To me an overriding consideration here is the not-only-meta consideration; people who want to become effective altruist donors in the future would be extremely well advised to give something today, even if it’s only a small amount. The same applies on a much larger scale to effective altruism as a movement. It must be doing something today, preferably a good deal; for it to wait into the indefinite future is death as a movement, and not only because others, perhaps already on the fence, will be as suspicious as I am of the Indefinite Meta. There will be no future EA orgs if the EA orgs that exist today are not supported today. (This is also true within particular EA categories.)
To me an overriding consideration here is the not-only-meta consideration; people who want to become effective altruist donors in the future would be extremely well advised to give something today, even if it’s only a small amount. The same applies on a much larger scale to effective altruism as a movement. It must be doing something today, preferably a good deal; for it to wait into the indefinite future is death as a movement, and not only because others, perhaps already on the fence, will be as suspicious as I am of the Indefinite Meta. There will be no future EA orgs if the EA orgs that exist today are not supported today. (This is also true within particular EA categories.)
Also, waiting to donate increases the chance that you’ll not donate in the future—donating now boosts motivation
Sort-of related xkcd.
Alternately, a metaphor