The GiveWell Blog

We’re happy to talk to you!

If you’re currently trying to figure out where you’ll give this year, and you think it might be helpful to talk to us about your decision, feel free to contact us at info@givewell.org.

We work hard to put all the relevant information about our recommendations on our website, but we know it can sometimes be hard to fully digest, so don’t hesitate to reach out to us and talk. Talking to donors about their plans for allocating their giving is something we do regularly and we’d be happy to do more of it.

We’re not sure how big a response we’ll have to this and we have limited staff (especially over the next couple of weeks), so if you email us please let us know how much you’re thinking about donating. If necessary, we’ll prioritize larger givers, though we hope to be able to speak with everyone who gets in touch.

Comments

  • Holly Wiegreffe on December 23, 2014 at 1:32 pm said:

    Please help me find a good charity that provides reproductive health services but doesn’t provide abortion services. I’d love to support that. Thanks.

  • Kate Sousa on December 23, 2014 at 8:50 pm said:

    I would also love to support a women’s charity that does not provide abortions. I heard about a charity that provides “birth kits” to mothers in Sub-Saharan Africa- simple sterile supplies that significantly reduce infections in mother and child. That’s something I’d love to support.

  • Andreas Sveding on December 26, 2014 at 7:24 am said:

    Holly and Kate:
    Check out the Fistula Foundation:

    http://www.thelifeyoucansave.org/Where-to-Donate/Fistula-Foundation

  • Ian Turner on December 26, 2014 at 3:17 pm said:

    Maybe also, see Givewell’s 2011 review of the Fistula Foundation.
    https://www.givewell.org/international/charities/Fistula-Foundation/2011-review

  • Richard Anderson on December 29, 2014 at 9:45 pm said:

    This organization, which in the past I was President of, is a lifesaver for spousal caregivers — people who are married to or a partner of someone with long-term disability or chronic illness.

    These caregivers are barely recognized by the medical profession, let alone the general public, as being a group with needs quite distinct and different from those of people such as adult children caring for their elderly parents — the traditional picture of the family caregiver.

    The WSA is non-profit, and exists mostly on the donations of members, who often are the sole breadwinner for their ill spouse, and as such can hardly manage to run their household and pay for out-of-pocket medical expenses, let alone donate to the organization.

    It surely needs a challenge grant to hire an executive director and greatly increase publicity, to make the needs of spousal caregivers better known.

    Is there a way that Good Ventures can help?

    Thank you!

  • Ian James on December 30, 2014 at 8:51 pm said:

    20% of my SS income is $2,500 per YEAR. In the past I tried to respond to the many (paper) requests dropping through my post box. This year I am confining my giving to two ‘on the ground’ charities with admin costs around 2-3%, and a donation to ‘Doctors without borders’. I have a general concern for ‘small’ givers, and how we can be sure we are doing any good, not just paying for ‘paper’. Do you have any advice?

  • Mitul Sarkar on March 27, 2015 at 8:30 pm said:

    @Holly @Kate I have no affiliation with Samahope, but you can research it.

    @Richard – The USA needs legislation that would define the status of caregivers and ask for health insurance companies to not think of them as “free labor” that keeps patients off expensive hospitalization and nursing facilities. I’m not a citizen, but citizens can push their elected representatives to pass legislation.

    @Elie Why not allow smaller givers to band together under a “group giving” approach and then request research/analysis, without overwhelming GiveWell staffers with individual requests?
    BTW, hat tip to you, Elie Hassenfeld for cofounding GiveWell. I came here after reading a HuffingtonPost article about it.

  • Hi Mitul, thanks for the comment. We set our research agenda to focus on the areas that we think will yield the best giving opportunities, so this isn’t an approach we’d take. More here: https://blog.givewell.org/2011/02/04/givewells-annual-self-evaluation-and-plan-a-big-picture-change-in-priorities/

Comments are closed.