Seth Godin makes an appealing case for “social enterprise investment” along the lines of The Acumen Fund: When two people trade, both win. No one buys a bar a soap unless the money they’re spending for the soap is worth less to them than the soap itself. When someone in poverty buys a device that…
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The Global Fund and transparency
We recently complained that “UNICEF provides no information about where the money goes and what projects are in progress.” Some might feel that this complaint comes from unrealistically high standards of transparency, especially for organizations such as UNICEF. How is an organization spending $2.7 billion a year supposed to report its activities? Our answer would…
Two charities, one microfinance institution
We’re looking for a good option for U.S. donors interested in supporting microfinance. We’ve been examining the largest, most prominent U.S.-registered charities in this area: Grameen Foundation, Unitus, Accion, Women’s World Banking, Opportunity International and FINCA. All of these are large organizations that list a variety of “partner” microfinance institutions. One thing that might surprise…
Denying the choice
GiveWell spends a lot of time on the question, “Should I give to charity A or charity B?” One of the things that has surprised us about the world of charity is how many people insist on answering, “Both” or “You can’t/shouldn’t be asking that question.” To them, all that matters is whether a charity…
UNICEF Inspired Gifts: Revolution or donor illusion?
UNICEF offers you the chance to buy measles vaccines for 100 children for $27.10. And lest you complain that you’ve heard this one before, it assures you specifically that “while other organizations allow supporters to purchase ‘symbolic’ gifts, Inspired Gifts are actual items.” Is this finally the “real personal connection” donors have been waiting for?…
Not our last word on the Kiva controversy
Nathaniel Whittemore writes that it’s “time to move on” regarding the recent Kiva controversy. I disagree. It’s true that Kiva handled the criticism admirably, and made significant changes to its website to improve clarity for donors. It’s also true that Kiva has a stronger case than many for being generally transparent and impactful. Finally, it’s…