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No on Prop 8: High-ROI donation opportunity?
I gave to a group fighting Proposition 8 in California because it struck me as a really good opportunity to make a difference with a donation. This is about as far from our normal focus as it gets, and I don’t have nearly the knowledge of political advocacy that I would like to have, so…
Research mailing list
GiveWell has maintained a mailing list since late July that we use to share our notes on research in progress. The emails tend to be more detailed and less theme-driven than blog posts, and the volume tends to be higher (averaging around an email a day, except when we’re heavily focused on non-research aspects of…
More counterintuitiveness in health education
This book excerpt (via Overcoming Bias) suggests that stressing the health benefits of latrines can be less effective than stressing the pride benefits of “feel[ing] royal, because the royal family had one.” Also mentions that the Community-Led Total Sanitation program (which we’ve discussed before) stresses “disgust” over safety concerns. More evidence that health education can…
Should small donors focus on small organizations?
We received the following email from reader David Micley: I want to donate $500 to an effective charity. Ive been doing research on your site and it seems like PSI is a great choice in terms of helping global health. I have not yet made my decision as to which charity I will donate to,…
A bit more detail on individual giving
We constantly emphasize the huge amount of money that is given by individuals. However, the figures we usually point to refer to all giving; people often, correctly, point out to us that many individual gifts are made to support churches, alma maters, public goods, etc., rather than to help those in need. A study by…