GIVEWELL: CHECKING UP ON CHARITIES

Published on GiveWell (http://www.givewell.org)

Our charity evaluation process

For details, see our process for international charities and our process for U.S. charities. This page has all charities that we have considered. GiveWell's process broadly consists of:

• Examining hundreds of charities and relevant academic literature
• Deeply investigating the most promising charities by our criteria
• Publishing all the details of our charity recommendations and the full details of our reasoning on this website

Evaluation criteria

We primarily look for charities with strong documented track records, highly cost-effective activities, and concrete needs for more funds. Recommended charities must be highly transparent and accountable, i.e., willing to share enough in-depth information about their work that we can assess them on these criteria.

Identifying charities

We cast the net as wide as we can to consider as many charities as possible, reviewing hundreds of charities' websites and more deeply investigating the most promising ones. This page has all charities that we have considered. We identify charities from sources, including:

• Submissions to our website
• Grantees of other major funders
• Partners of research organizations

In-depth charity reviews

We perform in-depth reviews of charities that make it through the early stages of our process. These involve conversations with representatives; examination of internal documentation including monitoring and evaluation reports, budgets, and plans for using additional funding; reviewing independent literature and evidence of effectiveness of the charities' programs. For the strongest contenders, we conduct visits to their programs in the field. We post the names of every charity we consider on our website. This page has all charities that we have considered.

*       *       *

Since I posted about fake charities, I thought I would post about ways to figure out effective charities.  The above is straight from the GiveWell.org website.

What is GiveWell?

Givewell is an American non-profit charity evaluator started in 2007 by two former Bridgewater Associates* investment analysts, Holden Karnofsky and Elie Hassenfeld. The goal of Givewell is to promote giving to charities that are effective and transparent.

Where does GiveWell get its funding?

GiveWell is supported by foundations, such as the Hewlett Foundation, and individual supporters.  They do not solicit donations from the general public. Look here.

Interesting GiveWell Articles:

Some juicy bits from their blog (at least for me): Celebrated Charities That We Don't Recommend, which names Kiva, Smile Train and UNICEF.

• Kiva: Well, damn. I've given money to Kiva - I honestly thought I was giving money directly to women to help finance their businesses, when it seems the money was given to micro-finance institutions, and that the creation of this direct relationship between you as a donor and a businesswoman on the other end is illusory. Kiva promises to give you updates so you see how your contribution is having an effect.  I gave some time ago and have since received one really generic update.  
• In regards to micro-finance institutions, GiveWell has put together an article suggesting that microfinancing (making small loans to people to help them start their business!), while a good idea in theory, may suck in practice.
• Smile Train: You've seen those pictures of children with cleft lips - what kind of bastard are you that you could resist that? Well, you are not alone.  No one could resist that, and Smile Train has been so successful that they are out of room for more funding. 
• UNICEF: UNICEF it would have never occurred to me to question, because...it's UNICEF.  Speaking ill of UNICEF is like peeing on a church.  You just don't do that. Well, UNICEF isn't exactly forthcoming about what they do with their funds, so I'm putting my reverence on hold. 

Also interesting is their article on Mega-Charities: those large institutional charities (think $250+ Million budgets) that are well known.  This includes UNICEF (again), Oxfam, Mercy Corps, Catholic Relief Services, Save the Children, World Vision, and CARE.  This article points out that these organizations don't provide a lot of data on where your money goes, and you can probably have a stronger impact donating to smaller organizations, possibly the one recommended on GiveWell (seems self-promoting, I know). Exception: Oxfam and Doctors Without Borders.  Interesting...

Useful Links:

• Here is the their list of top charities and the international charities they considered. 
• Here is their Giving 101 guide showing you how you can make sure your donation has a positive impact.
• Here is a link to their charity evaluation process

So the question now is - do you trust GiveWell?  Willing to give them a chance? 

* Bridewater Associates: an American investment management firm, or hedge fund.