Let me note that there is some truth to what the Straw Man says below. There is very little information that you can get and compare across all charities, and looking at the Straw Ratio (program expenses / total expenses) is probably the single quickest, easiest way to spot the worst of the worst (i.e.,…
The GiveWell Blog
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Limits of generosity
So, I gave around $9000 ($5000-$6000 actual cost, factoring in taxes) to charity this year. Was it enough? I’ll be the first to admit that wasn’t all I could afford to give. It was as much as I wanted to. And you know what else I’ll admit? Earlier in the year, when the baseball playoffs…
Chocolate-covered broccoli
All right! Some of those Christmas bonuses Elie talked about are going to charity, after all! This is awesome–not only are those Wall Street dudes super rich, but they’re super smart too, right? I bet they’re all thinking really carefully about how to accomplish the most good, and focusing on evidence and accountability, like these…
The 2006 Holden Awards
OK, maybe I got a little carried away in my last post, as Elie is more than happy to point out. I’ve been screaming about “low prices,” when the truth is that curing an obstetric fistula or cleft can be worth the extra $-per-person for a variety of reasons. Something you’ll see a lot of…
Don’t let Elie rip you off!
My buddy Elie, a member of the GiveWell project and a passionate diarrhea guy, is trying to get you excited about the idea of saving lives for about $1000 a pop (see below). Hey, it is a good deal, and I agree with his take that repairing someone’s fistula is pretty comparable to saving her…
Thank God I don’t have HDTV
Corrective surgery organizations love to make generalizations: $250 can save a child’s smile, $10000 makes children smile for miles, smiles are magical, frowns are a leading cause of death, etc. I asked the organizations I was looking at for more details, because there are all kinds of ways that numbers like that can be ambiguous…