Charity Navigator’s CEO writes: We MUST get past the notion of doing the “good work” with no accountability. We MUST get past the idea that nonprofits are too complex or unique to be measured. I have seen it close up for years and it is not a pretty picture. The nonprofit sector must get its…
The GiveWell Blog
Month: December 2009
The worst way to pick a charity
Today, the most common way that donors evaluate charities – when they evaluate them at all – is by asking questions about financials, such as “How much of my donation goes to programs vs. salaries?” This approach makes no sense. We’ve argued this point before at length. Picking charities based on the “overhead ratio” is…
When donations and profits meet, beware
David Roodman raises the concern that Kiva capital could be effectively “padding profits” at a profitable microfinance institution. He concludes, If social investors provide capital at prices below commercial rates to enterprises with “double bottom lines” (profit and social benefit), how do the investors assure that their cheap capital isn’t being used to boost just…