A previous post shared Holden’s general thoughts from last year’s several-month staff trip to India. This post shares my thoughts; the next will share Natalie’s. Site visits are short and it’s impossible get a full picture of an organization, its work, and its likely impact. But, little things about how programs look on the ground…
The GiveWell Blog
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PSI rating change
We recently published an updated review of PSI based on conversations over the past year with PSI staff and additional analysis. We now rate PSI as a “Notable” organization, and no longer list it among our top-rated charities. (Note that PSI is not the only organization whose rating changed in 2010: we similarly “downgraded” both…
Update on GiveWell’s web traffic / money moved: Q1 2011
In addition to evaluations of other charities, GiveWell publishes substantial evaluation on itself, from the quality of its research to its impact on donations. This year we plan to add quarterly updates regarding two key metrics: (a) donations to top charities directly through our website (b) web traffic. This is the first of these updates….
Stats on GiveWell’s money moved and web traffic
This post provides summary metrics we look at to gauge GiveWell’s influence and growth. Our full annual review and plan will follow over the next few days. Summary We tracked over $1.5 million in donations to top charities in 2010, compared to just over $1 million in 2009. Our website traffic nearly doubled from 2009…
Free legal services – helpful or harmful?
The Harvard Legal Aid Bureau provides free legal services, via volunteer Harvard Law students, to “low-income people in civil (non-criminal) matters in order to ensure equal access to justice and to remove legal barriers to economic opportunity.” It’s about as intuitive an intervention as any. Good legal services are expensive; the services provided by Harvard…
Giving season update
We’re about halfway through December, which is historically when the vast majority of donations go through our website. Here’s a quick update on where things stand. So far this year, we’ve seen significantly more money (over 3x as much) go to our recommended charities, directly through the GiveWell website, compared to last year. The second…