The GiveWell Blog

Room for more funding and fungibility: From the horse’s mouth

We’ve previously argued that the “headline program” a charity uses to raise money may not be the one you’re effectively funding with donations – even if your donations are formally restricted to that program. (See our full series on the topic). Now the Chronicle of Philanthropy quotes a fundraiser saying exactly the same thing, as…

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Haiti “room for more funding” at the organization level: Not enough information

In a previous post, we asked whether Haiti earthquake relief has “room for more funding” and concluded that, in general, it isn’t clear. (For more on the general topic of “room for more funding,” see our 5-post series on the topic.) Of course, it probably makes a big difference which organization we’re talking about. We’ve…

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Does Haiti earthquake relief have room for more funding?

Donors have given more than $560 million to charities “to help earthquake relief efforts in Haiti.” How much of that money has funded/will fund earthquake relief efforts in Haiti? How much should? Money isn’t the only thing needed to deliver relief Reports from the relief effort have stressed logistical challenges, such as blocked roads and…

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VillageReach’s answer to the “room for more funding” question: Scenario analysis

We’ve just updated our review of our top-rated organization, VillageReach. (Our July 2009 version is still available for posterity.) The big picture remains the same – we feel this organization has a stronger case for cost-effective impact than any other charity we’ve seen – but there have been changes in VillageReach’s financial situation and plans,…

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Smile Train in its own words

We recently argued that Smile Train has “more dollars than doctors” for its core program. In that light, yesterday’s Virginian-Pilot article (which quotes me) is interesting: The main story is that Smile Train has been trying to make substantial and unrestricted grants to another major cleft surgery charity, Operation Smile. This despite the fact that…

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