non-profit
A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...
effective altruism
Effective altruism (EA) is a 21st-century philosophical and social movement that advocates impartially calculating benefits and prioritizing causes to provide the greatest good. It is motivated by "using evidence and reason to figure out how to b ...
-focused organization. GiveWell focuses primarily on the
cost-effectiveness
Cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA) is a form of economic analysis that compares the relative costs and outcomes (effects) of different courses of action. Cost-effectiveness analysis is distinct from cost–benefit analysis, which assigns a moneta ...
of the organizations that it evaluates, rather than traditional metrics such as the percentage of the organization's budget that is spent on overhead.
History
In 2006,
Holden Karnofsky
Holden Karnofsky is an American nonprofit executive. Karnofsky co-founded the charity evaluator GiveWell with Elie Hassenfeld in 2007. He co-founded the grantmaking organization Open Philanthropy (organization), Open Philanthropy in 2014, and was ...
and Elie Hassenfeld, who worked at a
hedge fund
A hedge fund is a Pooling (resource management), pooled investment fund that holds Market liquidity, liquid assets and that makes use of complex trader (finance), trading and risk management techniques to aim to improve investment performance and ...
in Connecticut, formed an informal group with colleagues to evaluate charities based on data and
performance metric
A performance indicator or key performance indicator (KPI) is a type of performance measurement. KPIs evaluate the success of an organization or of a particular activity (such as projects, programs, products and other initiatives) in which it e ...
s similar to those they used at the fund, and were surprised to find the data often didn't exist. The next year, Karnofsky and Hassenfeld formed GiveWell as a nonprofit to provide
financial analyst
A financial analyst is a professional undertaking financial analysis for external or internal clients as a core feature of the job.
sockpuppets to ask questions about where to find good information about how to donate and then answering them, recommending GiveWell. GiveWell's board of directors investigated and found that the founders Karnofsky and Hassenfeld had acted inappropriately and as a result, it fined each of them $5000 and Karnofsky was demoted from executive director to a program director.
In 2008, GiveWell received funding from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation's Nonprofit Marketplace Initiative. The Hewlett Foundation continued to be a major funder of GiveWell until March 2014, when the Hewlett Foundation announced that it was ending the Nonprofit Marketplace Initiative based on a 2010 study it commissioned that found that only 3% of donors selected charities based on performance metrics (rather than e.g. loyalty, personal connections, or faith), and a subsequent 2012 study showing that efforts to provide better data were not changing that pattern.
In 2013, GiveWell moved its offices to San Francisco where people in
Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that is a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical area of the Santa Clara Valley ...
had become strong supporters of the effective altruism philosophy.
Approach
Givewell's approach is data-driven, and they recommend charities which work in the
developing world
A developing country is a sovereign state with a less-developed industrial base and a lower Human Development Index (HDI) relative to developed countries. However, this definition is not universally agreed upon. There is also no clear agreeme ...
.
American philosopher Leif Wenar has criticized the charity evaluator, saying that it does not sufficiently take into account harms caused by its recommended charities.
Open Philanthropy
In 2011, Good Ventures, founded with $8.3 billion by husband and wife
Dustin Moskovitz
Dustin Aaron Moskovitz (; born May 22, 1984) is an American billionaire internet entrepreneur who co-founded Facebook, Inc. (now known as Meta Platforms) with Mark Zuckerberg, Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum and Chris Hughes. In 2008, he left F ...
and Cari Tuna, partnered with GiveWell to set up a partner organization called Open Philanthropy, as a vehicle to direct the funding done by Good Ventures. In 2015, Mike Krieger and his fiancee Kaitlyn Trigger pledged $750,000 to Open Philanthropy over two years, with 10% going to fund the operations of the project.
Open Philanthropy has investigated giving money to criminal justice reform and a range of other policy areas, and has funded work into mitigating risks of
artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence (AI) is the capability of computer, computational systems to perform tasks typically associated with human intelligence, such as learning, reasoning, problem-solving, perception, and decision-making. It is a field of re ...
,
biosecurity
Biosecurity refers to measures aimed at preventing the introduction or spread of harmful organisms (e.g. viruses, bacteria, plants, animals etc.) intentionally or unintentionally outside their native range or within new environments. In agricult ...
, and
global health
Global health is the health of populations in a worldwide context; it has been defined as "the area of study, research, and practice that places a priority on improving health and achieving equity in health for all people worldwide". Problems th ...
.
In 2017, Open Philanthropy separated from GiveWell, and upon Karnofsky stepping down as Co-Executive Director of GiveWell, Elie Hassenfeld became GiveWell's sole Executive Director.
Recommended charities
GiveWell makes annual recommendations of the most cost-effective charities. They estimate that they save an average of one life for every
US$
The United States dollar (Currency symbol, symbol: Dollar sign, $; ISO 4217, currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and International use of the U.S. dollar, several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introdu ...
3,500–5,500 donated. As of August 2022, the top recommended charities are:
*
Malaria Consortium
Malaria Consortium is an international non-profit organisations, non-profit organization based in Cambridge Heath, London, specializing in the comprehensive control of malaria and other communicable diseases – particularly those affecting child ...
(
malaria
Malaria is a Mosquito-borne disease, mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects vertebrates and ''Anopheles'' mosquitoes. Human malaria causes Signs and symptoms, symptoms that typically include fever, Fatigue (medical), fatigue, vomitin ...
vitamin A deficiency
Vitamin A deficiency (VAD) or hypovitaminosis A is a lack of vitamin A in blood and tissues. It is common in poorer countries, especially among children and women of reproductive age, but is rarely seen in more developed countries. Vitamin A pla ...
)
*
New Incentives
New Incentives is a non-governmental organization (NGO) that operates in Nigeria, running a conditional cash transfer (CCT) program. They aim to increase infantile vaccination through cash transfers, raising public awareness and reducing the freq ...
vaccination
Vaccination is the administration of a vaccine to help the immune system develop immunity from a disease. Vaccines contain a microorganism or virus in a weakened, live or killed state, or proteins or toxins from the organism. In stimulating ...
)
See also
*
American Institute of Philanthropy
CharityWatch, known until 2012 as the American Institute of Philanthropy, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization in Chicago, Illinois, created in the United States by Daniel Borochoff in 1992, to provide information about charities' financial effi ...