Five years ago, they were mid-level software engineers. Today, they hold giving accounts larger than major foundations — and the sector they want to fund may not be ready to absorb the money. Nick Allardice, CEO of GiveDirectly and former CEO of Change.org, joins Amie and Jonathan to unpack his widely discussed article "The Absorption Problem" and what the "third wave" of philanthropy means for global development. Nick explains why the biggest risk isn't money going to the wrong place, but money sitting on the sidelines for lack of credible places to put it — and why he regularly refers major donors to other organizations to "grow the pie, not divide it." The conversation digs into the voltage drop (research suggests 50–90% of programs lose substantial impact as they scale), why nonprofits rarely ask what their total addressable market is, and how GiveDirectly is winding down complexity to prepare to move much larger sums. Nick closes with candid advice for the newly wealthy: give away 10% of your net wealth in year one, learn by doing, and don't disconnect from the joy of giving.

Related Resources:

The Absorption Problem by Nick Allardice

The Overlooked Absorptive Capacity of Locally-Led Organizations by Jonathan Jackson and Neal Lesh

The Third Wave of American Philanthropy by Nan Ransohoff

Increasing Our 2026 Allocation to GiveWell's Recommendations to $1 Billion by Coefficient Giving

The Voltage Effect: How to Make Good Ideas Great and Great Ideas Scale by John A. List


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Hosts: ⁠Jonathan Jackson⁠ and ⁠Amie Vaccaro

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