While Net Negative Gardening is a for-profit company, we believe being profitable and doing good in the world aren't mutually exclusive. This is why we decided to take the Giving What We Can company pledge to donate 10% of our profits (or 1% of revenue if higher) to independently evaluated charities that maximize their positive impact in the world according to specific criteria.
Our approach is grounded in a simple but powerful idea: what ultimately matters is how people feel during and about their lives. While things like health, wealth, and education are important, they matter because of how they affect people's subjective wellbeing.
This view has practical implications for how we approach making a positive impact. Many organisations rely on indirect measures like income or education levels to gauge their success. While these factors are important, they don't tell us the whole story. The key question is: how much do different interventions actually improve people's lives?
This perspective leads us to ask: how can we increase wellbeing in the world most effectively with our resources? The answer requires careful measurement and evidence. Rather than relying on assumptions, we look to organisations like the Happier Lives Institute that rigorously analyse the actual impact different interventions have on people's self-reported wellbeing.
To compare different approaches, researchers at the Happier Lives Institute use a measure called the "wellbeing-adjusted life year" (WELLBY). One WELLBY represents increasing one person's self-reported life satisfaction by one point (on a 0-10 scale) for one year, based on responses to questions like "Overall, how satisfied are you with your life nowadays?" This allows us to directly compare different interventions - for example, understanding whether providing mental health treatment or direct cash transfers creates more wellbeing per dollar spent.
Recent research using WELLBYs has revealed some surprising findings. For example, mental health interventions often have a much larger impact than previously thought. Studies show that treating depression through group therapy in low-income countries can be several times more cost-effective at improving wellbeing than direct cash transfers - even though both approaches are valuable.
Using this evidence-based approach, we've chosen to support charities that:
Based on this evidence-based approach, we're committing to donate a portion of our profits to StrongMinds through Effective Altruism Australia. StrongMinds provides group interpersonal therapy (g-IPT) in Uganda and Zambia, focusing on increasing social support, decreasing the stress of social interactions, and improving communication skills.
The evidence for StrongMinds' effectiveness is substantial:
The Happier Lives Institute has conducted rigorous analysis showing that StrongMinds is one of the most cost-effective ways to improve wellbeing globally. Their research combines evidence from multiple sources, including meta-analyses, direct evaluations, and monitoring data, and accounts for factors like publication bias and long-term effects.
We've chosen to donate through Effective Altruism Australia to ensure our contributions are tax-deductible while supporting evidence-based charitable work. This allows us to maximize our impact while operating responsibly as a business.
Traditional measures of progress like GDP or income levels, while important, don't tell the whole story of human flourishing. By focusing directly on subjective wellbeing, we can identify and support interventions that make the biggest difference in people's lived experience.
We believe this approach - combining the rigor of scientific measurement with the fundamental goal of improving lives - represents the future of effective philanthropy. As we grow, we're committed to increasing both our impact and our understanding of how best to create positive change in the world.
While we're proud of our commitment to evidence-based giving, we recognize that this is just the beginning of our journey. We invite our customers, partners, and community to learn more about effective giving and join us in maximizing the positive impact we can have together.
Through careful analysis and targeted support, we believe we can help create a world where more people experience greater wellbeing. That's the kind of social impact that truly matters.
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