The GiveWell Blog

All posts by GiveWell Staff

Podcast Episode 3: Making Cost-Effective Grants Amid Uncertainty

| by GiveWell Staff

The US government has historically spent approximately $12 billion to $15 billion annually in foreign assistance dedicated to global health. The funding cuts announced in the first few months of 2025 disrupted the global health landscape and created the possibility of enormous funding gaps that are still coming into focus. In response, GiveWell has approved around $18 million in grants to support urgent needs—but why has our research led us not to grant more funds yet?

In today’s episode, the third in our series examining the impact of these cuts, GiveWell CEO and co-founder Elie Hassenfeld is joined by Director of Research Teryn Mattox to explore this question. Building on our previous conversations about program disruptions and emergency responses, they dive into the nuanced reality of the current funding landscape and GiveWell’s evidence-based approach to grantmaking during uncertainty.

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Podcast Episode 2: Addressing Urgent Needs in Seasonal Malaria Chemoprevention

(updated on: ) | by GiveWell Staff

Recent cuts to US government foreign assistance have destabilized global health programs, impacting some of the most cost-effective interventions we’ve found. To address this situation, GiveWell is balancing a targeted, near-term response to urgent needs with a broad, long-term perspective of needs that may emerge. You can read about both on our recently launched webpage that shares some of the ways we’re responding and the grants we’re making.

Today, we’re releasing the second podcast episode in a series of conversations with our research team that shares timely snapshots of this rapidly evolving situation.

Our first episode shared a broad overview of the impacts of US government aid cuts and GiveWell’s initial response. This time, GiveWell Program Officer Natalie Crispin joins CEO and co-founder Elie Hassenfeld to zoom in on a specific case, focusing on grants we’ve made to support urgent funding gaps for seasonal malaria chemoprevention (SMC).

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March 2025 Open Thread

| by GiveWell Staff

Our goal with hosting quarterly open threads is to give blog readers an opportunity to publicly raise comments or questions about GiveWell or related topics (in the comments section below). As always, you’re also welcome to email us at info@givewell.org or to request a call with GiveWell staff if you have feedback or questions you’d prefer to discuss privately. We’ll try to respond promptly to questions or comments.

You can view previous open threads here.

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First Podcast Episode: GiveWell’s Response to USAID Funding Cuts

(updated on: ) | by GiveWell Staff

Recent US government funding cuts represent a significant shift in the global health funding landscape. The US has historically provided roughly 20% to 25% ($12 billion to $15 billion) of total global health assistance, and the administration has discussed potentially reducing that funding by 35% to 90% (though long-term effects remain uncertain and exact numbers remain difficult to ascertain). As a result, we’re seeing substantial disruption to global health programs.

Our research team has pivoted to address this situation, which is now a major focus. It is creating urgent, short-term gaps and impacting some of the most cost-effective interventions we’ve found for saving and improving lives—such as malaria nets, malaria chemoprevention, and community-based management of acute malnutrition.

We’ve created a webpage to provide an overview of how we’re responding, and we’ve started to record a series of conversations with our research team that shares timely snapshots of this rapidly evolving situation.

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Staff Members’ Personal Donations for Giving Season 2024

(updated on: ) | 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 Richards, Chandler Brotak, Dilhan Perera, Elie Hassenfeld, Erin Crossett, Julie Faller, Lauren Imholte, Maggie Lloydhauser, Natalie Crispin, Paige Henchen, Sarah Eustis-Guthrie, Steph Stojanovic, Teryn Mattox.

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