Benjamin Todd

Positions in policy require a wide range of skill types, so there should be some high-impact options for nearly everyone.

Approach 5.

Building Organizations When most people think of careers that do good, the first thing they think of is working at a charity.

The thing is, lots of jobs at charities just aren't that impactful.

Some charities focus on programs that don't work, like Scared Straight, which cause kids to commit more crimes.

Others focus on ways of helping that don't have much leverage, like Superman fighting criminals one by one, or Dr. Landstein focusing on performing surgeries rather than doing the work to discover blood groups.

Another problem is that many want to work at organizations that are more constrained by funding than by the number of people enthusiastic to work there.

This means if you don't take the job, it would be easy to find someone else who's almost as good.

Think of a lawyer who volunteers at a soup kitchen.

It may be motivating for them, but it's hardly the most effective thing they could do.

Donating one or two hours of salary could pay for several other people to do the work instead, or they could do pro bono legal work and contribute in a way that makes use of their valuable skills.

However, there are plenty of other situations when working for a non-profit is the most effective thing to do.

Non-profits can tackle issues that other organizations can't.

They can carry out research that doesn't earn academic prestige, or do political advocacy on behalf of disempowered groups such as animals or future generations, or provide services that would never be profitable within the market.

And there are lots of non-profits doing great work that really need more people to help build and scale them up.

There are also lots of niches that aren't being filled, where we need new non-profits set up to tackle them.

More broadly, helping to build an organization can be a route to making a big contribution, because organizations allow large groups of people to coordinate, and therefore achieve a bigger impact than they could individually.

Moreover, if you help build or start an effective organization, it can continue to have an impact even after you leave.

And if you can help make an already existing and impactful organization somewhat more effective, that can also be a route to a big impact.

Claire joined Lead Exposure Elimination Project, or LEAP, as its third staff member.