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Recommended CharitiesYour choice of charity is very important. By choosing carefully you can get much more impact from your donation and thereby help many more people. Indeed, it is not even a matter of some charities being 10 or 100 times as effective: even restricted to the field of health programs in developing countries, research shows that some are up to 10,000 times as effective as others.1
It can be very difficult to compare charities when they focus on different things, and it is impossible to find a single 'best' charity. However, we have spent a large amount of time researching the issue, and have made considerable progress. We share this research in depth in our section on charity comparison, but have created this page for those who are want a direct recommendation. We equally recommend giving to any of these three charities: GWWC is currently expanding its research beyond direct developing world health interventions. We find it likely that it is possible to do more good through certain more indirect means, such as advocacy and vaccine research. We are looking at two charities in this area right now that seem especially promising: We do not currently recommend these charities, but we believe they may turn out to have a significantly greater return than our current top-recommended charities. Some donors willing to take significant risk for a potentially more significant return may wish to donate to RESULTS or Sabin right now, or wait for us to look into the matter further. Explanation of this updateOn AMF, SCI, and DtW: GiveWell — whose research has been the primary input to our thinking on these charities — ranks AMF #1, ranks SCI #2, and has not recommended DtW. If forced to choose among the three, we might follow GiveWell, but we think it is a very hard call, and we would not be surprised if we had a different view of the matter in a few months. This is why we recommend all three charities equally. On RESULTS and Sabin: We believe that donations to these charities may turn out to be significantly more cost-effective than donations to our currently top-recommended charities, however we feel that our evidence for this is currently too thin and unstable to make a recommendation. We would not be surprised if donations to these charities turned out to be several times more cost-effective than donations to our top-recommended charities, but we also wouldn't be surprised to learn that they are significantly less cost-effective, perhaps even for reasons that could have been uncovered in advance. We hope to shore up some of our uncertainty and make an official recommendation in the coming months, but we should note that some donors willing to take significant risk for a potentially more significant return may wish to donate to RESULTS or Sabin right now, or wait for us to look into the matter further. For more information on our rankings and our methodology, see Our Methodology and What Changed? Additional recommendations-related content will be updated soon. Some important details below are out of date.
Against Malaria Foundation (AMF)website ⋅ donations page ⋅ GiveWell review What Is AMF?Against Malaria Foundation was founded in 2005 and focuses solely on distributing long-lasting insecticide-treated mosquito nets in order to prevent malarial infection in 35 countries across Africa, Asia and South America. AMF receives and reviews proposals from charities that need bed nets; when a proposal is approved it purchases and ships nets for the charity. It then publishes pre-distribution and post-distribution reports on its website. Why choose AMF?Notable attractive features of AMF include:
In sum, Against Malaria Foundation is very good at what it does, and we consider it to be the best charity that we know of that focuses on fighting malaria.
Schistosomiasis Control Initiativewebsite ⋅ donations page ⋅ GiveWell review What is SCI?SCI was founded in 2002 and was originally focused on the control of schistosomiasis. Since then it has expanded its program in order to treat the seven most prevalent neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). These are a collection of serious diseases that are cheap to treat or prevent, but have not attracted the attention of donors and are thus chronically underfunded. Six of the seven diseases are caused by parasitic worms that live inside the body and cause symptoms ranging from general malaise through to kidney damage, intestinal damage, disfiguration of the limbs, blindness, and death. SCI focus on the treatment of NTDs through the use of rapid impact packages, a combination package of four or five drugs. Generally, this involves supplying schools with the drugs, and training teachers in how to administer them. This is so cheap and effective that it has often been called the 'best buy in public health'. SCI currently works in Burkina Faso, Burundi, Mali, Niger, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda. With additional funding, they aim to expand coverage to other areas in Africa. Why choose SCI?There are comparatively few charities that incorporate treatment of NTDs into their programs and even when they do, it is often just as a small part of their operations. For example, Helen Keller International, and the Carter Center both operate programs that focus on NTDs, but they also run many other programs, some of which are likely to be considerably less cost-effective. There are only two donor-fundable charities that focus exclusively on NTDs: SCI and Deworm the World. Independently of how good the cause is, the SCI website could be a model for other charities: it has significant amounts of detailed information, on the charity itself, how they are funded, as well as detailed descriptions of their programs in different countries. We were also able to have a personal meeting with Professor Alan Fenwick, the director of SCI. Some of the reasons that we recommend SCI for this intervention-type include:
Deworm the Worldwebsite ⋅ donations page ⋅ GiveWell review What is Deworm the World?Deworm the World was founded as an initiative of the Young Global Leaders at the 2007 World Economic Forum, after an influential study by Michael Kremer and Edward Miguel demonstrated the remarkable educational benefits of deworming.3 They focus on the four neglected tropical diseases: schistosomiasis and the three soil-transmitted helminths. Deworm the World's primary activity is to provide substantial technical assistance to help Kenya and India's governments implement deworming programs. They also encourage governments in South America, Asia and Africa to adopt deworming programs and facilitate the provision of donated medications and technical assistance. They work in over 26 countries across the world.
Why choose Deworm the World?There are comparatively few charities that incorporate treatment of NTDs into their programs and even when they do, it is often just as a small part of their operations. For example, Helen Keller International, and the Carter Center both operate programs that focus on NTDs, but they also run many other programs, some of which are likely to be considerably less cost-effective. There are only two donor-fundable charities that focus exclusively on NTDs: SCI and Deworm the World. We highly recommend both of these charities. Some of the reasons that we recommend Deworm the World for this intervention-type include:
Last updated 12th December 2011 |
