Hi all,
It’s my great pleasure to write the inaugural blog post on our brand new blog, part of our brand new website, put together by the brand new Giving What We Can team!
This blog will allow those involved with Giving What We Can to communicate more freely with the rest of the world. In the coming months, we’ll have plenty to tell you about. We’ll use this blog as a means to explain some of the core ideas surrounding our approach to giving, and our approach to assessing which charities to give to — ideas like ‘QALYs,’ ‘fungibility’ or ‘precommitment’. We’ll update you all about our current thinking in the course of our research into charity cost-effectiveness, and start discussions on issues related to the methodology of ascertaining cost-effectiveness. We’ll discuss important issues in developing world current affairs. And we’ll share stories about our members, our chapters, and the general goings-on within the community that has formed around Giving What We Can.
In other news, Giving What We Can has recently matured as an organisation, and now has three paid staff who form the core Giving What We Can team. The new updated website would not have been possible without them, and it’s my pleasure to briefly introduce them:
Michelle Hutchinson is the new Executive Director. Michelle has been a long-term volunteer, and is just finishing up her PhD in moral philosophy from Oxford University.
Tom Ash is the new Director of Operations. Tom gained his undergraduate degree in philosophy from Cambridge and his research Master’s from Oxford, after which he worked for the not-for-profit magazines openDemocracy and the New Internationalist.
Robert Wiblin is the new Director of Research. Rob graduated with Honours in economics and genetics from Australia National University, and has worked for the Australian Treasury and the Productivity Commission before coming to join us.
Toby Ord will remain as President of Giving What We Can, and I as Vice-President. And, of course, we will continue to be indebted to the small army of dedicated volunteers who have done such an enormous amount to help grow Giving What We Can.