That last post was a doozy, wasn’t it. Please read it, though, if you get a chance, because this is really important. It’s my first attempt in a while to do what I’ve been saying forever that we can do: put the reasoning behind our decisions in writing, so that you can see the basis…
The GiveWell Blog
All posts by Holden
I believe that the children are our future
Here’s what I’ve learned in two days of reading up on early child care (Cause 3). This is as rough as a draft gets, but I’m still going to provide references, a summary, and a roadmap, because those things are all so useful. In a nutshell: it’s at least possible to make an amazingly big…
Our business is your business
The Clear Fund has no secrets. If I’m ever being a jerk about disclosing information, you can quote me on that. I’ve just added a Board records section to the Clear Fund website. It includes a link to the full minutes and audio recording for our last Board meeting, along with all the written materials…
Diving in
As quickly and efficiently as I possibly can, I’m now trying to read up on our five causes, and ask the question: “What is the evidence – independent of particular nonprofits – for and against different methods of helping people?” Given the enormity of the topics and how little time I have, this is difficult,…
Escaping the bubble
This blog has become part of a blogging “community.” We read each other, we refer to each other, we comment on each others’ posts, and we probably think of each other as the “other charity bloggers.” I’m talking mostly about: Tactical Philanthropy Philanthropy 2173 White Courtesy Telephone GiftHub (and its weird sister, Wealth Bondage) The…
The triage approach
One of the things we need to do, as a transparent grantmaker, is to take the intuitions and biases that make us prefer one charity over another and make them explicit, so that everyone is aware (as much as possible) of the principles that drive us. I’m going to be doing this “out loud” on…