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   Skip to main content       Home        Enter your keywords           Top charitiesAgainst Malaria Foundation Schistosomiasis Control Initiative Deworm the World Initiative GiveDirectly Other standout charities All charities considered  ResearchProcess Criteria Open Philanthropy Project Research FAQ Research discussions Site visits Conversations Intervention Reports  CredibilityReputation Transparency Evaluations Impact  Mistakes Blog AboutAbout GiveWell Stay updated Progress to date Our story Our people Jobs Official records Common questions Donate to us Submit a charity Contact Us  DonateDonation options Donation questions           Home Menu ↓   Top charitiesAgainst Malaria Foundation Schistosomiasis Control Initiative Deworm the World Initiative GiveDirectly Other standout charities All charities considered  ResearchProcess Criteria Open Philanthropy Project Research FAQ Research discussions Site visits Conversations Intervention Reports  CredibilityReputation Transparency Evaluations Impact  Mistakes Blog AboutAbout GiveWell Stay updated Progress to date Our story Our people Jobs Official records Common questions Donate to us Submit a charity Contact Us  DonateDonation options Donation questions       Home > Giving 101: the basics         The wrong donation can accomplish nothing   Print Email           Charities' fundraising materials make it seem obvious that their programs are changing lives. Are charities really accomplishing what they say they are? Are they making a difference?

 Conventionally, most people expect that charities are probably accomplishing good unless there's proof that money is being misappropriated. We disagree: we think that charities can easily fail to have impact, even when they're doing exactly what they say they are.

 Two examples:

 Private school scholarships in the U.S. A rigorous study of a voucher program in New York City found virtually no impact on academic performance for students who received scholarships to attend private schools. For more, see our review of the private school scholarship program. Water infrastructure in the developing world. Supporting organizations that build wells to provide water to people in the developing world is one of the most popular causes among donors. However, when we investigated this program more carefully, we found that (a) these programs may fail to have an impact on disease rates and (b) infrastructure may fall into disrepair and is no longer used. For more, see our overview of water infrastructure programs. In fact, our review of academic research has led us to believe that many of the problems charities aim to address are extremely difficult problems that foundations, governments and experts have struggled with for decades. Many well-funded, well-executed, logical programs simply haven't had the desired results. For more, see

 Examples of failed social programs in the U.S. Our discussion of international aid Given the lack of a successful track record of solving such complex problems, any charity claiming to have "the answer" bears the burden of proof to demonstrate that their programs are working. Can most charities provide this type of proof?

 Most cannot. (For more, see "Most charities' evidence".) One of the main reasons they can't is that donors tend to give to a charity because a friend asked them to or because they happen to know someone who suffered from a disease that that charity fights.

 All this means that charities raise money based on their ability to market themselves and fundraise, as opposed to their ability to change lives. Because charities aren't being held accountable based on impact, there are probably a lot of charities that continue to raise and spend money but don't make any difference at all.

 Does that mean that a given charity's programs don't work? Not necessarily. But, it does mean that charities bear the burden of proof to convince you, the donor, that your donation will make a difference.

 Next: Your dollar goes further overseas

              Charity research  Top charitiesAgainst Malaria Foundation Schistosomiasis Control Initiative Deworm the World Initiative GiveDirectly Other standout charities All charities considered  ResearchProcess Criteria Open Philanthropy Project Research FAQ Research discussions Site visits Conversations Intervention Reports  GiveWell's credibilityReputation Transparency Impact  Mistakes Blog About GiveWellProgress to date Stay updated Our story Our people Jobs Official records Donate to us Common questions Submit a charity Contact us      Other resources  Giving 101 Do-it-yourself evaluation           Stay updated  Want to stay updated on GiveWell's research? Follow us by email, RSS, Twitter, or Facebook       Latest blog posts  GiveWell research plans for 2016 GiveWell’s progress in 2015 New posts on the Open Philanthropy Blog: our early farm animal welfare grants, philosophy of hits-based giving Why we do donor calls New posts on the Open Philanthropy Blog: our approach to grantmaking so far, and the launch of the Alliance for Safety and Justice           Home Contact FAQ RSS Site map Stay updated Jobs      GiveWell, aka The Clear Fund (a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) public charity) This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License              try { clicky.init(78566); }catch(e){} 

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