One year ago today, Giving Multiplier was featured on top-ranked science podcast Ologies with Alie Ward (@ologies.bsky.social) in an episode featuring our co-founder, Harvard psychologist Joshua Greene. What happened next far surpassed our expectations... (short 🧵)

🎙️ Our co-founder, Harvard psychologist Joshua Greene, joins Amanda Knox (@amandaknox.com) on the latest Hard Knox podcast. They cover the neuroscience of moral decision-making, bridging political divides, and the science behind Giving Multiplier. Link below👇

Announcing the launch of the 50/50 Pledge! The pledge is simple: give half or more of your annual donations to high-impact nonprofits recommended by experts. Keep the rest for the causes that mean the most to you. Hear from our co-founder Harvard psychologist Prof. Joshua Greene in this video:

It was a pleasure to be interviewed on the Giving Intelligence Podcast! We talked about how to identify highly effective charities, bridging donors' heart & head motivations, and the psychological science behind Giving Multiplier (@givingmultiplier.bsky.social).

Matt Coleman of Giving Multiplier

open.spotify.com

❄️ Our Winter newsletter is here! Read about our donors' impact in 2025, our featured super-effective charity, and a creative fundraiser someone made raising $5,000 by running 40 miles for his 40th birthday (while in a carrot costume!). ✉️ mailchi.mp/givingmultip...

Grateful to join the board of @projectshort.bsky.social!

Project SHORT@projectshort.bsky.social · 7mo ago

A New Year, A New Addition to Our Board of Directors! 🎊 Introducing Dr. Matthew Coleman! 🎊 @matt--coleman.bsky.social is the Executive Director of @givingmultiplier.bsky.social, a research-based donation platform founded at @harvard.edu that introduces people to high-impact charities.

As 2025 winds down, we're here to multiply your charitable impact. Giving Multiplier adds matching funds when you split your donation between any charity close to your heart and one of our super-effective charities. No platform fees. ➡️ Try it out, join over 5,000 donors: givingmultiplier.org

⌛️ Two days left to double your donation to @give-directly.bsky.social for #PodsFightPoverty! Donate: givedirectly.org/pods

Pods Fight Poverty: 2x your impact for 700+ Rwandan families in poverty | GiveDirectly & Giving Multiplier

Join us in sending life-changing cash to 700+ Rwandan families, with your favorite podcasters helping deliver ~$1,100 per family to spend on what they need most. While match funds last, your donation ...

givedirectly.org

We've just crossed the $200,000 mark for #PodsFightPoverty! Thanks to more than 850 generous podcast listeners, we've helped lift over 150 Rwandan families out of extreme poverty. And there’s still 10 days to go!

Trolley Dilemma: you have to decide whether you would sacrifice 1 life to save 5. People make different decisions in slightly different versions of the problem, which unmasks secrets in brain imaging. Discover more on this week's Inner Cosmos with guest Joshua Greene.

“Our moral brains are beautifully designed for a world that no longer exists” - @davideagleman.bsky.social 📽️ Watch the newest episode of Inner Cosmos, a wide-ranging conversation with GM co-founder Prof. Joshua Greene: youtube.com/watch?v=6FW6... #PodsFightPoverty #InnerCosmos

What do brains teach us about morality? with Joshua Greene | Inner Cosmos with David Eagleman

YouTube video by Inner Cosmos With David Eagleman

youtube.com

This month, dozens of podcasts are collaborating to raise $1M for 700+ families living in extreme poverty in 3 villages in Rwanda. I'm proud to be supporting this effort in my capacity as host of #Choiceology. Please support this campaign and make a gift at: GiveDirectly.org/choice

Pods Fight Poverty: 1.5x your impact for 700+ families in Rwanda | GiveDirectly & Giving Multiplier

Join us in sending life-changing cash to 700+ Rwandan families, with your favorite podcasters helping deliver ~$1,100 per family to spend on what they need most. While match funds last, your donation ...

givedirectly.org

#PodsFightPoverty is live! This holiday season, @givingmultiplier.bsky.social is partnering with @give-directly.bsky.social for a one-of-a-kind fundraiser to lift three entire Rwandan villages out of extreme poverty. Giving Multiplier is boosting first-time donations with a 50% match! (1/2)

“𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙤𝙨𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙥𝙤𝙬𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙤𝙧𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙧𝙮 𝙥𝙚𝙤𝙥𝙡𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙞𝙨 𝙨𝙩𝙪𝙣𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙬𝙚 𝙙𝙤𝙣’𝙩 𝙛𝙪𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙘𝙞𝙖𝙩𝙚.” Listen to co-founder Joshua Greene, Harvard psychologist and neuroscientist, on the latest “You Are Not So Smart” podcast with @davidmcraney.bsky.social. 🔗 youarenotsosmart.com/2025/11/24/y...

New article I wrote at Behavioral Scientist (@behscientist.bsky.social): I share the psychological research on "drop-in-the-bucket" thinking, how this tendency shows up when trying to make an impact, and what we can do about it. Article: behavioralscientist.org/how-proporti...

How ‘Proportion Dominance’ Gets in the Way of Effective Giving - by Matthew Coleman - Behavioral Scientist

When it comes to helping others, it’s important to remember that it’s the size of the drop that matters, not the size of the bucket.

behavioralscientist.org

Happy 5th birthday to @givingmultiplier.bsky.social! It's been an incredible joy directing the platform for the past couple years. Stay tuned for our biggest initiative yet, launching next month.

Giving Multiplier@givingmultiplier.bsky.social · 10mo ago

🎉 Giving Multiplier turns 5! We launched in 2020 as a proof of concept — could we apply behavioral science to help people increase their charitable impact? “We would have been happy if we raised a little bit better than bake sale," said co-founder Prof. Joshua Greene. 1/2

🍂 Our Fall newsletter is here! 🎧 See the impact of the $675,000 directed to charity by @ologies.bsky.social listeners in just two months 🐔 Learn how @thehumaneleagueus.bsky.social improves millions of farmed animals' lives 📖 Read our director's new article in @behscientist.bsky.social 👇 Link below

New research from Janek Kretschmer & Paul Smeets: separating donation decisions into two stages (1. how much to give, 2. which charity to support) increases charitable impact. Paper: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

A hen spends her life in a cage no bigger than an iPad, unable to spread her wings. This #WorldFarmAnimalsDay, let's change that. For less than a dollar, you can help free a hen, and your donation gets a 50% boost all week long. With your help, we can free 100,000 hens.

New article I wrote at Behavioral Scientist (@behscientist.bsky.social): I share the psychological research on "drop-in-the-bucket" thinking, how this tendency shows up when trying to make an impact, and what we can do about it. Article: behavioralscientist.org/how-proporti...

How ‘Proportion Dominance’ Gets in the Way of Effective Giving - by Matthew Coleman - Behavioral Scientist

When it comes to helping others, it’s important to remember that it’s the size of the drop that matters, not the size of the bucket.

behavioralscientist.org

ICYMI: Three weeks ago, we were featured on the "Trolleyology" episode of @ologies.bsky.social. Since then, hundreds of Ologites have collectively directed an astounding $445,000 toward combating extreme poverty and climate change, supporting 230+ of their favorite nonprofits, and much more. Bravo!

Ologies with Alie Ward@ologies.bsky.social · last yr.

The Trolley Problem! A hot philosophical debate. Who gets spared? Where should you donate? What is "harm?" What would a monk do? W/ Dr. Josh Greene of @givingmultiplier.bsky.social. Also: neurodivergence & moral decisions, religion + your new fave skeleton. www.alieward.com/ologies/trol...

Nice review of recent research showing that younger children start out with a more expansive moral circle than older children and adults @juliamarshall.bsky.social, @mattiwilks.bsky.social, @karrineldner.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Fantastic new episode of @ologies.bsky.social! An insightful (and often hilarious) discussion on navigating difficult moral decisions and Josh's applied research projects for expanding the circle of "us". Podcast: pod.link/1278815517/e...

Giving Multiplier@givingmultiplier.bsky.social · last yr.

Joshua Greene, Professor of Psychology @harvard.edu and GM co-founder, was interviewed for the latest @ologies.bsky.social podcast with Alie Ward. In this "Trolleyology" episode, they discuss: 🚎 Trolley dilemmas 💝 Smart & meaningful generosity 🌉 Building bridges across political divides (1/2)

♻️ Giving Multiplier powers a virtuous circle of giving. Matching funds inspire donations to highly effective charities. In turn, those donations encourage others to provide more matching funds. This "supply-and-demand" cycle creates impact today, while sustaining our platform for the future.

People in rich countries often underestimate how wealthy they are globally. A new study finds that a simple nudge correcting this misperception increases generosity: escholarship.org/uc/item/0wm7...

Harry D. Coulson@harrydcoulson.bsky.social · last yr.

New preprint w/ @glenspiteri.bsky.social , @maxmaier.bsky.social & Falk Lieder: Telling people their global income rank (RBN) increased charitable donations. Also explored RBN’s effect on perceived global income distribution + whether asking how much others should donate increased giving (IDT) 🧵…

🌍 Featured super-effective charity: Clean Air Task Force (@cleanaircatf.bsky.social) CATF works in 40+ countries driving tech & policy solutions to fight climate change, including advanced nuclear energy and next-gen geothermal. 🔗 Read their mid-year impact report: catf.us/2025/06/2025...

People see giving time (volunteering) as more impactful than giving money (donating), in part because it feels more personal and connected to the self. New paper by Samantha Kassirer and Maferima Touré-Tillery: link.springer.com/article/10.1...

"Maybe we are born with a surprisingly inclusive capacity to care, and over time, we learn to direct that concern more selectively." New research on moral development, summarized on Substack by Lucius Caviola:

When development constricts our moral circle

While we often assume that growing up makes us more morally inclusive, our research suggests that young children may start out with broader concern—and become more selective with age.

outpaced.substack.com

I’ve long believed that good reasoning can lead to better behaviour. But as Josh Greene and I discuss in this episode of “Lives Well Lived”, reason alone is often not enough. Josh describes how his thinking has evolved from the hope that moral philosophy informed by psychology could change...

Really cool new preprint: charity effectiveness information can boost donations. But framing matters. When cost-effectiveness falls below expectations, it can backfire and actually reduce giving. 📃 papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....