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Jump to Navigation Donate Enter search terms here. This search returns results from both GiveWell’s main site and from the GiveWell Blog. Search form SearchTop Charities Our Top Charities Our Giving Funds Top Charities Fund All Grants Fund Unrestricted Fund List of Grants Research How Much Does It Cost to Save a Life? Research Overview Research on Programs Our Criteria Cost-Effectiveness Analyses How We Produce Impact Estimates Our Mistakes About About GiveWell Our People Information About Donating General FAQ Values Official Records Jobs Contact Us What Others Are Saying Stay Updated Blog Ways to Give Tax Deductibility of Donations Overview of Giving Options View and Manage Your Giving Credit Card Check Wire Transfer ACH (Automatic Clearing House) Cryptocurrency Securities/Stock PayPal Wills and Bequests Qualified Charitable Distributions Donor Advised Fund (DAF) Donate to GiveWell UK Homepage 2023 We search for the charities that save or improve lives the most per dollar. Our goal is to produce the world’s top research on where to give. Free, for everyone. We recommend a small number of charities that do an incredible amount of good. Explore our top charities Photo credit to: Malaria Consortium/Sophie Garcia Photo credit to: Malaria Consortium/Sophie Garcia 1 Backed by 50,000+ hours of research each year We’ve been researching and funding charities since 2007. Our work aims to understand how charities work and how much they help the people they serve. 2 Only the best, according to our high standards We’ve reviewed hundreds of charities. Very few meet our high bar for funding. 3 GiveWell takes zero fees Our operations are funded by donors who choose to support us. 100% of all other donations (minus standard bank and credit card fees) will go to the fund or organization of your choice. The gold standard for giving. As seen in 3 ways to donate. Most common Top Charities Fund How will my donation be used? Your donation will be granted to one of our top charities. These are the most reliably high-impact and cost-effective charities we’ve identified. We’ve evaluated them extensively and have high confidence that donations to them will do a lot of good. Is there a downside? We have a high bar for the evidence and scalability of these opportunities. This may limit the cost-effectiveness ceiling for these grants. Best for If you want high confidence in the effectiveness of your donation, donate to the Top Charities Fund. View our top charities All Grants Fund How will my donation be used? Your donation will be granted to the highest-impact programs across all our grantmaking in global health and well-being. Some programs may be much more cost-effective than our top charities, but we may also be much more uncertain about their impact. Is there a downside? It’s riskier than our Top Charities Fund. For example, we may not have as much confidence in the evidence base or may not have the same extensive history working with the grantee. Best for If you want the highest possible expected impact and are comfortable with higher risk, donate to the All Grants Fund. View the all grants fund Direct to charities How will my donation be used? You can make a donation to any of our top charities through the GiveWell site, and your donation will be granted directly to that program. Is there a downside? You may select a top charity that has lower-priority funding needs at the time of your donation. In contrast, donating to the Top Charities Fund ensures your gift will go to the highest-impact grant opportunities among any of our top charities. Best for If you’d like to choose the specific charity that will receive your gift, any of our top charities are great options for making an impact. View our top charities We also offer an Unrestricted Fund , which includes donations at GiveWell’s discretion – including to our own overhead. Please note that fungibility affects your gift to all donation options. Read more about this concept here . Our Research Process We research each program extensively before funding it, and assess what the program accomplishes with that funding. Learn about our research 1 Gather independent evidence We look at independent studies, such as randomized controlled trials, of charity programs to understand if they achieve their goals. We also consult experts to gain practical and context-specific insights. 2 Model cost-effectiveness We build in-depth models to analyze programs’ cost-effectiveness. We refine these throughout our evaluation process, based on budgets and monitoring data, to estimate impact per dollar spent. 3 Conduct interviews and site visits We conduct extensive interviews with staff from potential grantee organizations. We may visit them to see their work in action. 4 Review budgets We review potential grantees’ past spending and forecast their future spending to better understand their track record and expected impact. 5 Ask for program data We ask organizations to share data so we can better understand how successful the programs have been. 6 Follow up on progress We continually assess the work, progress, and future plans of the programs we fund. We will stop funding a program if we no longer believe it meets our criteria. More than 125,000 donors i Based on our records of donors who’ve contributed either to GiveWell or to our recommended charities. — Learn more have trusted GiveWell to direct their donations. Together, they have given over $2 billion i Based on our records of the money we’ve directed to organizations and grants we’ve recommended since 2011. — Learn more to the organizations we recommend. These donations will save over 200,000 lives . i Based on our cost-effectiveness analysis and our records of money we’ve directed to our top charities since 2009. — Learn more Frequently Asked Questions What is GiveWell? GiveWell is an independent nonprofit focused on helping people do as much good as possible with their donations. We recommend a short list of top charities that we update annually. All of our research is free and available to the public. Who works at GiveWell? GiveWell was founded by two individuals working in the finance industry in 2007. Our team has grown quite a bit since then! For more, see our story and meet our team . How does GiveWell make money? GiveWell is a nonprofit that is funded by donors who choose to support our mission. We don’t take any fees from donations directed to charities we recommend, nor do we receive any fees from charities for being featured on our site. Will my donation be tax-deductible? GiveWell (a.k.a. The Clear Fund) is a federally-recognized tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization in the U.S. GiveWell is also a registered charity in the Netherlands with tax-deductible status (a Public Benefit Organization), and GiveWell UK is a registered Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) in the UK. GiveWell can accept donations on behalf of our recommended charities. Donors based in the U.S., UK, or Netherlands can donate to GiveWell to support our operations or our recommended charities and take tax deductions to the extent permitted by law. More information is available here on the tax-deductibility of donations to GiveWell and our recommended charities for donors worldwide. Does GiveWell recommend charities for every cause? We do not. GiveWell’s mission is to recommend charities that we believe can save or improve the greatest number of lives per dollar donated. We focus on the areas that we believe are most promising to achieve this aim. This has led us to research and recommend charities working in global health and poverty alleviation because your dollar can go further overseas . Learn More Footer Menu Contact Stay updated FAQ For Charities Site map Privacy Policy Jobs Follow Us: Facebook Twitter RSS Subscribe to email updates: GiveWell, aka The Clear Fund (a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) public charity), was founded in 2007. We serve donors across the globe; GiveWell’s donors are based primarily...