Note: a positive effect of recent events was a set of substantive concerns about our model raised by non-profit insiders and others. We put all our reasoning and assumptions on our website precisely because we value critiques that will help us improve, and we look forward to responding to and discussing all concerns shortly. This…
The GiveWell Blog
All posts by Elie
When apples are better than oranges
6 months ago, GiveWell pledged to give a $25,000 grant to the best organization we found in each of our five causes, and we’re going to follow through. But, I wish we didn’t have to. We recognized that donors are more likely to trust us for some decisions (comparing organizations with similar goals) than for…
Cheap ways to save lives
Our research for saving lives in Africa comes out soon. While we’ve mostly stuck to finding the best organization – rather than generalizing about “how to save lives” – we’ve formed a couple informal opinions along the way, and this seems like a good time to share. First off, I think bed nets are a…
Read these in order
One then two.
Cause 1: Where we stand
Now that Holden and I have finished drafting reviews for Cause 5 (to be made public in a couple of weeks), we’ve moved our focus to Cause 1: Help people in Africa avoid death and extreme debiliation. Unlike Cause 5, in which organizations roughly followed the same model to help people, organizations applying for a…
Just say something, anything
Smarter Spending on AIDS: How the Big Funders Can Do Better. When I saw that title, linked here, I quickly opened the link expecting a report critically evaluating which strategies work in the fight against HIV/AIDS. Should we fund condom distribution or programs promoting monogamy? Is ARV distribution enough or do non-profits need to follow-up…