GiveWell was founded to answer the following question: How do I do the most good with my donation? It’s a hard question to answer—we think it’s a full-time job.
Over time, we’ve developed criteria and processes for identifying the charities we believe do the most good, in terms of lives saved or improved, for every dollar donated. Below, we share our general principles for giving effectively, as well as how GiveWell applies those principles to find its top charities.
Quick Start Guide
Giving 101
The key principles we recommend you keep in mind when deciding where to give:
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- Your donation can change someone's life
- The wrong donation can accomplish nothing
- Your dollar goes further overseas
How GiveWell Works
Here's how we look for charities that do the most good per dollar donated:
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- Process for identifying top charities
- Our criteria for top charities
- Our core competencies