From “Doing Good Better: How Effective Altruism Can Help You Help Others, Do Work that Matters, and Make Smarter Choices About Giving Back” by William Macaskill
If you’ve built up useful skills, on the other hand, then it can be a good option to contribute those skills directly to an effective area. This is what Rob Mather of the Against Malaria Foundation did. He had extensive experience in business and sales, which meant he understood how to run an organization and pitch ideas, and had developed an incredible capacity to make things happen. (His first foray into altruism was organizing a swimming-based fund-raiser and he managed to get one hundred thousand swimmers to participate.) His background also meant that he doesn’t need to take a salary, something that impressed donors in the early stages. His sales skills allowed him to get a huge amount of pro bono support from a variety of companies. As a result, he has built a charity that is among the top recommended at GiveWell, has raised more than $30 million, and has distributed more than ten million long-lasting insecticide-treated bed nets, saving thousands of lives.