GiveWell

👓 Reading glasses can be helpful when trying to order off a menu at a restaurant, but we want to know if they can increase economic well-being.

Read more in our latest blog post: https://bit.ly/3Az5VXC

Bringing the Economic Benefits of Reading Glasses into Focus - The GiveWell Blog We think that providing reading glasses may be a promising way to increase economic well-being; GiveWell is funding a study to find out more.

What does it take to provide 25 million children with medicine to prevent malaria?

Go step-by-step through a seasonal malaria chemoprevention campaign in our recent crosspost from Malaria Consortium's blog.

More than a Spoonful of Medicine - The GiveWell Blog Below, we offer a post from Malaria Consortium that describes the many complex steps required to carry out a seasonal malaria chemoprevention campaign.

We're excited to partner with Malaria Consortium and The Behavioural Insights Team on the "Be In A Net" program - read more about the project on our newly published grant page. ⬇

https://www.givewell.org/research/grants/malaria-consortium-be-in-a-net-february-2024

The use of insecticide-treated nets (ITNs) is one of the most effective vector control methods, and key to reducing malaria transmission🦟Yet ITN usage can be low, even when communities have access to nets.

That’s why we’re pleased to be partnering with The Behavioural Insights Team (supported by philanthropic funding via GiveWell) to investigate the reasons behind the low uptake of ITNs in Nigeria and Uganda, where fewer than 59 percent of the population sleep under ITNs regularly.

Using these data, we aim to create a behaviourally informed intervention and work towards a future where communities are better protected from malaria.💪

Read our project brief here ➡️ https://brnw.ch/21wLCax

📚 Reading Roundup! 📑

We're sharing a few interesting articles that our research team is reading. Comment below with pieces you've come across that you think our team might enjoy! ⬇️

Some Things We're Reading - The GiveWell Blog Today we’re sharing a few quotes from pieces we’ve come across recently in our work—claims have not been vetted, and (of course) interest is not endorsement.

How is our water research team working to bring clean water to more people around the world? 💧 Read about their strategies for the year.

Research Strategy: Water - The GiveWell Blog In this post, we detail our current approach to our water portfolio, explore the areas we're excited to investigate next, and share the work we're doing this year to deepen our understanding of the sector.

Walk 100 miles in the shoes of a New Incentives field officer collecting high-quality vaccination data in Nigeria.

New crosspost from the New Incentives blog!

100 Miles of Monitoring - The GiveWell Blog We’re crossposting a blog post by New Incentives, which promotes vaccination in Northern Nigeria by providing cash incentives to parents and caregivers. Recently, one of New Incentives' field officers wrote about his experience collecting program data.

How does a wedding registry illustrate fungibility?

The fungibility question: How does GiveWell's funding affect other funders? - The GiveWell Blog How do GiveWell's funding decisions influence the actions of governments, funders, and other organizations? Answering this question is an important part of figuring out which global health programs are most cost-effective and thus which we should support.

It’s harder than you might think to find ways to combine programs effectively.

Increasing impact by combining programs - The GiveWell Blog GiveWell is excited to support combined programs wherever they cross our cost-effectiveness threshold. But we've discovered it’s harder than you might think to find ways to combine programs effectively.

Meet Erin Crossett—a GiveWell Program Officer working on the water and livelihoods research team.

Researcher spotlight: Erin Crossett, GiveWell Program Officer - The GiveWell Blog This interview with Program Officer Erin Crossett provides a glimpse into the world of GiveWell research.

🤔 Have questions about GiveWell or our research? Our quarterly open thread is live on the blog!

June 2024 open thread - The GiveWell Blog This is our June 2024 open thread, in which blog readers can publicly raise comments or questions about GiveWell.

What do a dinner party and fundraising for GiveWell have in common?

The hardest part about fundraising for GiveWell - The GiveWell Blog Using a metaphor about shopping for a dinner party, Philanthropy Advisor Maggie Lloydhauser explains how fundraising for GiveWell is different from fundraising for most other nonprofits.

We're proud to recommend Malaria Consortium's seasonal malaria chemoprevention program as one of our top charities!

In 2023, Malaria Consortium supported the delivery of seasonal malaria chemoprevention (SMC) in seven countries across sub-Saharan Africa, providing protection against malaria to over 25 million children aged under five years.

Of this total, 17.1 million children were reached with philanthropic funding or co-funding. Read 👀 our annual SMC coverage report to see the reach and quality ✨ of our SMC programme.

https://brnw.ch/21wKGiy

GiveWell

Fun fact: In the past 12 months, GiveWell has recommended grants in 20 countries across Africa and Asia! Check out the map and other exciting updates in our May newsletter highlights.

May 2024 updates - The GiveWell Blog We publish selected portions of our monthly email newsletter on our blog to make this news more accessible to people who visit our website.

We believe that actively seeking feedback on our work enables us to do more good.

Meet our Research Council - a small group of experts we can consult on research questions and grant investigations.

GiveWell's Research Council - The GiveWell Blog In May 2023, GiveWell launched a Research Council, a small group of experts we can consult on research questions and grant investigations.

GiveWell is not only a thoughtful funder that has made so much of our work possible, but also a full partner in our mission, asking the deep and challenging questions that improve our impact. Dive into their latest assessment of our program on their website: givewell.org/charities/new-incentives

A day in the life of a mobile vaccination team in Kano State, Nigeria - new photo blog crossposted from one of our top charities, New Incentives!

Mobile vaccination with New Incentives - The GiveWell Blog In this blog post, we’re crossposting the work of one of our grantee organizations and top charities: New Incentives, which gives cash incentives for parents and caregivers in Northern Nigeria to take advantage of standard childhood vaccines that are freely available from government clinics.

Perhaps you noticed that one of our recent blog posts included a bit of whimsy and even a joke footnote. Our blog is changing slightly, and you can expect more of that!

Making our work more readable - The GiveWell Blog We are trying to publish more on our blog and to make what we publish more readable. Our blog posts will be as accurate as ever, but we’re hoping that a more conversational tone will be easier to engage with.

🌟 Grant Spotlight: $97,000 grant from Effective Altruism Funds' Global Health and Development Fund to Evidence Action to conduct baseline coverage surveys of iron and folic acid (IFA) supplementation in two Indian states, Karnataka and Tripura.

Since March 2018, we've directed ~$13.7 million to support Evidence Action's technical assistance program for IFA supplementation in five Indian states. This grant will help us decide whether to make a grant to increase IFA coverage in these two additional states.

Our rough guess is that the program in Karnataka and Tripura would be ~12x as cost-effective as cash transfers - reliable estimates of current IFA coverage rates in these states would help inform our view. These surveys will help us gather that data. Read more here: https://bit.ly/4aS2kkQ

Highlights from our April newsletter are live on the blog! Check it out for the latest updates on GiveWell's work, and sign up to receive these updates directly to your inbox each month.

April 2024 updates - The GiveWell Blog We publish selected portions of our monthly email newsletter on our blog to make this news more accessible to people who visit our website.

We’re hiring for senior research and tech roles! Please apply if you’re interested, or reshare this post with great people in your network.

The Head of Technology will take broad ownership of GiveWell's technology function and build a strong tech team. The ideal candidate has built and scaled a tech team at least once, and is excited to leverage their past experience and deep subject matter expertise to help GiveWell grow and excel. This role is remote-eligible within the United States. Job description: https://bit.ly/3UfOtxG

Senior Researchers will lead ambitious research agendas, answer complex questions, and inform high-impact grantmaking decisions. Applicants must have a quantitatively-oriented advanced degree or an undergraduate degree and substantial relevant experience using empirical tools to make real-world decisions. This role is remote-eligible anywhere in the world. Job description: https://bit.ly/42WSIl5

Both roles have compensation packages that are competitive with our peer organizations.

Today is .

In recognition, we’re highlighting our two top charities focused on malaria prevention: Malaria Consortium’s seasonal malaria chemoprevention (SMC) program and The Against Malaria Foundation’s insecticide-treated nets program.

Around 600,000 people die of malaria annually, with about 80% being kids under 5. Both SMC and nets are proven and cost-effective ways to prevent malaria and save lives, and we hope that by funding these programs, we can help meaningfully reduce those numbers.

🌟 Grant Spotlight: $787,500 to Center for Effective Global Action (CEGA) to support its work facilitating high-quality research in global health and development. This grant is unrestricted, meaning that CEGA can use the funds at its discretion.

We expect this funding may be used for seed funding for graduate students' research projects (including potential research in low- and middle-income countries), policy dissemination, or filling gaps CEGA perceives in the global development research ecosystem.

This grant was recommended via our small discretionary grants policy. We believe CEGA is an important partner in the global development space, and we look forward to seeing the outcomes of this grant. Read more here: https://www.givewell.org/research/grants/center-for-effective-global-action-unrestricted-december-2023

GiveWell Senior Research Associate Alicia Weng is joining Malaria Consortium's upcoming panel at the Multilateral Initiative on Malaria Conference on April 23. We're excited for this conversation with our malaria prevention partners! Register to attend virtually at: https://bit.ly/3UetHQ9

We're excited to share our speakers, including our Chief Executive, Dr James Tibenderana, for a thought-provoking panel event: ‘Catalysing change: The crucial role of philanthropy in eliminating malaria’ during on Tuesday 23 April.

Follow the link to find out more about our speakers!

https://brnw.ch/21wIy1H

The event will bring together leading actors in philanthropy and public health from across Africa to build momentum and action around malaria elimination.

GiveWell Gates Foundation

Our monthly newsletter is a great way to stay plugged into GiveWell's work, including recently published grant pages, partner updates, event highlights, and more. Check out excerpts from the March newsletter on our blog:

March 2024 updates - The GiveWell Blog We publish selected portions of our monthly email newsletter on our blog to make this news more accessible to people who visit our website.

We’re often known for our top charities list, but you might be surprised to learn that most of our research capacity goes toward other programs, including higher-risk opportunities, incubating programs, research, and more.

For example, r.i.c.e.’s kangaroo mother care program isn’t one of our top charities; it isn't operating at a large enough scale, and we haven’t funded it for a long enough period of time. However, we think the program will cost-effectively improve the lives of low-birthweight babies, so we made a grant to support it.

Our latest blog post explores the full scope of GiveWell's grantmaking. Read more here:

What we fund, #1: We fund many opportunities outside our top charities - The GiveWell Blog ​​This blog post looks at the overall scope of GiveWell's grantmaking, why we dedicate funding and research capacity to programs other than our top charities, and the types of opportunities we support.

"[Donors] turn to us for confidence. They need confidence that there is some difference being made with their money. Many of our donors report this feeling: There are so many things I could do out there. How can I ever determine who is trustworthy in making an impact?

"Sometimes donors expect that they can save a life for much less than $5,000, and they’re surprised to encounter our estimate. But most come to share my belief that $5,000 to save a life is a bargain. We aim to be fully transparent about what goes into our cost-effectiveness estimates—including the counterarguments, caveats, assumptions, best guesses, and moral judgments. This transparency gives them the confidence to give more."

‘$5,000 to Save a Life Is a Bargain’

🌟 Grant Spotlight: $1.4 million to Malaria Consortium to deliver vitamin A supplementation (VAS) alongside seasonal malaria chemoprevention (SMC) through their existing distribution campaigns in 2 states in Nigeria.

We think that VAS is an effective program for reducing child mortality (best guess of a 3-5% reduction), and co-delivering VAS alongside SMC is very cheap. We estimate that it costs around $0.45 to reach each child with one round of VAS through this program.

We also think that funding this new approach to delivering VAS will provide learning benefits that could be applied to other locations. Read more about the grant here: https://bit.ly/4bFfJxo

Our monthly newsletter shares key updates with our supporters, including research highlights, recent events, and more. As part of our commitment to transparency, we're sharing excerpts on our blog to make these updates more accessible. See the latest here:

February 2024 updates - The GiveWell Blog We publish selected portions of our monthly email newsletter on our blog to make this news more accessible to people who visit our website.