> Talented and capable people who end up working low impact non profit jobs at low pay
I currently volunteer at a raptor conservation charity. For no pay at all. They cannot afford to pay anyone but their trained bird team and a small office staff. Volunteers like myself are a force multiplier for the trained permanent staff. By doing mundane jobs for them, we free them to apply their expertise where it matters. Pre-COVID, these mundane tasks included basic animal husbandry, grounds work and infrastructure maintenance. Good skill fits for these role include carpentry, building, 'roady' type knowledge (how to build and wire-up outdoor structures) and many others. Post-COVID, new tasks include cleaning, sanitization and crowd management (facilitating social distancing).
> If you had a real job and donated half your income to the cause, both you and the cause would be better off.
I used to provide financial support to them before I retired. Now I only work intermittently, and I'm using my income to fund my own time working for them, for free.
This is genuinely the best way I can help them. Especially now that their income has been decimated by COVID lockdowns.
[Edit] The flaw in the parent's line of reasoning is assuming that all a non-profit organisation needs is money. Sometimes they need actual stuff doing (such as building a new aviary) and volunteers let them reduce or even eliminate the not-insignificant labour and contracting costs.
I think what you're describing is "moral competence" as the article frames it. That is to say: your efforts are not directed to the end of "how can I be seen as working to support raptor conservation" but rather "how can I support raptor conservation?"
Or, in other words: how can you genuinely further the cause, rather than simply seem to?