Spreading the love update

So, in 2021 I put up a post outlining a plan to donate a portion of the proceeds of PacifiGo to charities. I then proceeded to do precisely nothing with that plan, partially out of laziness, partially because I literally never made enough profit to hit the scale. When this was the bulk of my income it made sense, but I’m currently lucky enough to have another source of income so I’m less dependent on PacifiGo to pay my bills. (As I’ve outlined recently, PacifiGo is not terribly profitable as a business – I run it basically as a non-profit to help people get into go. Profit is nice, as long as it’s not an active loss.)

But I still want to do something in that vein. So I’m changing things a bit. First, the system made sense if we assume PacifiGo does roughly 10x as much business as it actually does, so it’s being simplified.

Every year, 10% of the crude profits will be donated to an effective charity of my choice (suggestions welcome, however).

Over the 2023/24 financial year, PacifiGo made about $1,600 in crude profit. Actual profit is almost certainly less than this, but that gets fiddly so we’ll go with that figure. As a result, I intend to donate $160 to the Malaria Consortium, who focus on preventing malaria in children through seasonal medication administration. Malaria is an utter scourge, killing thousands of children every year, and while I can’t find the paper now I remember reading an analysis a few years ago that every dollar invested in preventing it yields something like $4 in increased GDP. While I’m sure there’s math and arguments suggesting this isn’t the “best” choice, it’s definitely a good direction.

I’ll update this post with the receipt showing the donation after I’ve made it – should be in the next few days.