This page lists the current areas of focus for GiveWell (including GiveWell Labs). These areas are not rigid or exclusive - we will consider opportunities outside of these areas if they seem to be clearly outstanding or unusual in some way.

In general, for all opportunities, we prefer to work with organizations or people who place high value on transparency - including public disclosure of shortcomings and challenges, public sharing of full (or slightly edited) technical reports, public sharing of detailed financials and financial projections, and public sharing of room for more funding analysis.

Developing-World Health and Nutrition

We are interested in giving opportunities (charities and projects) that focus on health and nutrition in the developing world. Within this area, we prefer:

• Opportunities that focus exclusively on delivering proven interventions (interventions with strong underlying evidence bases).
• Opportunities that already have a track record of successful delivery and impact, and have full technical reports available (preferably publicly) demonstrating past success.

Scientific research

We are preliminarily interested in funding scientific research that cannot get funding from traditional sources. Within this area, we prefer:

• Researchers with strong credentials
• A compelling explanation for why the research cannot get funding from traditional sources

Meta-research

We are preliminarily interested in funding attempts to systematically improve the value-added of academic research, as discussed in our May update on GiveWell Labs. Within this area, we prefer:

• Project participation from researchers with strong academic credentials

Global catastrophic risks

We are preliminarily interested in attempts to prevent and/or prepare for major global catastrophes (including climate change), as discussed in our May update on GiveWell Labs.

Other opportunities

We are interested in other opportunities when a strong case can be made that they are

• Potentially highly cost-effective, in the sense of accomplishing at least as much good per dollar spent as our current top charities.
• Unable to get funding from other sources, for clearly articulable and non-impact-related reasons (for example, lack of fit with bureaucratic guidelines or potential public-relations issues).