We often get the question, “how can I most help GiveWell?” First and foremost, you can donate to our top charities. Giving to our top charities accomplishes good directly, but it also really helps GiveWell too (as long as we know about your gift). You may not have much to give, but by giving what…
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Flow-through effects
As mentioned previously, we believe that further economic development, and general human empowerment, is likely to be substantially net positive, and that it is likely to lead to improvement on many dimensions in unexpected ways. This post elaborates on the reasons we hold this view and the implications of it. We haven’t done nearly as…
Unorthodox Prize
A couple of years ago, an anonymous family foundation launched a call for “extraordinary and unorthodox” philanthropic opportunities. We wrote critically about this at the time, but the winner of the contest turned out to be GiveDirectly (currently our #2 charity), which received its initial funding from the contest. We’ve since had some interactions with…
Broad market efficiency
It’s common to debate how “efficient” financial markets are. Broadly speaking, an “efficient” market is one in which the participants are quick to spot profit-making opportunities, so that prices quickly adjust to reflect available information and it’s very difficult for an outsider to “beat the market,” i.e., consistently earn outsized returns. (If one is interested…
Ways to follow GiveWell
This is just a reminder of the various ways you can stay updated on GiveWell’s work. If you’re reading this, you’re following our blog, which is a great way to stay updated on major research progress. In addition to following on the web, you can follow the blog via RSS or email. Other ways to…
Is the world getting better?
I recently spoke with Robin Hanson and he proposed that donors invest their money in order to give more in the future. One question that came up was whether the world is improving such that opportunities to cost-effectively accomplish good are running out. I think there’s a strong argument that this may be the case,…