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.¹See our staff giving posts from 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, and 2013. 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.

Araceli Steger (Head of People)

My family’s giving increased this year, both locally (in the Chicago area) and globally. We continued our contributions to organizations we have personal experiences with, particularly in our local community, organizations our family and friends are close to, and organizations that support those impacted by government shifts. We increased our contribution to GiveWell’s All Grants Fund as a result of seeing the impact of our team’s work firsthand; I love demonstrating my support for our work beyond my employment and I am proud to work at an organization that is committed to doing good in the world.

Calum Best (Chief of Staff)

About 80% of my annual giving went to charities that promote the wellbeing of non-human animals:

• Animal Charity Evaluators funds charities that decrease the suffering of farmed animals.
• The Good Food Institute tries to speed up the development of alternative proteins, pushing the world toward a food system that’s less reliant on farmed animals.

I’ve distributed the remaining 20% in small donations to a few organizations that are working on technical research, policy initiatives, and education to make the development of transformative AI technology less risky.

I also signed the 10% Pledge this year after paying down some debt and thinking through a few personal concerns about making a long-term financial commitment. If you’re considering the pledge and want to talk through your hesitations, let me know—I’d be happy to chat!

Devin Jacob (Data and Technology Project Manager)

My charitable donations in the past year have been a bit scattershot. Despite working at GiveWell for many years, over time I have done less to optimize or track my individual donations. I now prefer to give as the impulse arises. I have several active monthly donations, ensuring a baseline of giving to causes and programs I support, but I don’t track my giving carefully and am not particularly strategic about it.

A lot of the money I have donated in the past year has gone to groups working to support immigrants and refugees. I am unaware of any rigorous attempts to measure the efficacy of the various organizations working in this area so I can’t make a strong case for why the specific groups I donate to stand out, but organizations I have donated to in the past year doing this kind of work include International Refugee Assistance Project and Immigrant Defenders Law Center. I also made smaller contributions to several other organizations in 2025. I estimate that these donations represent about 40% of my overall giving.

As in previous years, I have made contributions to nonprofit news/media organizations including Wikimedia, Calmatters, and Reveal. Combined these donations are likely about 20% of my giving. I also always give some money to GiveWell supported organizations and plan to make at least one larger donation this December, likely an unrestricted donation though I have not made up my mind at this time. In addition to donations to registered nonprofits, I have also made it a habit to give money directly to people in my community in need of financial support. I have made those contributions via platforms such as GoFundMe as well as in cash to people I meet in the course of my daily life in New York. This last category probably represents about 20% of my overall giving. I also give a small amount to a local animal shelter that runs spay and neuter programs in my neighborhood.

Elie Hassenfeld (CEO)

This year, my family is planning to give 80% of our annual donation to GiveWell’s All Grants Fund, 10% to The Humane League, and 10% to GiveDirectly.

We’re giving to GiveWell’s All Grants Fund because it gives GiveWell the most flexibility to direct funds where we (GiveWell staff) think they will do the most good. This may mean supporting programs at Top Charities, but it could mean funding newer organizations, research, or more speculative opportunities that are high (expected) impact. I am very excited about the potential impact of the grantmaking opportunities we’re finding.

Factory farming inflicts enormous unnecessary and preventable suffering. Although I have chosen to prioritize human welfare in my career and my giving, I also believe that animal welfare is an important and neglected cause area, so we will allocate some of our donations to the Humane League.

Finally, we are giving to GiveDirectly, as we have in previous years. I continue to believe that GiveDirectly plays a critical role in providing a highly legible, transparent, and straightforward opportunity to help people in low-income countries.

Jeremy Rehwaldt (Senior Communications Specialist)

Each year I give a percentage of my annual income to nonprofit organizations. I’m doing that in part because I hope that my giving will make a tiny difference in improving global well-being and in part because it reminds me to live more simply and sustainably. I have much more than I need, and much more than most people alive today. My giving for 2025 is divided into three categories:

• About 70% of my giving goes to advocacy organizations aimed at systemic change. Most of that giving is through Grassroots International, which regrants my donations to grassroots organizations seeking transformational change, many led by women of color. It feels valuable to me, as a person with many forms of privilege, to take steps toward sharing the power I have; this is one very small step I can take.
• About 20% goes to organizations working to mitigate climate change (the majority of my giving is to the Giving Green Fund, which looks for evidence-based climate solutions). I am concerned about the likelihood of increasingly severe and long-lasting harm from climate change, especially on the most vulnerable.
• About 10% goes to GiveWell’s All Grants Fund. I am very confident in GiveWell’s research and grant recommendations, and I know that my donation—and my everyday work—will have a meaningful impact.

Kameron Smith (Commons Coordinator)

In past years, I’ve split my giving between GiveWell’s All Grants Fund and causes outside our scope, including political campaigns, civil rights organizations, and climate initiatives. I give monthly to GiveWell and historically made additional ad-hoc donations to these other areas.

This year I’m consolidating my giving. Between work and personal commitments, I haven’t had the bandwidth to properly research and evaluate organizations in those other areas, and recent policy shifts–particularly the defunding of USAID–have created urgent, additional need in global health and development. Given both the increased funding gaps and my own capacity constraints, I’m directing my full giving budget to GiveWell’s All Grants Fund this year. I believe it’s the highest impact choice I can make right now and the most sustainable one for me personally.

Katie Skoff (Program Associate, Cross-cutting)

When I was in college, I planned to donate a portion of my income after graduation, but actually doing it was harder than I expected. This year, two years after graduating, I’m really happy to have started donating 10% of my income, primarily to GiveWell’s All Grants Fund. A big reason I finally took this step was hearing time and again that others who already do this find it gratifying and manageable, rather than a burden. Our staff giving post was a big part of that, and I’m grateful to be part of it this year.

My decision to donate was reinforced when I traveled to Uganda for a site visit. I sat down with mothers who spoke passionately about what they do to keep their children healthy and the challenges they face working to that end. Our conversation made me grateful that I have the means and opportunity to donate to programs I’m confident will have an impact on others’ lives, including people like the women and children I met.

Lauren Imholte (Senior Manager, Philanthropy)

We’re giving to two places this year: our local public media station and GiveWell’s All Grants Fund.

Public media is something we rely on regularly—we’d miss it if it weren’t there, and we think people in the U.S. are better off with it than without it. Sticking with the All Grants Fund is an easy choice for us: we trust GiveWell’s research and want our donation to go where it can do the most good. I feel fortunate to work at GiveWell and have extremely high confidence in the impact of my giving.

This combination of something close to home and something with global reach is where we usually land.

Lisa McCandless (Head of Philanthropy)

I’ve spent my career in global health and development because it’s where I feel I can have the most impact. I’ve seen firsthand how big the gaps can be between high- and low-impact programs, and how hard it is to deliver real impact well. I followed GiveWell for over a decade before joining last year, and I continue to be inspired by the rigor and results of our work. I believe GiveWell offers one of the most reliable, effective ways for donors to save and improve lives, and I see my day-to-day work as my main contribution to that impact right now.

This year, my family gave directly to a few global health and development organizations that were affected by aid cuts, guided by my trust in their leaders and how they do their work. We’re also giving locally, mainly to a housing and food assistance nonprofit and to my son’s public school, where more than a third of students come from low-income families. I see these gifts as a way to show up for our community, rather than as impact-maximizing donations.

This is also the first year we’ve given our first grader a weekly allowance and intentionally built in a “give” portion. Inspired by Ron Lieber, we split the allowance into three jars—spend, save, and give. When his giving jar fills up, our son decides where it goes. So far, he’s chosen to support endangered animals, saying, “You already help kids get medicine and other things they need through your work, so I want to help animals.” It’s been meaningful to watch him learn to think about giving and generosity in his own way, and I hope it becomes a lifelong habit.

Lucy McNamara (Senior Researcher)

Although I just joined the GiveWell team this year, my husband and I are long-time GiveWell donors. This year, we decided to switch our monthly donation from the Top Charities Fund to the All Grants Fund. We made this decision because since joining GiveWell, I’ve been so excited about many of the grants I’ve seen come through that will be funded through the All Grants Fund, including grants that will help backstop gaps left by the dismantling of USAID.

In addition to our monthly GiveWell donation that accounts for ~60% of our giving, this year we have also given to:

• Democracy Forward Foundation (30%) to protect democracy in the US.
• Giving Green (5%) – which I think of as “like GiveWell but for climate change.” (We specifically donate to their Giving Green Fund.)
• Doctors Without Borders (MSF) (5%). I worked alongside MSF a number of times in my former career at CDC, including during the 2014–2015 West Africa Ebola epidemic. I was consistently impressed both with their lifesaving work on the ground and their influence on country and global health policy.

We also made some smaller donations this year (e.g., to a friend’s kickstarter to create an animated show to promote public health education), and will likely make additional donations to local organizations for the holidays as gifts for family members.

Maggie Lloydhauser (Senior Philanthropy Advisor)

This year, the American health system poured tremendous resources into saving my best friend’s life; as a result, we can safely assume she will go on to live a long life in good health, despite nearly dying, twice, from a complicated illness. Like anyone who has been helpless in the face of a loved one’s health crisis, I would have paid anything to save her life. Luckily, money wasn’t the barrier in her case.

For so many others around the world, money is the barrier. As a result, lots of people die, even from conditions that are relatively inexpensive to prevent and treat. My husband and I wish to live in a world where no one dies because they don’t have access to the resources they need. In the spirit of that wish, we increased our giving this year. We also opened a donor-advised fund, which we funded with several years of giving and will draw down to smooth our giving over time.

My giving continues to be fueled by inspiring conversations I have (by virtue of my job) with people who donate with great generosity, consistency, and passion. The certainty I feel about increasing my giving this year is thanks, in large part, to ongoing conversations with donors who deeply live their values.

In terms of allocation:

• 90% of our gifts this year will go to GiveWell’s All Grants Fund. I’m proud of the work of my colleagues on the research team; there is nobody I trust more to make careful decisions on how to do meaningful good with my family’s funds.
• We’re giving 10% locally, where many families face hunger and other serious barriers to quality of life.

Matthew Kertman (Communications Strategist)

The organizations my family supports with our giving reflect our shared values and have remained fairly consistent over the years. We’ve generally given more as our household income has grown, but it’s also varied with the arrival of our children and as we’ve navigated life’s challenges. I hope to be able to commit to the Giving What We Can pledge this year.

When I think about my giving, I often consider two intersecting spectrums: need and time. On the first, is the organization addressing an essential human need or a structural cause? On the second, is the work happening now or over a longer time horizon? How I give in response to this isn’t static, and my strategy has shifted over time. Here’s how I’m thinking about it this year.

• Direct Service. I’ve spent parts of my career at small-to-medium sized non-profit organizations that deliver direct services to people in need. I’ve watched donations turn into meals for hungry American families and talked to Ugandan communities who used cash to address shared needs like clean water. This has shaped my perspective on charitable giving.

  While the impact of my donation is greater in low- and middle-income countries, I support both domestic and international organizations that help meet immediate needs, especially for families. I appreciate that GiveDirectly works in both contexts. With local non-profits, I aim to give monthly donations instead of a larger, single gift because reliable, recurring support can be instrumental to their impact.

• Structural. Because of my journalism background, I am biased toward a theory of progress that privileges human connection. You could call this a “facts matter, but stories motivate” approach. I support this view by donating to our local public media stations, ProPublica, and other organizations that uphold the fourth estate.

  As a parent, I’m thinking more about what I can do to ensure our children grow into a healthy planet. One way I’m pursuing this is by donating to the Giving Green Fund this year. While many strategies combating climate change are difficult to measure with a GiveWell-style approach, I feel confident that giving here supports highly effective work.

• Volunteering. Volunteering is another way to give. Although less cost-effective, my sense is that giving time has knock-on effects beyond the immediate cause, particularly by cultivating third spaces that strengthen communities and, for our kids, providing a tangible connection to the value of helping others. We participate in trash clean-ups around our neighborhood with our oldest, and will do so again this year.

Paige Henchen (Chief of Staff)

This year I’m again giving the majority of my annual charitable giving (80%) to GiveWell. I’m a longtime donor, having made my first donation to GiveWell in 2011. I just had my two-year anniversary of working at GiveWell, and I feel more passionate about our work than ever. In particular, I have a deeper appreciation for our deep commitment to the values of truthseeking and transparency, which I think is exceptional. I’ve also been deeply proud to see how our team has navigated the challenges of the global health landscape this year.

For my GiveWell donations, I give unrestricted. It’s helpful for GiveWell to have its operating support spread across many donors, because we cap the amount of our operating expenses that can come from any one donor (what we call the “single donor cap”). For me, giving unrestricted also represents an endorsement of the GiveWell “project” and the indirect benefits of e.g., publishing our research for anyone to look at. I expect that a large portion of what I give to GiveWell’s Unrestricted Fund will eventually be disbursed via grants to other organizations thanks to our excess assets policy.

Most of the remainder (19%) went to a few other organizations working in global wellbeing or effective altruism: Delta Education Collective in Uganda; GiveDirectly; Rethink Priorities; Good Food Institute; and Spiro. I also have made a number of small gifts to things like my child’s school fundraiser. Finally, I make direct donations to political campaigns. I mentally account for political giving as a separate category from charitable giving.

Sai Jahann (General Counsel)

I donate +/- 10% of my pre-tax income each year to charitable causes. (I use charitable broadly, to include some organizations and projects that do not qualify for tax exemption.) The majority of my charitable giving is structured as recurring monthly donations, rather than annual gifts. I do this because I heard once that it was better for the charities themselves to have predictable recurring donations, and when I implemented this practice, I realized it was easier for me, too.

Looking at where my donations actually go, I see that my charitable giving aligns to four main pillars:

• Open source or public services that are donor-supported (Cityside Journalism, Wikimedia Foundation). I use these resources myself, and I want them to continue to exist in the world with the independence that comes from having a diverse base of donor support.
• Causes that are personally and/or politically meaningful for me, including immigrants’ rights, humane treatment of animals farmed for food, and personal bodily autonomy (The Humane League, RAICES, United Farm Workers Foundation, Reproductive Freedom for All). A significant portion of my annual giving is in support of non-charitable political activity, including donations to candidates running for office (in the public interest, in my opinion!).
• Organizations addressing chronic needs within my community, primarily shelter and food (food banks in Alameda and Contra Costa counties, Larkin Street Youth Services, St. Vincent de Paul Society, and CA YIMBY). As a person of relative privilege in my community, I feel an obligation to help other community members who are most in need – both via direct support, and through advocacy that can help improve conditions for the future.
• Highly effective organizations and projects that help people in extreme poverty, entirely outside the United States (GiveDirectly, The Fistula Foundation). I believe very strongly in GiveWell’s mission, and I contribute to that work through my day-to-day service for the organization. If/when I’m no longer a GiveWell employee, I’ll be honored to become a recurring unrestricted donor supporting GiveWell and the amazingly cost-effective opportunities we find and fund.

If a friend or family member is raising money for a cause they believe strongly in, or that has impacted their life (or the life of a loved one), or if a member of my community is in need of acute financial support – unless I find the cause personally or politically abhorrent (a high bar) – I will contribute. I think community is really great, and mutual aid and support is a contributor to strong, self-sustaining communities.

Finally, each year during the Giving Season, I look for opportunities to provide timely support to organizations doing critical work. Sometimes these ad-hoc gifts turn into recurring gifts, which is also nice! This year I am donating to World Central Kitchen, Friends of Oakland Animal Services, and my local NPR affiliate, KQED.

Sarah Eustis-Guthrie (Senior Program Associate)

Over the past year, I’ve seen how the US government’s aid cuts have forced life-saving programs to close their doors. Supporting these programs feels more urgent than ever. Working at GiveWell has deepened my confidence that evidence-based giving is one of the best ways to help people in need: we have strong evidence that particular interventions really do save lives, and it takes careful research to identify those interventions. This year, I’m supporting several newer organizations in the Charity Entrepreneurship network implementing evidence-based interventions to save and improve the lives of humans and animals. Donations to recently launched organizations can be particularly impactful, as young organizations typically find it more challenging to find support.

Tori Shepard (Salesforce Administrator)

I donate to GiveWell and Animal Charity Evaluators (ACE) on a monthly basis. I resonate with organizations like GiveWell and ACE that take a rigorous, research-based approach to doing good, because I think meaningfully helping others is difficult and nuanced (and of course, very worthy of that effort). After the USAID cuts, I increased my GiveWell donation and moved the allocation to All Grants Fund, to support the flexibility of GiveWell’s response. Additionally, when a major crisis occurs, I feel moved to support people’s recovery, but am often unsure how to do that impactfully. So this year, I started another monthly gift to the Center for Disaster Philanthropy.

Teryn Mattox (Director of Research)

My family’s giving this year is going to largely the same organizations as in previous years so the below is slightly updated from last year’s post: I am extremely fortunate to have the opportunity to make the world a better place through both my day-to-day work and my charitable giving.

I am so proud of and excited by the work we do at GiveWell, and I think the All Grants Fund is one of the best ways donors can save and improve human lives with their money.

My family also strongly weighs the welfare of animals in the moral calculus that drives our giving. Since I joined GiveWell, we’ve transitioned all of our significant giving to organizations promoting farmed animal welfare. I feel comfortable with this allocation given the amount of time and energy I devote in my day-to-day work to furthering GiveWell’s work improving the lives of the global poor.

The reason we feel compelled to do this is based on the intensity of the suffering inflicted upon farmed animals, the staggering numbers of factory-farmed animals alive at any given moment, the potential impact of our donations in reducing this suffering, and our beliefs about the importance of animal suffering.

We’ve given to a variety of organizations identified by the Effective Altruism Animal Welfare Fund or by Animal Charity Evaluators. We also have a number of small, recurring monthly donations that we don’t consider part of our core giving, but are more like extra “fun money” we spend to support our local community in Oregon.