William MacAskill had a fascinating article about unintended consequences:

• Sponsoring first-time skydivers is a popular way to raise funds for charity. One study of 1,500 such events over a five-year period found that all in all they raised £120,000.
• However, since some of the funds are used to pay for the event ultimately only £45,000 was sent directly to charities.
• And since these were first-time skydivers with limited training there were 103 injuries which, on average, required nine days of hospitalization.
• This cost a total of £610,000 in medical expenses – which was paid for by the government through its funding of the NHS.
• All in all, for every £1 raised, the government had to kick in £13 to deal with the fallout from the charity effort.
• Bringing the story full circle: often times the sky-diving events aimed to raise money for health-related charities.

The full article has more information about the the study and contains a wider analysis of our blind-spots when supporting charities. Find it here.

Source: Time

Via: Reddit