Givewell
Encyclopedia
GiveWell is an American non-profit
charity
evaluator created in 2006 by two former finance industry
workers, Holden Karnofsky and Elie Hassenfeld. GiveWell's goal is to use an evidence based approach by examining results empirically and avoiding anecdotes and appeals to stories. They investigate charities in a variety of ways, from checking publicly available information (e.g. websites, government statistics, etc.) to directly communicating with the charity leaders.
Givewell states that individual donors give more than six times as much as all philanthropic organizations combined, and the organization's focus is on directing individual donors to the charities best suited to their purposes.
, depending on the amount of data available. They consider many financial issues (e.g. operating costs) in the process of attempting to sort charities by their overall utility
based on each charity's reach and impact. GiveWell claims that it is simply more effective to donate to international charities. GiveWell then offers potential donors a few 'basics of giving', based on their investigations and the available data about existing charities.
Operating costs are not funded by the individual donors GiveWell seeks to direct, but rather by private donor groups including The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.
A charity must be a few things to rank highly with GiveWell: Proven, not by anecdotes and stories, but by systematic and representative data (with domain-specific metrics); Cost-effective for their domain, although these estimations are necessarily rough, and cross-comparison for this criteria is difficult; Scalable and able to use increased funding effectively, since charities can become over funded; and finally Transparent, since charity organizations must be trustworthy, and willing to demonstrate their effectiveness to donors that do not want to waste their money.
GiveWell ascribes a large amount of weight to the idea that a charity should publish 'monitoring and evaluation reports', based on the belief that this means that the charity is committed to actually testing its own impact and effectiveness. Similarly, it is considered promising if the charity has chosen a sort of program that has been proven to be effective.
GiveWell provides a regularly updated list of top-rated charities in each of these areas.
GiveWell recommends international-health causes because the problems to be addressed are more straightforward and very cheap. As of December 2010, the top four charities in GiveWell's rankings are in the area of international health.
As of April 2011, GiveWell's top rated recommended international charity, and one of only two getting a "Gold" rating, is VillageReach
. Meanwhile, the top rated recommended United States charity, also getting a "Gold" rating, is Nurse-Family Partnership.
In addition to providing rankings for charities overall, GiveWell also provides a list of top charities by cause, detailed reviews of each of its top-rated charities, a list of Giving 101 basics and suggestions for individuals on how to do research and what questions to ask when evaluating charities.
, CNBC
, CBS MoneyWatch, Business Week, and Forbes
. Both USA Today
and the Wall Street Journal mentioned GiveWell as an organization that can help donors research and choose charities.
.
GiveWell's board of directors investigated and found that an "inappropriate promotion" had occurred involving the founders Mr. Karnofsky and Mr. Hassenfeld; as a result, both were fined $5000, and Mr. Karnofsky was relieved of his Executive Director role. GiveWell issued a public apology and as part of its transparency policy included the incident on its website at a page called "Shortcomings" with the stated purpose: "This page logs mistakes we've made, strategies we should have planned and executed differently, and lessons we've learned." Karnofsky was later reinstated as Board Secretary.
Non-profit organization
Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...
charity
Charitable organization
A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization . It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization (NPO). It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A...
evaluator created in 2006 by two former finance industry
Financial services
Financial services refer to services provided by the finance industry. The finance industry encompasses a broad range of organizations that deal with the management of money. Among these organizations are credit unions, banks, credit card companies, insurance companies, consumer finance companies,...
workers, Holden Karnofsky and Elie Hassenfeld. GiveWell's goal is to use an evidence based approach by examining results empirically and avoiding anecdotes and appeals to stories. They investigate charities in a variety of ways, from checking publicly available information (e.g. websites, government statistics, etc.) to directly communicating with the charity leaders.
Givewell states that individual donors give more than six times as much as all philanthropic organizations combined, and the organization's focus is on directing individual donors to the charities best suited to their purposes.
Operations
GiveWell investigates charities empirically, under the assumption that different charities face different burdens of proofPhilosophic burden of proof
The philosophic burden of proof is the obligation on a party in an epistemic dispute to provide sufficient warrant for their position.-Holder of the burden:When debating any issue, there is an implicit burden of proof on the person asserting a claim...
, depending on the amount of data available. They consider many financial issues (e.g. operating costs) in the process of attempting to sort charities by their overall utility
Utilitarianism
Utilitarianism is an ethical theory holding that the proper course of action is the one that maximizes the overall "happiness", by whatever means necessary. It is thus a form of consequentialism, meaning that the moral worth of an action is determined only by its resulting outcome, and that one can...
based on each charity's reach and impact. GiveWell claims that it is simply more effective to donate to international charities. GiveWell then offers potential donors a few 'basics of giving', based on their investigations and the available data about existing charities.
Operating costs are not funded by the individual donors GiveWell seeks to direct, but rather by private donor groups including The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.
Methods of investigation
GiveWell identifies top charities in many domains, including education, health, and economic empowerment.A charity must be a few things to rank highly with GiveWell: Proven, not by anecdotes and stories, but by systematic and representative data (with domain-specific metrics); Cost-effective for their domain, although these estimations are necessarily rough, and cross-comparison for this criteria is difficult; Scalable and able to use increased funding effectively, since charities can become over funded; and finally Transparent, since charity organizations must be trustworthy, and willing to demonstrate their effectiveness to donors that do not want to waste their money.
GiveWell ascribes a large amount of weight to the idea that a charity should publish 'monitoring and evaluation reports', based on the belief that this means that the charity is committed to actually testing its own impact and effectiveness. Similarly, it is considered promising if the charity has chosen a sort of program that has been proven to be effective.
GiveWell provides a regularly updated list of top-rated charities in each of these areas.
Recommendations
GiveWell has concentrated on categories of impact: Developing-world health, developing-world poverty, U.S. early childhood care and education, U.S. K-12 Education, and employment assistance in NYC. It provides a regularly updated list of top-rated charities in each of these areas.GiveWell recommends international-health causes because the problems to be addressed are more straightforward and very cheap. As of December 2010, the top four charities in GiveWell's rankings are in the area of international health.
As of April 2011, GiveWell's top rated recommended international charity, and one of only two getting a "Gold" rating, is VillageReach
VillageReach
VillageReach is a non-profit organization working in the area of medical logistics, specifically the last mile delivery of vaccines to remote rural areas in developing countries. It is headquartered in Seattle, Washington, in the United States, and its main operations are in Mozambique, Africa...
. Meanwhile, the top rated recommended United States charity, also getting a "Gold" rating, is Nurse-Family Partnership.
In addition to providing rankings for charities overall, GiveWell also provides a list of top charities by cause, detailed reviews of each of its top-rated charities, a list of Giving 101 basics and suggestions for individuals on how to do research and what questions to ask when evaluating charities.
Media coverage
Givewell has been mentioned in or interviewed by various news sources including NPRNPR
NPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...
, CNBC
CNBC
CNBC is a satellite and cable television business news channel in the U.S., owned and operated by NBCUniversal. The network and its international spinoffs cover business headlines and provide live coverage of financial markets. The combined reach of CNBC and its siblings is 390 million viewers...
, CBS MoneyWatch, Business Week, and Forbes
Forbes
Forbes is an American publishing and media company. Its flagship publication, the Forbes magazine, is published biweekly. Its primary competitors in the national business magazine category are Fortune, which is also published biweekly, and Business Week...
. Both USA Today
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
and the Wall Street Journal mentioned GiveWell as an organization that can help donors research and choose charities.
Astroturfing incident
In late 2007, GiveWell's founders promoted the organization on several internet blogs and forums using astroturfingAstroturfing
Astroturfing is a form of advocacy in support of a political, organizational, or corporate agenda, designed to give the appearance of a "grassroots" movement. The goal of such campaigns is to disguise the efforts of a political and/or commercial entity as an independent public reaction to some...
.
GiveWell's board of directors investigated and found that an "inappropriate promotion" had occurred involving the founders Mr. Karnofsky and Mr. Hassenfeld; as a result, both were fined $5000, and Mr. Karnofsky was relieved of his Executive Director role. GiveWell issued a public apology and as part of its transparency policy included the incident on its website at a page called "Shortcomings" with the stated purpose: "This page logs mistakes we've made, strategies we should have planned and executed differently, and lessons we've learned." Karnofsky was later reinstated as Board Secretary.