About The Practical Altruism Project
Introductory Essay
- Shining a spotlight on individuals who put their
experience and skills to work as a volunteer helping other people.
- To do volunteer work to help others is a noble act. To do volunteer work in your field of expertise is a noble act done wisely.
By Peter Aronson
The Practical Altruism Project
Published on September 23, 2024
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Have you heard of the term “practical altruism”?
Judging by the conversations I’ve had with many people over the past year, the answer is probably no.
You may have heard of “effective altruism,” the darling of many in Silicon Valley, the social and philanthropic movement that espouses an impartial, cost-benefit analysis to determine the most efficient monetary way to help people and solve the world’s most pressing problems.
Practical altruism is its beautiful poor cousin, a more down-to-earth, more-personal, often one-to-one altruistic approach. No money is involved.
Practical altruism, as I define it, is when an individual does volunteer work using their career-learned expertise in order to help others (or a cause), i.e., a retired plumber who volunteers through a nonprofit to help restore drinking water to communities impacted by natural disasters. Practical altruism is a simple concept, the practice hardly new to humankind, from hunters and gatherers helping others learn how to survive to the many, many thousands of people who assist individuals today by applying their expertise. But this work is not talked about as practical altruism per se. The term practical altruism is not part of our lexicon. Try to read about it, try to research it, try to Google it, you’ll see what I mean. There is a lot written about effective altruism, or just plain altruism, but virtually nothing written about practical altruism.
I hope to change that. This website is all about shining a spotlight on practical altruists, showcasing who they are, what they did in their careers, how they became practical altruists and, specifically, how their skills benefit the individuals or the nonprofits they work with. These practical altruists, for the most part, are relatively anonymous volunteers applying the skills they’ve learned in years of working, applying their skills for no pay to help others in an altruistic fashion.
I credit Isaac Adlerstein with enlightening me and introducing me to this concept. Adlerstein, wise well beyond his 26 years of life, is the executive director of Broadway Community, a soup kitchen/homeless shelter in the Morningside Heights section of New York City, near Columbia University. Like so many things today, it started with a simple email, in February 2023.
Hi Peter,
Would you potentially be interested in serving as a partner for this program we are hosting at Broadway Community? I think you would be outstanding, and it would be such an honor to have you.
Isaac
Ok, flattery will get you pretty far, but there was more to it than that. By the next day, I had accepted the four-month commitment. I signed on to be a mentor in the Panim el Panim (Hebrew for face-to-face) empowerment program for homeless or formerly homeless individuals, as these individuals worked to better their lives through supportive programs, housing and job opportunities. Adlerstein didn’t call it practical altruism. However, he knew, or at least had a sense, that because of my background of decades as a journalist, attorney and writer, I had skills that would be helpful.
He knew that my initial volunteer work at Broadway Community, in fall 2022, when I volunteered stuffing lunch bags in the soup kitchen, was a frustrating experience for me, because I felt I could offer much more.
As part of this mentorship work in the Panim program, Adlerstein also asked me if I wanted to help individuals write and tell their personal stories. He knew, I think better than I did, how this would allow me to utilize my skills.
As I began working with two formerly homeless individuals, Morgan and Isaac (not Adlerstein, a different Isaac), meeting week after week for hours at a time, I felt an immediate and heartfelt connection to them and a worthy purpose for my skills. They were telling me about their lives and I was teaching them a little about storytelling. And it’s fair to say that we were reaching and teaching each other, in a practical and emotional way. (To read Morgan’s, Isaac’s and now, also, Clarence’s stories, told in their own words, go to Broadway Community’s website.)
I have continued with other practical altruism projects, writing weekly articles for an environmental nonprofit, the New York League of Conservation Voters, and assisting high school seniors with their college essays at South Bronx United, a soccer/education program for youth in the South Bronx. I am not shy about relating these experiences, because my goal is to spread the gospel of practical altruism. That’s the purpose of this website. By writing about practical altruists, I aim to encourage others to give it a try. Donating money is a wonderful thing, if you can afford to do so. Practical altruism is a more personal approach to giving, an endeavor to share a piece of your mind, heart, spirit and soul. Sounds corny, but it’s true.
Just ask the first seven individuals I will be profiling on this site.
In the first profile, you’ll meet Kathryn Graybill, a Shakespearian actress, and Assaf Rutenberg, an IT specialist, who perform invaluable services for Broadway Community. Next, you’ll meet retired U.S. Air Force Major General Dr. Sharon Bannister, a nonprofit Wonder Woman who applies her leadership skills and knowledge on the board of three military-themed nonprofits and works with two other nonprofits as well. Soon after, we'll publish the profile of Alec Cecil, a retired psychologist who has taken on a volunteer leadership position with the Red Cross, which includes providing support at disaster sites around the country. Next, you’ll meet Nancy Reiner, a lawyer and legal headhunter who started a nonprofit that has helped scores of small environmental startups find pro bono attorneys. Finally, you'll meet Aimee Joyaux, an artist, and Sam Davis, a business consultant, who use their expertise to provide invaluable service to an art nonprofit in Virginia.
These practical altruists have lived very different lives, and their skills are as varied as the needs our society faces, but they all share one thing: They are all practical altruists, applying their decades of experience as volunteers to help other people.
I am searching for other practical altruists to profile, hoping to add four to six stories a year to this website. If you know of someone who is a practical altruist and they have been doing the volunteer work for at least a year, please reach out. paronson@practicalaltruism.com
(Just an fyi: I will not be profiling individuals who do volunteer work as part of their paid job at a company or a law firm. This often is called skills-based volunteering, aka pro bono work, by companies offering it and organizations promoting it. This is certainly a noble cause and to be applauded, but I view this outside the scope of The Practical Altruism Project, because the individual volunteers are participating in a program offered through their employer and the employer pays them a salary.)
Thanks for reading and please spread the word.
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If you wish to read a longer essay I have written about practical altruism and the history of, philosophical thoughts about and benefits from altruistic work, please click here.
Email: paronson@practicalaltriusm.com
Website: practicalaltruism.com