The GiveWell Blog

What I wrote in the Gates Foundation survey

Hey, the Gates Foundation is finally showing some interest in what others think. Here’s what I wrote in response to “Please share any comment or opinions you have about our web site.” Not enough information. Not even close to enough information. Where are your evaluations & technical reports? Where’s your evidence for whether you’ve saved…

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Eat a peanut, save a child!!

What would you do to make the world a better place? Would you … Click a link? Forfeit a 69c taco that you had no practical way of getting hold of anyway? Type “I’m”? Make a wish? Scratch your armpit? Of course you would. And of course you can’t. If people buy from (or look…

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What’s so hard about rigorous self-evaluation?

I’m not trying to be a jerk. I honestly want to know. Most of the self-evaluation we see from charities looks at clients, but doesn’t compare them to (otherwise similar) non-clients. So it’s probably effective at preaching to the choir, but not at winning over skeptics. When we bring up the issues with it, we…

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Cause 1: Where we stand

Now that Holden and I have finished drafting reviews for Cause 5 (to be made public in a couple of weeks), we’ve moved our focus to Cause 1: Help people in Africa avoid death and extreme debiliation. Unlike Cause 5, in which organizations roughly followed the same model to help people, organizations applying for a…

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