The GiveWell Blog

Month: December 2025

Podcast Episode 20: Taking Lessons from a Year of Aid Cuts into 2026

| by GiveWell Staff

Global health programs faced major disruptions to their funding in 2025. Back in March, we published our first podcast episode to share a timely snapshot of the immediate impacts caused by the foreign aid freeze and GiveWell’s initial response strategy. It was unclear whether and when funding would resume, and what the medium and long-term implications would be for life-saving programs.

Over the last year, GiveWell has drawn on almost two decades of cost-effectiveness research and analysis to assess the effects of this tumult in real time, identify gaps where funding could have exceptional impact, and prepare for future needs. We’ve made nearly $50 million in grants in direct response to funding cuts, as part of our expected total grantmaking of around $350 million for the year.

In our final episode of the year, GiveWell CEO and co-founder Elie Hassenfeld and Director of Research Teryn Maddox follow-up on their first podcast conversation to look back at GiveWell’s response: Where did we succeed? What did we get wrong? Where could we have done better? How did our response evolve? And what might all of this mean for the world and our work in 2026?

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December 2025 Updates

| by Chandler Brotak

Every month we send an email newsletter to our supporters sharing recent updates from our work. We publish selected portions of the newsletter on our blog to make this news more accessible to people who visit our website. For key updates from the latest installment, please see below!

If you’d like to receive the complete newsletter in your inbox each month, you can subscribe here.

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Coefficient Giving Commits $175 Million to GiveWell Opportunities

(updated on: ) | by GiveWell Staff

We are excited to share that Coefficient Giving, formerly Open Philanthropy, has decided to renew and increase their funding for GiveWell, committing to set aside $175 million in 2026 for opportunities we recommend.

This is great news for the people our grants help, and it comes at a critical moment. Following 2025’s aid cuts, we think needs are greater than they were a year ago, and we expect they will continue to grow in the coming years as the impacts of current and future cuts mount. We’re grateful to see donors—including Coefficient Giving—stepping up and signaling that they trust us to help in the years ahead.

We think donating now to our Giving Funds remains an excellent way to help people in need, and we’re actively seeking donors who want to be part of this moment of substantial need and opportunity. Every dollar you give will be put to work, saving and improving lives through the most cost-effective programs our research identifies.

Growing Our Impact

Last year, we raised $415 million and directed $397 million. This new commitment from Coefficient Giving, combined with recent updates from other donors, will make a real difference in the amount of funding we use to help people over the next few years.

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Staff Members’ Personal Donations for Giving Season 2025

| by GiveWell Staff

For this post, a number of GiveWell staff members volunteered to share the thinking behind their personal donations for the year. We’ve published similar posts in previous years. Staff are listed alphabetically by first name.

You can click the links to jump to a staff member’s entry: Araceli Steger, Calum Best, Devin Jacob, Elie Hassenfeld, Jeremy Rehwaldt, Kameron Smith, Katie Skoff, Lauren Imholte, Lisa McCandless, Lucy McNamara, Maggie Lloydhauser, Matthew Kertman, Paige Henchen, Sai Jahann, Sarah Eustis-Guthrie, Tori Shepard, Teryn Mattox.

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Growing Needs, Shrinking Aid: Answering More of Your Questions

| by GiveWell Staff

On December 4, 2025, we held a panel discussion titled “Growing Needs, Shrinking Aid: Cost-Effective Action in a Year of Funding Cuts.” The discussion, which was moderated by GiveWell co-founder and CEO Elie Hassenfeld, addressed the effects of recent cuts, how GiveWell is responding, and what we’re learning along the way—including our predictions and uncertainties about the future. GiveWell researchers Alex Bowles, Dilhan Perera, Meika Ball, and Rosie Bettle answered questions and shared their latest insights. Watch the video or read the transcript.
Photos of Elie Hassenfeld, Meika Ball, Rosie Bettle, Alex Bowles, and Dilhan Perera

Because of limited time, we were unable to answer all of the questions live. Below we’ve answered some of the questions that weren’t addressed during the webinar, along with some additional questions submitted by audience members, focusing on four themes:

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Podcast Episode 18: Behind the Planet Money ALIMA Grant Story

| by GiveWell Staff

This episode follows up on the November 26, 2025 episode of Planet Money, “Saving lives with fewer dollars,” which covered GiveWell’s evaluation of a grant to the Alliance for International Medical Action (ALIMA) to maintain primary healthcare, hospital services, and malnutrition treatment in two subdistricts of North Cameroon following unexpected aid cuts earlier this year. We recommend listening to the Planet Money episode first, as it provides important context.

Significant changes to foreign aid this year created challenges for implementing organizations—and for funders evaluating which programs to support with limited resources. The Planet Money team followed along as we assessed the effects of the cuts in real time, focusing on our evaluation of a potential grant to ALIMA to maintain nutrition and primary healthcare services in Cameroon.

Following the announcement of the US government’s stop-work order and funding freeze in January, we created a rapid response research team and began assessing opportunities we thought were potentially highly cost effective. In March, we launched an investigation of the $1.9 million ALIMA grant, which we funded in June based on the team’s findings.

In this episode, GiveWell co-founder and CEO Elie Hassenfeld dives deeper into the grant investigation with Program Officers Rosie Bettle and Alice Redfern, discussing the timeline, modeling approach, and what ultimately led us to make the grant.

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