Note: Steve Daetz of the Sandler Foundation reviewed a draft of this post prior to publication. Previously, we wrote about the tradeoff between expertise and breadth in philanthropy. We noted the traditional “program officer” model of philanthropy, in which staff specialize in particular causes, and we contrasted it with some other possible models that sacrifice…
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Notes from November convening on our policy priorities
Last November, we held a day-long convening in Washington, D.C. to discuss possible priorities for Open Philanthropy Project work on U.S. policy. Our main goal was to present our picture of several policy issues, as well as to receive input to inform upcoming decisions about which issue(s) we should focus on. For each issue, we…
Organizations promoting generous, effective giving
GiveWell focuses on doing high-quality research on where to give; we put relatively little effort into marketing, community building, or encouraging people to give more. We’d like to give a shout out to some organizations – most of them relatively young – that do focus on this important work. Giving What We Can is an…
Update on the Ebola outbreak
Over the past couple of months, we’ve put some time into trying to understand the Ebola containment effort and whether it represents a strong giving opportunity. Our process has included conversations and correspondence with about 15 people including major private donors to the containment effort and representatives of the UN, CDC, WHO, and Doctors without…
Should we expect an ongoing study to meet its “goal?”
One of our newly “standout” charities, Development Media International (DMI), is in the midst of a randomized controlled trial. So far, all we have from the trial is information about self-reported behavior change, and we’ve tried to use that information to estimate how many lives the program will likely save (for purposes of our cost-effectiveness…
Staff members’ personal donations – giving season 2014
For this post, GiveWell staff members wrote up the thinking behind their personal donations for the year. We made a similar post a year ago. Elie HassenfeldMy wife and I are planning to give more to GiveDirectly than the GiveWell allocation. Organization GiveWell allocation Our allocation AMF 67% 45% GD 13% 45% SCI 13% 5%…