The last blog post shares general thoughts on Money Well Spent. Specifically, though, this bit really struck me (page 12): In our personal lives, we regularly make year-end gifts to organizations for which we have warm feelings. These gifts make us feel good, and doubtless they help good organizations. But this isn’t the way to…
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Thoughts on “Money Well Spent”
I just finished reading Money Well Spent. (Disclosure: I was sent an advance copy.) The book gives a clear and public picture of how the authors conduct their grantmaking, something I believe is relatively rare in the sector; I’d like to see more people in this area laying out their approach and their positions on…
What does $1000 do?
We’re currently working to find vehicles for donors to fund certain highly appealing program-based interventions. It’s not a simple task, because when dealing with large organizations, it’s rarely clear just how an individual donor’s “drop in the bucket” fits in. Large organizations like UNICEF run a huge variety of programs – including programs such as…
Donor impact vs. donor attribution (or, does your $120 really buy a sheep?)
One of the questions we struggle with a lot is the question of what impact a donation has – i.e., what happens because of your donation that wouldn’t have happened otherwise? In other words, what do you get for your dollar? It’s a tricky question, especially for relatively small donations going to relatively large organizations….
Eat your salt
Iodine deficiency has been linked with child mortality as well as permanent cognitive debilitation. Some references are on page 25 of the 2004 Copenhagen Consensus report on malnutrition; a WHO report paints a more vivid qualitative picture (page 6): In areas of iodine deficiency, where thyroid hormone levels are low, brain development is impaired. In…
Transparency done right
We were referred to the Against Malaria Foundation today. It’s the most transparent developing-world aid organization we’ve seen to date. AMF grants funds to NGOs that distribute insecticide-treated nets (ITNs) to fight malaria. ITN distribution is a well-established method for saving lives and lowering the burden of malaria (see the “Insecticide-treated nets” section of the…