give to charity. It's also why I've looked at research for why people donate, and into quirks such as why the lower-to-middle class tends to give more as a percent of income than the wealthy. Altruism is an interesting topic in and of itself, but it's also useful on a practical side in trying to understand how to improve the fundraising at my non-profit.
It seems you & I have very different takes to donating. Although I financially donate (and more than average for my income level), I'm pretty hands on. I primarily donate to places I've also volunteered at. The reasons are threefold: 1) It ensures I know the organization and for what my money is being used, 2) it ensures I am financially supporting organizations where I truly believe in the mission of the organization if I’m committed enough to spend my limited free time with it, 3) the hands on experience of seeing my work affect individuals and an organization is rewarding. It's rare that I donate money to a place that I haven't donated my time, usually when it's a cause to which a friend is committed (e.g. I donated this year and last year to the American Liver Foundation to support a friend's run in the Boston marathon here). Thus to me, while I recognize that the tool doesn’t preclude also donating time,
any discussion of donations is very much incomplete without considering how to donate both time and money. I could relinquish my charitable responsibilities, accept a part-time job for the same time investment, and donate those earnings (well exceeding the percent suggested by the tool), but that would be an unsatisfactory approach.
As noted above (and in one or two of the posts linked), I also do not follow a utilitarian perspective of ethics regarding donating and therefore, don’t tend to donate to where it might objectively do the most good, such as ending poverty as suggested by this model or (a more important goal in my mind) of clean water. Instead, I like Nords, primarily donate to local organizations, more akin to a Care Ethics philosophy. Obviously, one can use this tool as a more general measure, but it’s another aspect of the tool I’ve considered, and determined does not fit with my beliefs and values.
btw, thanks for the nod to the Your Mustache Might be Evil post. It’s an interesting thread, which I’m going to digest later when I have more time. Sol addresses a good point, of not sacrificing all values in pursuit of FI, and echoes some thoughts/qualms I mentioned above, recognizing that you need to exercise a charitable giving muscle.
