A radically unfair world, and how we’re responding

Hello, and welcome to our July newsletter!

I’m James, Head of Community & Partnerships at Giving What We Can and one of the new voices behind these monthly updates. I’m thrilled to be in touch with you, and very grateful to Grace for bringing a much-needed dose of good news to our inboxes each month!

Some background on me:

From 2020-2024, I lived and worked in East Africa, first for not-for-profits in Rwanda and Kenya and then as a UN peacekeeper in Somalia.

Above: Me at a community visit in Wajir, Northern Kenya during a drought in 2021.

My experience working with children and families dealing with such difficult situations opened my eyes to how radically unequal and unfair our world is. It gave me a strong sense of perspective and made it impossible to ignore how extraordinarily lucky I am, simply because of where I was born. Ever since, I’ve felt a deep responsibility to do everything I can to address that injustice. I’m so happy to be working towards that goal alongside a community of people like you.

People are doing extraordinary things to build a better world. Hearing from the programmes I support (via this newsletter) reminds me that I’m helping make those extraordinary things happen. It renews my sense of determination and hope, and brings me back to why I signed the 10% Pledge in 2020.

But I’d love your input. What would you like to see more of in this newsletter? Whether it’s new research, inspiring stories, or practical tools to help you give more effectively, I’d love to hear what keeps you going. If you’ve got a moment, drop us a line and let us know.

And of course — lots of updates below from the amazing programmes helping bring about that better world.

Motivations for Pledging

Here are some of our favourite responses from people who took a pledge last month:

News & Updates

GWWC

New blogs, announcements, & news from Giving What We Can

• Our How Rich Am I calculator, along with several ideas behind effective giving, was featured in an episode of the German satire show Die Anstalt! We only found out when new pledges started rolling in, and are thrilled to see effective giving ideas gaining traction! You can watch the episode (in German) here.
• The Giving What We Can pledge booth at the EAGx Nigeria conference resulted in a 380% increase in the number of attendees who had an active giving pledge! A total of 19 people signed either the 10% Pledge or the Trial Pledge at the event.
• While in Nigeria, Luke Moore (who supports the broader effective giving ecosystem as part of his role at Giving What We Can) visited several of the high-impact programmes featured on our donation platform. His on-the-ground reflections are well worth a read: What I learned about effective giving in Nigeria.
• We published a spotlight on a lesser-known aspect of Against Malaria Foundation’s work: surveys conducted after bed net distribution that help AMF adapt, iterate, and monitor its programme. Read: A spotlight on Against Malaria Foundation’s post-distribution survey process.
• We welcomed Daniel Wirz to the team as a Senior Growth Specialist!

Community

Highlights from our community & the wider effective giving ecosystem

• The CEO of Rethink Priorities, Marcus A. Davis, has launched a “Charity For All” substack dedicated to evidence-based world improvement. His first article, “Why Charity for All” is a lovely exploration of some of the moral principles behind effective giving.

Opportunities

Open roles

• High impact professionals is hiring for two exciting roles: a Director of Programs and a Director of Marketing to help grow their global community of professionals committed to tackling the world’s most pressing problems. If you want to help thousands of experienced professionals make bold career moves for good, and see the real-world impact of your work, consider joining the team. More info about both roles (including links to apply) here. Apply by Sunday, July 27th.
• Open Philanthropy's Abundance and Growth Fund is seeking generalists and specialists to help accelerate economic growth and cut the cost of living through grantmaking & research. Apply by July 27th.
• Probably Good is hiring an Operations Specialist and a Marketer or Head of Growth. These hires will help them scale their services and empower more people to build careers that are good for them and good for the world. Apply by 23.59 BST on 27 July.
• Rethink Priorities is expanding its Global Health & Development Department and is now hiring for a Research/Senior Researcher and a Senior Research Manager. Read more about the open roles and apply here by Thursday, July 31st.
• Lead Exposure Elimination Project (LEEP) is hiring for several exciting and impactful roles — some to expand its research team, and others to support its programme in Pakistan. Read the full job descriptions here to find out more. Application deadlines range from August 4th through August 11th.
• Open Philanthropy's business operations team is seeking operations coordinators and associates to provide in-person office management and staff support in San Francisco and Washington, DC. Applications are considered on a rolling basis and may close when the positions are filled.
• Applications are still open at Giving What We Can for the Growth Marketer and Creative Content Marketer positions we mentioned last month.

Other opportunities

• The final deadline to apply for Ambitious Impact’s Founding to Give programme is coming up on August 1st! Curious about the programme’s potential and theory of change? Check out this post by Trish, the Program Manager. You can also sign up for today’s webinar (24 Jul!) at 6:00 PM BST to learn more and connect with the team.

Cause Area News

Highlights from the high-impact programmes we list on our platform along with evaluators & grantmakers in the effective giving space

Animal Welfare

• The Animal Welfare Fund (AWF) announced the grants it made to fund high-impact, cost-effective animal advocacy work in Q2 of 2025! See the list of grants here and more context about the AWF’s Q2 grantmaking here.
• Good Food Institute (GFI) Europe’s 2025 mid-year impact update is now available! Explore highlights from the first half of the year, including work on national food strategies, cultivated seafood research, and consumer insights shaping the future of plant-based products — plus a behind-the-scenes look at policy work in Warsaw.
• Good Food Institute (GFI) released a new resource on what it takes to get alternative protein on the menu — including what matters most to culinary professionals and best practices for engaging with foodservice operators. The resource includes insights from chef interviews and a case study from Austin’s public schools, where plant-based protein adoption is growing!
  • You can read more about the project in GFI’s recent Substack article, which shows how chefs are reshaping the protein landscape, from cafeterias to fine dining.
• Rethink Priorities launched a database to help advocates and researchers understand and evaluate the state of the evidence base on interventions to reduce meat and animal product (MAP) consumption. The database compiles sources (from across animal welfare, climate, and human health) that investigate MAP reduction interventions.

Global Health and Wellbeing

• GiveWell has begun conducting "lookbacks" to review past grants against their initial expectations, aiming to improve future decision-making and provide transparency on the impact of donor funding. They recently published a blog post summarising insights from their first lookbacks on grants to New Incentives and Helen Keller Intl. An exciting highlight is their estimate that the $120 million in grants they awarded to New Incentives averted 27,000 deaths from vaccine-preventable diseases.
• GiveWell is also expanding its research on livelihoods programmes that aim to increase people’s incomes. In a recent podcast episode, GiveWell CEO and co-founder Elie Hassenfeld speaks with Senior Program Officer Julie Faller about hiring a livelihoods programme officer to build on existing work, search for new cost-effective opportunities, and explore more of the impactful programmes GiveWell has long cared about. You can read a summary of key takeaways on the GiveWell blog.
  • You can also subscribe to the podcast for the latest updates!
• Malaria Consortium has published its 2025–2028 strategy overview, outlining its vision for achieving global health equity, and reflecting on the significant progress it has made so far.
• Rethink Priorities recently published:
  • An analysis of routine data collection systems for estimating the malaria burden in low-income countries, focusing on challenges to data collection and initiatives to improve it.
  • An overview of funding priorities for reproductive health in East and Francophone West Africa.

Global Catastrophic Risk Reduction

• 80,000 Hours released a new video exploring the AI 2027 report, which forecasts a scenario where AI radically transforms the world in just a few intense years. The video, which has already garnered over 2.2 million views, is a project of AI in Context, a new YouTube channel recently launched by 80,000 Hours that focuses on the risks of transformative AI, and what people can do about them. Watch We’re Not Ready for Superintelligence.
• NTI | bio announced the release of a public statement, developed in association with the AIxBio Global Forum, highlighting biosecurity risks associated with the convergence of artificial intelligence (AI) and the life sciences. The statement, signed by more than 35 leading experts, calls on governments, industry, the scientific community, and funders to take action to reduce these risks.
  

This month's featured social post

We pulled four provocative quotes from Rutger Bregman's Moral Ambition that got us thinking hard about how to live. See the full post here.
💬 Want more? Check out last month's blog: 10 of the best quotes from Rutger Bregman's Moral Ambition.

Tag us on LinkedIn, X, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, or TikTok and stay connected with us for more news and updates.

This month's featured resource

🎉 Giving Multiplier🎉

Do you — or someone you know — love the idea of effective giving but still want to support charities you have a personal connection with?

Enter Giving Multiplier! This award-winning platform built by Harvard behavioral scientists is designed to encourage donating “smart and from the heart”. Here's how it works: You choose to donate to a charity close to your heart, and then direct at least 10% of your donation to an expert-recommended, highly effective charity. Giving Multiplier adds 9-90% in matching funds to both of your donations!

Intrigued by this idea? You can also donate directly to the matching system — continuing to support effective charities and inspiring others to do the same.

Giving Multiplier takes no fees. Every dollar you contribute to the matching system guarantees at least that much goes to highly effective charities.

Do you have any feedback on our newsletter or communications? Share your thoughts here.

Useful Links

• Review our giving recommendations.
• Report your donations with your pledge dashboard.
• Share our ideas to help grow our community and multiply your impact.
• Join other members in the Giving What We Can Community Slack.
• Find more ways to get involved with Giving What We Can and effective giving.

Do you have questions about the pledge, Giving What We Can, or effective giving in general? Check out our FAQ page, or contact us directly.